The ban on adopting children from abroad is causing a lot of commotion among adopted children and adoptive parents. "I think it is a careless decision," says Sander Vlek, advisor at the National Association for Adoptive Families. "I miss the central focus on the interests of the child in this plan."

New adoption procedures are no longer possible since yesterday . Caretaker Minister Weerwind for Legal Protection decided to stop this immediately. Only people who already have an adoption procedure in progress are still eligible.

But adoption from abroad is a measure to protect children, says Vlek. "I miss the evidence that children in countries of origin have a realistic chance of finding a loving family."

At the same time, there are also organizations that applaud the adoption stop, such as International Child Development Initiatives. "The past has shown that abuses cannot be ruled out," says program manager Sarah de Vos of the children's advocacy organization.

Years of discussion

S Africans urged to adopt and foster children to ensure the protection of youngsters

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

With the Child Protection Week campaign in full swing, the Department of Social Development (DSD) has encouraged South Africans to seek alternative care for their children if they are unable to care for them.

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu launched Child Protection Week on Sunday in Kimberley, Northern Cape. 

Stichting Wereldkinderen has read the news about the latest developments regarding intercountry adoption. On Tuesday 21 May at 18:00 we received the documents that were shared with the First and Second Chamber from the Ministry of Justice and Security. In these documents, Minister Weerwind indicates that it is not possible to not implement the motion of 16 April or to implement it only to a limited extent. In contrast to the position that Minister Weerwind defended during the debate on 3 April, he has now decided to come up with a phase-out plan for intercountry adoption in the Netherlands in September. The minister indicates that intercountry adoption procedures that have already started will continue for the time being.

The minister has asked FIOM not to process any new registrations for intercountry adoption. Quote from the minister: ''The already planned information meeting will go ahead, but I have asked FIOM to explicitly state that it must be taken into account that a possible adoption procedure cannot be continued as a result of the phasing-out plan.'' In the phasing-out plan, the minister wants to keep the term limited. According to the minister, a change in the law is needed to facilitate the phasing-out. The country selection, as previously carried out, remains in force during this phasing-out. Since there is no longer a need for a central mediation organisation, the procedure for establishing IAN has been stopped.

In the interest of the child, the Wereldkinderen foundation believes that as long as there is a real need for intercountry adoption in the countries of origin, it should be possible for prospective adoptive parents in the Netherlands to give a child a loving home. We are convinced that this need still exists in the countries of origin. We know that there are parents who want to give children a loving home. We therefore find it very sad that the government no longer supports this international child welfare measure. 

The newly appointed special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse brings an unshowy sense of determination to her mission

Patricia Carey was born in a mother and baby home, and then adopted, but it was not something she talked about when she became chief executive of the Adoption Authority of Ireland more than four decades later.

“I made a conscious decision when I worked for the adoption authority not to discuss my own personal origins,” she says. “I didn’t want it to colour my professionalism.”

But when taking up the new role of special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse in March this year, Carey felt it was important to share that she had been born in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, Co Cork, in 1971. She believes it gives her “a little bit of an edge” in understanding this particular part of Ireland’s dark, yet very recent, social history.

Ian Forber-Pratt is many things, but what’s immediately, indelibly, evident is that he is a man of focus. Though his route has been circuitous, he’s been guided by an unwavering and intensely personal mission. “It was very clear to me that I needed to be connected to India, since I was born there, and give back in some way.”

An adoptee from India who earned a graduate degree in sociology, Forber-Pratt combined the macro and the micro, infusing his policy understanding with a personal drive to provide a better future for Indian children less fortunate than he. “I sold everything and moved to India with the idea of starting the first foster care organization in India.”

His persistence paid off, and Forber-Pratt made history, founding Foster Care India (now called the Indian Foster Care Society). Recognizing the need for governmental policy to protect and buttress his organization’s work, Forber-Pratt soon found himself writing and lobbying for child protection legislation in India, and later, for Sri Lanka and other countries. 

However, this much needed and life-saving work put him in the crosshairs of child-trafficking crime rings. Turning that focus to the safety of his own burgeoning family, Forber-Pratt relocated to the United States and put his policy experience to work again, founding the Institute for Child Welfare Innovation. 

Ian Forber-Pratt has since sold the Institute for Child Welfare Innovation and is working to create systemic, holistic protections in place for children around the globe, as the deputy executive director of Chidren’s Emergency Relief International, or CERI. 

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MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Thursday allowed a couple from Hyderabad to meet their 7-month-old adoptive child, who was allegedly trafficked, at a children’s home in Mahalaxmi three hours daily for six days a week. 

Vacation bench of Justices Sandeep Marne and Neela Gokhale modified their order, passed on Tuesday, that had allowed them visitation rights for 12 hours daily. 

“Accordingly it is directed that petitioners shall have the right to visit the child between 3 pm and 6 pm every day from Mon to Sat,” they added. 

The couple had filed a habeas corpus petition to direct the Child Welfare Committee to produce the child and hand over her custody to them. Their petition said that since their marriage in 2015, the wife had three miscarriages. Her aunt introduced them to a couple from Visakhapatnam who wanted to give the fifth child up for adoption. 

On Sept 23, both parties executed a deed of adoption and the seven-day-old baby was brought home. Since then the couple has taken care of her. On April 29 a team from Mumbai Crime Branch–Unit II “forcibly” took the baby away. They informed that the aunt was arrested in an FIR registered at Vikhroli police station for trafficking. 

GRONINGEN - The Public Prosecution Service is prosecuting 19-year-old Jamesley S. from Warffum for the murder of his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend Jet from the Groningen village of Winsum. The Public Prosecution Service found Snapchat videos on his phone that showed the young man had made a plan to kill the girl. On February 21, he waited for Jet in Winsum for an hour. When she was near her parental home, he stabbed her in the back without saying anything.

This was announced on Thursday during a first preliminary hearing in the criminal case in the Groningen court. Jamesley S. has confessed. Jet allegedly wanted to end her relationship with Jamesley S., but according to the Public Prosecution Service, "no motive has yet been found" during the investigation.

That one stab was fatal for Jet. She was found seriously injured on the AS Blécourtlaan and died shortly afterwards. Jamesley, in addition to the knife, also appeared to have taken a full-face helmet, ski goggles and a bag of clothing to Winsum. He was quickly arrested and confessed that he had killed Jet.

During the first session, a visibly affected Jamesley S. remained silent. He seemed intimidated by the full room with emotional relatives and friends of Jet, a camera crew and many journalists writing.

Hesquiat boy Dontay Lucas died in Port Alberni in 2018 of blunt-force trauma to the head

A woman holds a photo of Dontay Lucas outside the Port Alberni courthouse on Thursday, May 16, 2024, ahead of sentencing in the Hesquiat boy's manslaughter case. (Claire Palmer/CBC)

The mother and stepfather of deceased Hesquiat boy Dontay Lucas were both sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison for manslaughter in the disturbing killing of the six-year-old in 2018.

As an Indian adoptee, I found my birth mother which is kind of a miracle , yet I am upset with life

Adoptee Life Story

I (20f) was adopted from India when I was a toddler by my adoptive parents who are Indian as well. We moved to the states after a few years. My adoptive parents have been quite open with me about my adoption. Generally, we Indian adoptees can never find our origins as all adoptions are closed and there is a lot of stigma. A couple of months back, I took a DNA test on 23&me and matched with my cousin. I was so happy at this as it was totally unexpected. She too lives in US. I texted her immediately. My cousin texted back but she didn’t know about me. She was very sweet to me and told me that her mother has only one sister who could be my mother and said she will find out.

It seems my existence caused a sort of a frenzy in the family. My cousin asked her mother about me. My aunt informed my mother and they told my cousin not to talk to me. My mother’s husband doesn’t know about me. No one in my family wants me to associate with them. My cousin got back to me and said I was the product of an affair, my father had left my mother then and she found out about the pregnancy a little too late. Since my mother was unmarried , she gave me away to an orphanage. My cousin told me she can’t talk to me anymore as she wants to respect my mother’s wishes. I said that it’s understandable but I begged for my mother’s name and basic details, promising that I will never contact her. My cousin reluctantly gave it to me and then we never spoke.