(Photo by Camille BAS-WOHLERT / AFP)

Norway’s final report on international adoptions has turned Costa Rica’s recent file review into a sharper official finding: Norwegian authorities did not do enough to understand how some Costa Rican children were declared abandoned before being sent abroad for adoption.

Costa Rica Videos

A Norwegian commission is questioning the procedures that led to 101 Costa Rican children being declared abandoned and sent abroad for adoption. What were the findings of this investigation?

A commission created by the Norwegian government to investigate possible irregularities in international adoptions questioned the way in which dozens of minors were declared abandoned in our country before being sent abroad for adoption.

The findings are part of an independent investigation into international adoptions to Norway from 1960 to 2024, a period in which 20,464 adoptions of children from 36 countries were carried out in that country. 

The study dedicated an entire chapter to Costa Rica, as between 1975 and 1992, Norwegian families adopted 101 children of Costa Rican origin. The adoptions were carried out through the agency Adopsjonsforum and in coordination with the National Children's Welfare Board (PANI).

Three adoptees from Chile have sued the Danish state for violating their right to family life. The plaintiffs claim the state approved, promoted, and contributed to their illegal adoptions despite possessing their “deficient” and “questionable” adoption papers. They argue that the state failed to effectively supervise the private organizations responsible for bringing them to Denmark.

Each plaintiff has demanded 250,000 kroner in compensation, a claim the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing has rejected. Previously, eight adoptees from South Korea also sued the Danish state in similar cases, demanding 250,000 kroner each for human rights violations due to insufficient control over adoptions.

I was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1955.

Nearly seventy years later, I am still trying to prove who I am.

For most people, the facts of their birth are straightforward. They know who their parents are, where they come from, and how their story began. Their identity is supported by family history, records, photographs, and shared memories.

My search for the truth about my birth has taken nearly thirty years and is still not over.

I was almost forty years old before I learned that Donna Kole existed.

About the investigation

The Independent Investigation into Historical Intercountry Adoptions from the Republic of Korea to Australia will review adoptions from the Republic of Korea (ROK) to Australia between 1964 and 1999.

The investigation responds to long-standing concerns raised by adoptees, families and advocates. It aims to examine Australia’s role in these adoptions. It also aims to support transparency, accountability and healing.

Robert Cook will lead the investigation. He has over 30 years of legal and judicial experience. This includes a decade as an Australian Capital Territory Magistrate and Coroner and 3 years as Head of the Children’s Court.

We have engaged external auditors to assist with the investigation.

Ukrainian Refugee Child at Centre of Italy-Kyiv Adoption Dispute; 82 Other Cases Under Review

An Italian court has approved the adoption of a Ukrainian teenager who was evacuated to the country in 2022, sparking an international dispute with Kyiv over whether the child should remain in Italy or be returned to his living mother in Ukraine. The case has raised questions about how host countries are handling wartime child evacuations and whether some placements have crossed the line from temporary refuge into permanent adoption against the wishes of surviving parents.

The Case of Sasha

The boy, identified as Sasha and now 15 years old, was evacuated to Lecce in southern Italy in 2022 as part of a larger group of Ukrainian children seeking temporary safety during Russia's invasion. According to CNN reporting, the juvenile court in Lecce approved his adoption by the Italian family that had been fostering him since his arrival, making him a permanent resident of Italy rather than a refugee able to return home.

The decision carries particular weight because of Sasha's family circumstances. His father went missing while fighting against Russian forces, and his mother remains alive in Ukraine, never having lost her parental rights. According to available sources, his two sisters have been permitted to return to Ukraine, leaving Sasha isolated from his remaining family.

The Albanese Labor Government is delivering on its election commitment to undertake an independent investigation into historic Republic of Korea-Australia intercountry adoptions.

Recently the Government commenced the investigation and appointed Magistrate Robert Cook to lead it. The Government has now released the Terms of Reference and is inviting adoptees to express their interest in sharing adoption files and personal experiences.

Following the Republic of Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, this process will support a deeper understanding of the impacts of historic adoption practices on Australian adoptees and their families, while also shedding light on Australia's role in the program.

The independent investigation into historical intercountry adoptions from the Republic of Korea to Australia will review adoptions from the Republic of Korea to Australia between 1964 and 1999. It responds to long-standing concerns raised by adoptees, families and advocates and aims to understand Australia's role in these adoptions.

In last month's Budget, the Government invested an additional $4.1 million over four years to boost support for individuals and families impacted by intercountry adoption through Intercountry Adoptee and Family Support Services (ICAFSS).

The governor says policy has already saved lives, while ACLU called the decision ‘a painful setback’

This story was originally published by Source New Mexico.

The New Mexico Supreme Court on Monday sided with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and unanimously denied a petition filed last month requesting reversal of a policy mandating the removal of newborns exposed to drugs and alcohol.

The case stems from a July 2025 directive the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department issued requiring staff to take immediate custody of newborns with diagnoses of fetal alcohol syndrome or substance-exposure with “no exceptions.”

In 2019, the New Mexico Legislature updated its mandatory reporting laws to include language that a pregnant women using or abusing drugs “shall not alone form a sufficient basis to report child abuse or neglect.”

Lynda Hall grew up wondering where she came from.

At 17, she worked up the courage to ask her adoptive parents about her birth mother, wanting to know more than the story of a “beautiful, young woman who happened to be pregnant.”

They shared her biological mother’s last name, the age she gave birth and where she was from. Then, Hall took those clues and retraced her family tree, combing through newspapers, birth and death notices and city directories.

Her research led her to Thunder Bay, Ont., where, at 25, she met with the relatives who connected her to her biological mother. 

“It was pretty wild,” Hall said, now 63, recalling how her mother shared parts of her life, including surviving abusive relationships. “She then asked, ‘Do you still want to have anything to do with me?’” 

Criminal markets often treat human beings as commodities. Victims of human trafficking are bought and sold mainly for forced labour or sex, while migrants are smuggled for a price, sometimes under conditions that cost them their lives. There is even a black market for babies.

Over the past 70 years, as many as 10 000 babies have allegedly disappeared from maternity hospitals across Serbia under questionable circumstances.1

After months of investigation, which covered several ministries, local self-government authorities and health care and other institutions, the Serbian Ombudsman identified a number of omissions in the work of competent public authorities and institutions vested with public powers, which are listed in the relevant sections of the Report of the Protector of Citizens on the So-called “Missing Babies” Cases with Recommendations, Protector of Citizens, Belgrade, 29 July 2010, https://www.ombudsman.org.rs/attachments/article/117/Missing%20babies%20cases%20report%20-%20Serbian%20ombudsman.doc. Close footnote

The story is always the same: parents are told that their child died after birth, but they were neither allowed to see the child’s body nor told where it was buried. As one mother testified in 2018 about her 1988 case, ‘a doctor came to me and told me … that my baby was dead. They said it was better not to see the dead child because I would remember that image for the rest of my life.’2

Adriana Jankovic, ‘Idi kući, rađaćeš još Potresne ispovesti roditelja koji sumnjaju da su im deca ukradena u porodilištu, Blic, 12 February 2018, https://www.blic.rs/vesti/drustvo/idi-kuci-radjaces-jos-potresne-ispovesti-roditelja-koji-sumnjaju-da-su-im-deca/ls1hl1f. Close footnote