Police have busted a child trafficking racket, and rescued six babies (aged between 11 months to 2.5 years) in Karnataka's Tumakuru district. Four people, including an owner of a private hospital and three nurses who allegedly sold babies to childless couples have been arrested.

The accused have been identified as Mahesh, a nurse at a government hospital in Kunigal, and Mehboob Shariff (owner of a private hospital). Two female nurses, Sowjanya and Poornima, who were the delivery nurses involved in the case.

Mahesh and Mehboob Shariff used to secure babies from parents who didn't want the child and sold the baby to other couples for Rs 2–3 lakh by illegal adoption procedure.

These babies were mostly born out of extra marital affairs or pre-marital affairs and hence, their biological parents didn't want to keep the babies.

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The indictment alleges that the children were forced to work on the couple's farmland because of their race and treated as slaves.

A wealthy white couple in West Virginia has been charged with human trafficking, forced labour and child neglect. The couple, Donald Ray Lantz (63) and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather (62), allegedly subjected their five adopted black children to forced labour and confinement, WNews reported.

The children, aged 6-16, were found living in deplorable conditions. Two teens were locked in a filthy shed without basic amenities, while another child was in a loft in the main house.

The indictment alleges the children were forced to work on the couple's farmland because of their race and treated as slaves. The couple allegedly also prohibited them from entering the main house, reported the outlet.

The couple faces multiple charges, including human trafficking, forced labour involving minors, and child neglect, creating a substantial risk of severe injury or death. They pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday, WCHSTV reported.

The investigation began after a neighbour reported concerns about the well-being of children.

Police found two teenagers, a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, locked in a shed on the couple's property. The shed had no lights, running water, or mattresses, only an RV porta-potty. The teens told police they were forced to sleep on the concrete floor and were last fed 12 hours prior.

The boy had open sores on his bare feet, and both children wore dirty clothes and smelled of body odour. A 9-year-old girl was found inside the residence, while an 11-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl were brought to the property later by the couple.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers described the indictment as “one of the worst" she has ever seen, citing allegations of human trafficking and racial targeting. “It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labour,” Judge Akers said, as per the NY Post. “These children were targeted because of their race, and they were used basically as slaves from what the indictment alleges.” 

Judge Akers increased the couple's bond from $200,000 to $500,000 each, citing the severe nature of the human trafficking and child neglect charges. She stated that the initial bond was insufficient due to the risk of bodily harm or death involved. The case will go to trial on September 9.

Paralakhemundi : An incredible inspiration for those childless parents who deserve foster care by adopting those vulnerable children of Gajapati.This indeed a landmark perhaps care & protection of those children a great grip for their rising.Again by DCPU(District Child Protection Unit)handed over their 55th adoption care.Jharkhand couple showed interest for adoption.
That girl child who had no claim of parents had been restored & rehabilitated at Utkal Balashram for all care & management.Later under central child adoption portal that girl details uploaded to acknowledge those childless parents.So by seeing such information Jharkhand couple applied for adoption. That girl’s age is 14.After proper verification of that couple district administration conveyed their signal for adoption. The couple looked happy while received that child.
On this occasion Collector Smrutiranjan Pradhan,ADM(Revenue) Birendra Kumar Das, DCPO Arun Kumar Tripathi,Dr.Milan Kumar Adhikari,Nisaan Salem institution care taker Pratyush Kumar Surya, Chairman of CWC Aswini Kumar Mahapatra & members of DCPU were present.

Investigating the theft of a 11-month-old boy, the Tumakuru police unearthed an infant trafficking racket and arrested a gang of five, including three nurses, allegedly involved in selling newborn babies to prospective clients. The gang reportedly has been active for the past two years and sold nine toddlers, said the police.

The accused on June 9 sneaked into a house and stole the 11-month-old boy, Raki, while the family was asleep in another room, near Channabasaveshwara temple, Tumakuru city, according to the police.

District Superintendent of Police K.V. Ashok formed a special team which tracked down Ramakrishna and his associate Hanumantharaju, who were working as daily-wage labourers. Based on their information, the police arrested Mubarak, a tamarind dealer from Belluru Cross, and rescued Raki.

According to the police, Mubarak had three daughters and wanted a son. He approached the accused through Mahesh, a manager of a private hospital, and allegedly offered ₹1.7 lakh. Mahesh, in turn, engaged Ramakrishna and Hanumantharaju and allegedly gave them ₹30,000 each after they handed over Raki.

The police arrested Mahesh and two other staff nurses, working in private hospitals, identified as Soujanya and Poornima, for allegedly being part of the racket. During questioning, the accused reportedly confessed to have operated for the last two years and to have sold nine babies to different couples.

Coimbatore: The Karumathampatti all-woman police on Wednesday evening arrested a 54-year-old man in Andhra Pradesh for ‘buying’ a seven-day-old baby boy from a child trafficking racket operating out of Bihar. With this, the number of arrested people in connection with the case has gone up to six.

An investigation officer identified the arrested person as S Srirama Chandra Murthy Devarasetti, a truck driver from Indiramma Colony at Devarapalli in Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.

On Thursday, he was produced before a judicial magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody. He was later lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison.

The officer said the truck driver had bought the baby boy from a Bihar-based couple, who were running a hotel in Coimbatore, for 2.5 lakh.

According to the officer, H Neha Kumari and her mother H Poonam Devi, of Darbhanga district in Bihar, had kidnapped a baby girl and a baby boy from their state and handed them over to M Maheshkumar, 34, and his wife Anjalikumari, 24, a couple from Bihar who were running a hotel at Appanaickenpatti near Sulur.

Not knowing where your child is. For Yoo-hee (69), this has been the nightmare she has been living in for almost forty years. In 1987, she gave birth to a cloud of a baby in South Korea, but before she could hold it once, her son was taken away. “Against my will,” the mother testifies. An adoption service brought him to Belgium and since then there has been no trace. The Korean woman tells her story for the first time. Desperate, she begs: “I want to be able to hug my son just once before I die.”

Jeroen Bossaert 27-06-24, 06:00

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The Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022, which establishes a regulatory framework for the establishment of a regulatory agency to oversee AHR in the state was passed without a vote in the Dáil yesterday. 

It includes measures which limits surrogacy within the state to couples in which the child will have a “genetic link to at least one intending parent,” and that there is no commercial transaction involved.  

However, the Bill also gives legal recognition to children who were born to surrogate mothers outside of the state and provides a framework for the licensing of commercial agencies engaged in international surrogacy. That recognition and the facilitating of such arrangements, all of which are commercial, in the future is in fact the main burden of the legislation.  The proportion of non-commercial arrangements within Ireland is likely to be a much smaller proportion.

It is notable that very few of the media reports on the passing of the legislation referred to the commercial aspects of international surrogacy, nor to any of the considerable criticisms of the practise. 

That avoidance of the monetary aspects is made easier by the fact that the only reference to the commercial nexus is covered by “reasonable expenses.”

A group of Greenland-born people have sought compensation from Denmark over allegations the state facilitated their illegal adoption by Danish families starting in the 1950s, their lawyer said on Friday.

Greenland was a colony of Denmark but has been autonomous since 1979, and relations between them are shadowed by their past.

Lawyer Mads Pramming told radio P1 that four of his Greenland-born clients have sought compensation of 250,000 kroner ($35,800) each on accusations the Danish authorities knowingly facilitated their adoptions.

"These Greenlanders thought they had placed their children in foster care, but they had not realised that was for life and they would not see their children again," Pramming said in the P1 interview.

In a 2020 interview, former head of Greenland's social services Alfred Dam compared the situation on the island in the 1960s to "self-service."

The case about the closure of international adoption to Denmark is characterized by deeply serious irregularities from both the Danish Appeals Board and the Ministry of Social Affairs. It is unacceptable.

In her response to our chronicle , written by a group of adopters from Danish International Adoption's waiting list on 15 June, Social Affairs Minister Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil expresses sympathy for our situation , which we are happy about.

However, the minister refers to the Danish Appeals Board's criticism of Danish International Adoption from January this year, as well as the Norwegian authorities' recent recommendation to withdraw the permits to mediate adoptions from South Africa.

At the same time that Rosenkrantz-Theil refers to Norway's recommendation, the Norwegian authorities in their  report from June point  to the Danish minister's suspension from January as a contributing factor to their decision. Common to both the Danish and Norwegian authorities is that no one seems to have provided documentation that demonstrates serious errors or challenges in adoptions from South Africa.

Over 60 million children have lost one or both parents throughout the world due to different causes.  The HIV/AIDS pandemic is adding significantly to this number.

We know that children need and have a right to be cared for by their parents and to grow up in a family environment as much as possible.  This has been recognized through years of experience and research as well as formally recognized under national and international laws.  In many countries, however, few or no mechanisms exist to ensure the most appropriate placements, encourage and support guardianship and adoption arrangements, and provide support and monitoring for foster families.  Much needs to be done to prevent separation by supporting families and to develop better care alternatives when separation is inevitable.  National and international actors need to establish and enforce appropriate legal standards to ensure the safety, well-being, and healthy development of children placed in care, including continued efforts towards reunification and permanency.

Establishment and Expansion of the Better Care Network

Recognizing the urgent need for concerted action, UNICEF, the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the Africa Bureau for Sustainable Development of USAID, and Save the Children UK, came together to form the Better Care Network (BCN) in 2003.  This decision was influenced by the Stockholm Conference on Residential Care in May 2003 and the position paper presented there by the Save the Children Alliance, "A Last Resort: The Growing Concern About Children in Residential Care," and by workshops on better care issues in Africa and the United States.  During its first two years, BCN existed as a loose affiliation of organizations exchanging information through a growing listserve.  As the listserve grew, and more information was shared via the network, the organizations mentioned above, together with CARE and the Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), agreed that BCN served a vital role, and should expand its scope through the creation of a formal secretariat to support its work.  Each organization agreed to contribute resources to strengthen BCN and to serve on its steering committee.  In August 2005, BCN's secretariat was established.  The secretariat is based at UNICEF headquarters and operates with the guidance and direction of the steering committee, which meets once a year.