Last week, a report from The Associated Press in collaboration with Frontline stated that untold numbers of South Korean children had been stolen from their families, trafficked into international adoption through widespread fraud.

The stewardship of internationally adopted children has long been a subject of concern and rumor. Earlier this month, China abruptly stopped their international adoption program, and other countries have recently done the same. From Romania to Vietnam to Chile, rumors of stolen children adopted by unsuspecting American and European parents have endured. Now they are being proven true.

In 1995, after years of miscarriages, including the loss of twins, the advice from my doctors, therapists and everyone I talked to was to adopt, and I welcomed the idea. I was in my mid-thirties — “old” by adoption standards — and I knew I wanted any child I raised to have a sibling. I decided to adopt two children at once.

I received pictures of two babies. With them were documents showing blurry, black-and-white copies of government ID photos of their birth mothers, along with the papers that relinquished the rights to their children.

My sons and I lived a life of closeness, love and all the frustration of a mother single-parenting two boys: video games, smelly rooms, homework, the magically emptying refrigerator, bedtime stories and birthday parties.

Eight-year-old Grace Welch has been waiting since 2019 for her older sister to occupy the bed next to hers.

Her parents had told her that, Penelope, a 10-year-old born in China, would be joining the family, who live in Kentucky in the US.

Grace, also adopted from China, was born without her left forearm. Her mother, Aimee Welch, said Penelope too has a “serious but manageable” special need, although she did not wish to disclose it.

The Welch family, who have four biological sons, sought to adopt children with disabilities after the birth of a nephew without arms.

“He taught us all what a person with limb differences can achieve with the right love and support. His birth started us on the path towards adopting Grace,” Ms Welch said. “We believe in the dignity and worth of each person, just as they are, in all their diversity.”

In his lifetime, Ratan Tata was often compared to Jamshedji Tata and JRD Tata. But what many may find interesting is that Ratan Tata would never have acceded to the Tata throne had his father Naval Tata not been adopted by Navajbai Tata

Former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata breathed his last in Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital at 11:30pm on Wednesday. The industrialist leaves behind a formidable legacy in the corporate world, having a staid group into India’s largest and most influential conglomerate with a string of eye-catching deals.

Given his successes in the business world and the charitable causes close to his heart, Ratan Tata has often been compared to Jamshedji Tata and JRD Tata. But what many may find interesting is that Ratan Tata’s father Naval Tata, who was born on August 30, 1904, was only a distant relative of the Tata business family.

Naval Tata’s father worked as a spinning master at Ahmedabad Advance Mills. In 1908, Naval lost his father at the age of four, following which his mother took him to Gujarat’s Navsari where she started working on embroidery to make ends meet.

In these circumstances, Naval Tata was sent to the JN Petit Parsi Orphanage, where he met Navajbai Tata, wife of Sir Ratanji Jamsetji Tata. Navajbai decided to adopt Naval when he was 13. Following this, Naval Tata was given formal education and he graduated in Economics from the University of Bombay. He then went to London where he enrolled in courses related to accounting.

The court was disposing off a PIL by NGO Advait Foundation seeking a moratorium on foreigners adopting Indian children, alleging that many children who are illegally taken away faced post-adoption abuse.

Observing that children required to be protected from abuse and trafficking, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to frame effective regulations within three months for making inter-country adoptions foolproof and transparent.

This was after the Ministry for Child and Women Development and Central Adoption Research Agency (CARA) told SC that a legal framework for intra and intercountry adoption has been provided in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 which came into effect from January 15. The rules and regulations are yet to be framed by CARA, the nodal agency for adoption, which also has to issue certain directions to state governments.

"We are told that the new Act is a comprehensive legislation on subjects involving care and protection of children including adoption. So a legislative framework is there but some regulations are required to make it effective. We hope and trust the authorities concerned take speedy steps. Children are to be protected against abuse and trafficking. The beneficial legislation may be made more effective to provide succor to children who may be adopted by framing necessary rules and regulations," said a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur.

"Central government shall expeditiously frame model rules. The centre shall also take up matter with state government. Interest of children is supreme whether it is in-country or intercountry adoption. The mechanism should be effective, transparent and credible," said the bench.

The Court held that “the prosecution of the petitioner is sugarcoated with ill-intention and made to belittle his image in the society.” ...

Madhya Pradesh High Court: In a writ petition seeking quashment of an FIR registered against the petitioner, who operates an orphanage, for alleged involvement in male trafficking under Section 370 of the IPC, a single-judge bench of Sanjay Dwivedi, J., quashed the FIR alleging male trafficking as the essential elements of Section 370 IPC were absent. 

Factual Matrix I

n the instant matter, the petitioner, Aadhaarshila Sansthan, operates two institutions (i) Bal Bhawan (earlier known as Central India Christian Mission), an orphanage registered as a Child Care Institution under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act) and Central India Academy, a residential school not falling under the JJ Act’s Child Care Institution definition.

In a communication dated 06-08-2024, the City Superintendent of Police, Damoh, sought detailed records regarding children residing in Bal Bhawan and raised concerns about how they were received, their medical records, and whether proper notifications to authorities were made

Following this, an FIR was registered against the petitioner on 07-08-2024, for offenses under Sections 370(3), 370(4), and 34 of the IPC, along with Section 80 of the JJ Act. The FIR was grounded on allegations of improper post-adoption follow-up of two children, ‘X-Bhosle’ and ‘X-Dhurvey’, who were reportedly found living at the orphanage after being adopted. The petitioner filed the present writ petition seeking to quash both the communication dated 06-08-2024 and the FIR.

The GLP Thurgau has submitted a simple request to the government council to shed light on the illegal adoptions of Indian children between 1973 and 2002. Several cases are said to concern the canton of Thurgau.

The report "Mother Unknown", which was commissioned by the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau, "reveals serious misconduct", according to a statement from the Thurgau Green Liberals. Many adoptions were carried out without the consent of the biological mothers and on the basis of forged documents.

"The adoptions were not just acts of charity, but also a business model," the GLP states. Homes in India released children for adoption and received money from Switzerland. "Despite missing or incomplete documents, the relevant authorities in Thurgau approved the adoptions. This means that the canton shares responsibility."

From: Arun Dohle [mailto:arun.dohle@gmx.de]

Sent: Dienstag, 19. Juli 2005 19:44

To: 'JAIA@yahoogroups.com'

Subject: TDH

Well finally I met today with Mr. Wacker and Mrs. Holz from TDH.

Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Lack of proper monitoring is cause for worry

By Divya Ramamurthi

CHENNAI DEC. 26. Five years after adoption, polio-affected M.Cynthia was abandoned by her German parents. They sent her back to a friend's house in Chennai in September 2000 because of adjustment problems. The adoption scrutinising agencies had no idea that she was back in India or that she had been facing problems with her adoptive parents. They had no clue to her being treated as hired help by the Chennai family, says Vidya Shankar, Chairperson, Juvenile Welfare Board.

Pro Infante - Kinderkriegen in vier Tagen