I don't expect answers to all my questions, but they do keep me busy.

Binita Pinoy (28) traveled from Nepal to Belgium with her Flemish adoptive parents when she was four. She grew up in a suburb of Leuven, but moved to Mechelen with her boyfriend two years ago. "I feel more and more like a Mechelen resident," she says.   

I was born in Nepal but was adopted by a Flemish couple when I was four. I don't have many memories of that period, neither of my first years in Nepal nor of my arrival in Belgium. I was able to reconstruct some of it using photos and videos my adoptive parents took. It's funny: in those videos, you see me speaking Nepali, even though I don't speak a word of Nepali anymore.

It's always been clear to me that I was adopted. There was no secret about it. That was difficult, since I have a different skin color. Only later in life did I delve deeper into my own identity and the topic of adoption, and did I even address the emotional side of it. There was a period when I identified solely as Belgian and wanted to be recognized as such. I wanted little or nothing to do with Nepal. But the reverse also happened, where I valued everything non-Belgian more. Later, I came to embrace both backgrounds more. Today, I still feel more Belgian in some situations and more non-Belgian in others. 

My parents and I always stayed in touch through letters, using an intermediary in Nepal. Little is known about my biological mother, but through that intermediary, I kept in touch with my biological father and sister. That way, we stayed informed about each other's lives. It was my sister who first asked if I wanted to come visit.

Ask for explanation

Ask for explanationon the role of the Flemish Centre for Adoption in the investigation into abuses in historical adoptions

436 (2025-2026)

from Jeremie Vaneeckhout to Minister Caroline Gennez

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It wasn't just nuns who traded in babies, whether or not they had been forcibly relinquished, as seen in the VTM series "De Nonnen" (The Nuns). Fathers and brothers were also active in this industry, in which the Ghent adoption agency De Vreugdezaaiers played a key role. Marie (59) was born in a French hospital to a young Brabant mother and was smuggled by a priest to a home in Hasselt. "No one was allowed to know anything about the pregnancy."

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This article was written by Jan Stevens Published on October 13, 2025

When adoptees are placed in the right home, they are given chances they might never have had

I never understood adoption jokes growing up. As an adoptee, I could not grasp what was wrong with being adopted. To me, being adopted meant that I had a loving family who wanted me and loved me just the same as any biological child.

It was not until much later that I understood why adoption jokes were made: they only focused on the negative side of adoption. People focus on the implication that you were not wanted or are not related to your adoptive parents, both of which I see as largely inconsequential and not entirely true.

Yes, our biological parent(s) gave us up for adoption. Yes, we are not biologically related to our adoptive parents. But neither of those facts makes adoptive families less of a family.

These implications were personal for me, as my biological mother, Irma, gave me up for adoption because she was a pregnant, unwed woman in predominantly Catholic Guatemala. This, coupled with the fact that she was working to support herself most of the time, meant that she could not raise me and was ostracized by her family due to my very existence. She realized that giving me up for adoption would likely give me the very best chance at a good life, so she made an act of love, however painful it might have been.

She even had her U.S. passport on her.

ICE agents kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Chicago who had just finished working a double shift because she didn’t “look” American to them.

Maria Greeley, 44, was on her way home from her job at Beach Bar earlier this month when she was surrounded, seized, and zip-tied by three ICE masked agents without cause or warning and interrogated for an hour. ICE determined she was an undocumented immigrant because she didn’t “look like” a Greeley. Greeley, who was born in Illinois, is Latina and adopted. She had her U.S. passport on her when she was detained.

“I am Latina and I am a service worker,” Greeley said. “I fit the description of what they’re looking for now.... They said this isn’t real, they kept telling me I’m lying, I’m a liar,” she told The Chicago Tribune. “I told them to look in the rest of my wallet, I have my credit cards, my insurance.”

HELP a child eV – Children find parents – was founded by adoptive parents at the founding meeting on January 24, 2004.

All board members have adopted one or more children from abroad.

To achieve goals large and small, we need strong employees who, with their personal commitment, guarantee that an organization such as HELP a child eV - Children find parents - which pursues exclusively non-profit and charitable purposes, can operate and exist successfully.

All work on the association's board is carried out on a voluntary basis and is supported by numerous members and adoptive parents who volunteer.

Terrence McBride finds himself stuck.

He longs for his friends and family in Georgia and Texas, along with the job he was supposed to start at a golf course in Atlanta.

But the 63-year-old is recovering from a heart attack while living in a cramped rooming house in Saint John, N.B. — a city that’s unfamiliar. He says he feels emotionally and physically drained, just like his bank account.

His troubles began after he pulled up to the U.S. border in Calais, Maine on April 10. He told officials he’s an American citizen, but carries a Canadian passport.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the Association for Adopted Children and Families (VAG) will definitively cease its operations as of January 1, 2026.

Social developments, policy choices in the adoption landscape, and a sharp decline in membership in recent years have resulted in the Association for Adopted Children and Families' financial viability steadily declining. Unfortunately, the number of active volunteers has also steadily decreased, making this decision unavoidable.

We thank the loyal VAG members who have supported us over the years. We also extend a special thanks to the (former and current) volunteers who have selflessly dedicated themselves to the Association for Adopted Children and Families, often for many years. We worked entirely with volunteers who shared their experience as adoptees or (prospective) adoptive parents.

For over 30 years, the Association for Adopted Children and Families has been advocating for open information provision, honest preparation for prospective adoptive parents, and professional (after)care for adoptees and adoptive families. They have achieved this by organizing accessible training and meetings, featuring the VAG magazine, the VAG book service, VAG contact persons, training evenings, adoption cafés, family activities, and more.

Meeting, learning from each other's stories, and recognition are crucial for adoptees, adoptive parents, and prospective adoptees. This is what made our decision so difficult. But without structured and financial support from our volunteer association, offering high-quality activities and training for adoptive families, adoptees, and prospective adoptees is unfortunately no longer possible.

Herdecke: Emergency personnel stand next to a rescue helicopter. The newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer (SPD), was found in her apartment with life-threatening injuries.dpa

Shocking new details have emerged in the case of the knife attack on Herdecke's mayor-elect, Iris Stalzer. It's now known what drove the adopted daughter to commit the horrific act. Stalzer's behavior is unusual in one respect.

Shocking details of the investigation are emerging in the drama surrounding the knife attack on the mayor-elect of Herdecke. According to the report, the bloody conflict between the newly elected SPD politician Iris Stalzer and her 17-year-old adopted daughter in the basement of their apartment building is said to have lasted for an extended period. 

New details: Iris Stalzer didn't want to betray her daughter

Iris Stalzer had apparently felt threatened by her adopted daughter for some time. According to a report, the mayor of Herdecke visited a police station one day before the knife attack. The incident was again related to domestic violence.

Iris Stalzer, the mayor-elect of Herdecke, who was seriously injured in a knife attack, apparently contacted the police for help the day before the attack. According to information from the "Bild" newspaper, the 57-year-old SPD politician felt threatened by her adopted daughter and feared for her life.

On Monday, Stalzer reportedly appeared in person at the police station in Wetter/Ruhr. Her husband was away on a business trip at the time. "There were two personal contacts that day," a police spokesperson confirmed to the newspaper. "A case has been opened, and all necessary measures have been taken."