From Paris to Bamako, Marie M.'s painful quest for truth about the circumstances of her adoption, thirty-two years ago
PARIS-BAMAKO SURVEY , paths to adoption (1/2). Between 1989 and 2001, more than 300 Malian children were adopted through a French association. Nine of them are now taking the case to court.
A red dress with flowers among the boubous. This September 21, 2019, Marie M. stands out with her look. By his attitude too. On this day of celebration, this Frenchwoman of Malian origin, expatriated in Luxembourg, seems embarrassed. At his side, about forty members of the Malian diaspora are celebrating the 59th anniversary of independence, at the cultural center of Ellange, a small town in the Grand Duchy. But the young doctor knows nothing of this distant country where she was born thirty-two years ago, not even its anthem. To reassure herself and be able to sing a few verses with her lips, she stares at the screen where the lyrics scroll, like at karaoke. Marie M. seems disturbed to be suddenly immersed in this culture. These people, this hymn, these colors, it's a little, a lot, his story.
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Nine French people of Malian origin file a complaint against an adoption organization
His Malian life was brief, eighteen months. When she was one and a half years old, Marie M. was adopted in 1989 by a French couple. For years, growing up in this loving family, she didn't really ask questions about her African past. Until the day she herself became a mother, in 2017. So, to offer a complete family history to her daughter, she opened the blue binder, that of her adoption file, so long set aside. Inconsistencies, things left unsaid, lies: the examination of the various documents plunged her into doubt, to the point of encouraging her to go in search of her roots. With a central question: under what conditions had she left Mali in 1989?
“My date of birth and my surname are not the same on some documents. So I ask myself questions , ”she advances cautiously the day after the festive evening in Ellange. Sitting in the kitchen of her Luxembourg apartment, she is preparing for her trip to Mali, scheduled for a few weeks. As she turns the pages of the binder, a document is missing: the written consent of her biological mother, Fatoumata C., a document that is nevertheless mandatory in any international adoption procedure.
A story falls apart
Continuing to leaf through the pages of the binder, Marie M. then stops on a handwritten letter addressed to her adoptive parents, when she was a baby, by a certain Danielle Boudault, at the corresponding time of the association Rayon de soleil. of foreign children (RDSEE) in Mali. It was through this organization that Marie M. was adopted. She reads, in a solemn tone, the words of Mrs. Boudault about her: “Marie (…) sensed her mother's plan to regain her “freedom”, from the time of weaning. (…) Fatoumata, her mother, is extremely poor and “gives” [her daughter] with relief (…). Be kind enough to send me some photos from time to time. The mother will pretend to be interested in her daughter for a few more weeks, and having a few photos will really confirm her “consent” to the adoption. In a short time, she will not ask for anything more. »