Dutch worked with Colombian fixer: 'She hired him in unsafe situations'

MISMATCHES TRACK A Dutch correspondent who has been working as an intermediary in Colombia for the Spoorloos program for many years, had to leave the Wereldkinderen foundation in the past because of allegations of inappropriate practices involving adoptive parents, sources against this site confirm. This seems to indicate a second dubious intermediary in the popular program.

The broadcaster confirms that until 2010, the woman worked closely with Edwin Vela, the discredited Colombian fixer who used the Spoorloos program to track down family members. "She occasionally hired Vela for his detective work in places that were unsafe or difficult to reach for her as a foreign woman," a spokesperson said. "Together with him, she has selected a total of sixteen cases for Spoorloos."

Those involved in the adoption world find it 'inconceivable' that KRO-NCRV still works with the woman, they let this site know.

Bomb under program

Crime journalist Kees van der Spek yesterday put a bomb under the extremely successful Spoorloos program with his revelations, which has been an institution on Dutch television for over thirty years. A fraudulent intermediary in Colombia is said to have participated in at least sixteen searches for biological parents of Dutch people for the program. KRO-NCRV can now confirm two 'mismatches' of Dutch people who are not linked to the correct biological parents in Colombia.

The program is shocked and says it has been working with local correspondents with full confidence for years. These are experienced researchers who have a large network in the local adoption world. They help program participants in their search for biological family, such as adopted children who are looking for their biological parents.

dubious reputation

In Colombia this is an older woman who, according to her LinkedIn page, has been working for Spoorloos for about a quarter of a century. According to sources, she has a dubious reputation in the adoption world. "She linked me for an amount of 1000 euros to a man and a woman who she knew were my parents," says Marcia Engel. ,,She said: these are your mother and father, and then she disappeared from view without any aftercare. She didn't point me to having a DNA test and actually cracked me up. Only after nine years did I find out that it is not my father at all. It is a great scandal that she is still allowed to work for such a large program as Spoorloos .”

Engel is the founder of Plan Angel, an organization with more than fifty volunteers that has been committed to Colombia adoptees and their families since 2008. She finds it 'saying' that Spoorloos has given a stage for years to the woman who linked her to the wrong people. "She has been working premeditatedly for years with shadowy figures who are guilty of major abuses within the adoption in Colombia. It is painful that we, the taxpayers, are indirectly paying for its shoddy work.”

Unfriendly

The wildest stories circulate in the world about the Spoorloos correspondent, which cannot be independently confirmed. It is clear that she was forced to leave Wereldkinderen in 2004. This is an organization that mediates in intercountry adoption. The woman worked as a sales representative in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, and was in close contact with adoptive parents for many years. That didn't always go smoothly. Many complaints were received about her behavior and way of working, confirms the then director Ina Hut. She therefore decided to terminate the woman's employment when she reached retirement age.

There were signals from adoptive parents that she would enrich herself financially at their expense, Hut says. She was also unfriendly and unhelpful to the adoptive parents. “I have discussed this extensively with the editor-in-chief of Spoorloos . He did not consider intervention necessary, because the woman would do a good job for the program. Well, I would have made a different choice," says the ex-director.

The woman vigorously resisted terminating her employment with Wereldkinderen, but without success. Her former manager is now calling for an independent investigation into the ins and outs of Spoorloos . "For example, it's really amazing that they started working with DNA tests so late." It has only been since 2019 that standard DNA testing has been carried out in all searches. "An institute like Spoorloos should know better," a spokesperson for the Donorkind Foundation responds. "Such a program should always verify a family connection, right?"

This program has made hundreds of correct matches. It can happen a few times and it doesn't surprise me so much

René Hoksbergen, Emeritus Professor of Adoption

Contact with fixer

KRO-NCRV confirms that the correspondent, who has already passed eighty, is still working for the program. ,,She is a regular correspondent of Spoorloos . She hires intermediaries on our behalf, in areas where it is difficult to find. Obviously we have been in contact with her in recent days.” About her contact with the discredited Colombian fixer , the spokesperson says: "She has been working with this person for a long time. We don't know if she was cheated by him too."

The broadcaster has not yet responded to the question whether the history and complaints about the correspondent were known. She first wants to see Van der Spek's broadcast tonight 'in the interest of our searchers' to find out what the findings are. In any case, the broadcaster promises to screen the 'local people' who participate in Spoorloos more carefully from now on. “For fieldwork in remote or more dangerous areas, our correspondents sometimes also hire local people to search. We will do the screening of these local people even more carefully in the future.

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