Minister Weerwind: State must pay for its role in adoptions
If it is abundantly clear that the Dutch state has made a mistake in the adoption of children, the State wants to prevent proceedings by settling. The government believes that the argument of prescription should not be discussed in such cases.
On Friday, Minister Franc Weerwind for legal protection informed the House of the state of affairs regarding the so-called distance mothers, unmarried women who say that they were forced to give up their child in the second half of the last century. In the first case of a waiver mother , the State still invoked prescription .
“Perceived abuses during adoptions can have a major and lasting impact on the lives of those involved. When they have the impression that the government has played an important role in this, it is understandable that people turn to the government primarily for acknowledgment of their suffering, but also for help or compensation for damage,” writes Weerwind.
The minister also announced that a commission of inquiry into domestic adoption practice will be led by Micha de Winter, who previously investigated abuses in youth care . The committee will start work in September.
Intercountry adoptions are possible again, from a limited number of countries
Adoptions from abroad will be restarted soon. At the beginning of last year, these were suspended after an investigation by the Joustra Committee showed that there had been "structural serious abuses" for years. In the coming months, it will be decided from which countries children will be allowed to be adopted again. In anticipation of this, it was immediately decided that adoption from Haiti is no longer allowed. The situation in the country is too unsafe and the government structure too fragile. It is therefore "no longer responsible to adopt from Haiti", the minister writes.
After the Joustra report, the previous government announced at the beginning of last year that it would improve the adoption system. Weerwind lists a large number of measures in its letter to parliament to prevent abuses. For example, the mediation in the case of the adoption of children from abroad is placed with a central mediation organisation. The government sets strict requirements for this and will monitor more closely whether these are met. Prospective adoptive parents must be able to contact that mediation organization as of 1 January.
The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate will be appointed as supervisor for the entire Dutch adoption system and will be given more enforcement options. What these will be and whether current legislation allows this is now being investigated. Any adjustments will be included in a new law on adoption from abroad.
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Remote Mothers & Giveaway Children
The adoption bill set in motion a system where the government lied to mothers, destroyed lives, and trapped people in a bureaucracy of chaos and arbitrariness. We mapped the stories behind this tragedy on a special website.
Judge: The state cannot be blamed for the fact that mothers had to give up their children at the time. The zeitgeist was different
The Child Protection Board has not made any legally culpable errors when unmarried mothers were forced to give up their child in the past, the court ruled.
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