Victims and campaigners renew calls for state to admit responsibility for historic scandal in light of new evidence

An estimated 185,000 mostly unmarried young women in England and Wales were forced into giving up their babies between 1949 and 1976

Hundreds of women forced to give their babies up for adoption are renewing their calls for the UK government to follow Scotland and Wales in issuing a formal apology, in light of new evidence.

Dr Michael Lambert, a historian at Lancaster University, uncovered archival evidence that he believes shows responsibility does lie with the state.

Lambert told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he believes a lengthy “trail of exchange” within the civil service, and the “final reply”, proves that the government knew “in no uncertain terms” that language like “forced” and “no choice” were being used by adoption agencies. It demonstrates “government involvement” in the process, he added.

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Most "journey to the roots" stories conclude in easy reconciliation, says Cambodian-French director Davy Chou, who wanted to offer a counter perspective through "Return to Seoul", his critically-acclaimed film about an adoptee's search for connection and meaning.
    The film, currently streaming on MUBI India, revolves around Freddie, a 25-year-old French-Korean played by artist-sculptor Park Ji-min. On a whim, Freddie lands in Seoul, a trip that may look unplanned but what she is actually looking for is a way to connect with her biological parents.
    Chou said as someone who grew up with two cultural identities, he understands the confusion that comes with trying to make sense of one's origin.
    "In the 'journey to the roots' classical story, (there's) always some kind of happy, full closure happening at the end of the film. I just feel like, 'Guys, it's not that simple!' I was excited to offer a counter perspective on that kind of a classical film," he told PTI in an interview.
    Chou co-wrote "Return To Seoul" with his childhood friend Laure Badufle, who as a Korean-French adoptee, is also the real-life inspiration behind the movie.
    The director, whose parents fled Cambodia just before the Khmer Rouge genocide in 1975, recalled how it all started when Badufle asked him to accompany her to meet her biological father in South Korea in 2011.
    "If I was to imagine, I would have maybe imagined more tears and more like people sharing experiences. But it was very different. It's something that really shocked me because it was so emotional, but also maybe so different from what I would have expected from such a reunion," he said.
    Chou said Badufle, who is a yogini, life coach and artist, confided in him that she also felt frustrated with films and documentariese around the theme of adoption always ending in reconciliation "with yourself, all your identities and your culturally different families".
    "She said that was not her experience of meeting her biological father, which just brought up more questions. I relate to that because even though I'm not adopted, I myself have a different origin. Like Cambodia, which I decided to visit when I was 25, which is the same age as Freddie's in the beginning of the film," he said.
    Chou said he understands why the story of "Return To Seoul", which opened to glowing reviews at its Cannes Film Festival premiere in 2022, found a connection with the audiences.
    "A lot of us are like second generation or third generation of immigrants who are curious because they also have the chance to be able to travel, to go to the country where they're supposed to come from, but you often know nothing about or you believe you know something and you find out that you know nothing," he said.
    "That's very contemporary and thematic, but I rarely find it treated in the way that will speak to my own experience. So that's basically why I wanted to make the film," he added.
    Chou said it has been more challenging for Badufle to see "the chapter of her life re-emerge for two hours" on the big screen.
    "She watched the film at the same time with 1,000 people at Cannes, which is a bit brutal, and it was not a good experience, I would say," he admitted.
    Weeks after the Cannes screening, he said, they had coffee in Paris and the filmmaker thought his friend felt "a bit down" with all that was happening around the film.
    "Then, she came back to another screening. Participating and talking with the audience was an important moment for her to get back the ownership of her story. She felt good afterwards," he added.
    The success of the film and the way the story has resonated with other adoptees has also been comforting for Badufle, said Chou.
    "Even now, I think it's still a rollercoaster emotional thing for her, which is normal. It's not easy to see your life on the big screen and people discussing it everywhere. You don't really have control on that."

Sorina Săcărin, the little girl adopted a few years ago by a Romanian family from the USA despite the campaign of lies and hatred unleashed by Antena 3 and Romania TV, has become a happy and fulfilled young lady, who studies very well, plays the piano and violin and gives concerts. No one "stole" her "organs", as the little girl feared, in an abject and criminal way, the Şaramat family from Baia de Aramă, the one who had Sorina in foster care, a lie also supported by the televisions controlled by Dan Voiculescu and Sebastian Gosh.

In 2019, Antena 3 and Romania TV, but also B1 TV (through Sorina Matei, its employee at the time), launched a media lynching campaign, with the fight against the Justice and the prosecutors as its substrate. The lies spilled out of the studios drove the viewers crazy, on social networks reaching rumors such as the one that Sorina was kidnapped and that she is going to be ritually sacrificed or used as an organ donor. The two TV stations never paid for the crap said then.

Journalist Ioana Ene Dogioiu, one of the people who saved Sorina from the clutches of the foster carers who were exploiting her at the time, kept in touch with the girl's adoptive mother and constantly received news, films and photos with her.

Ioana Ene Dogioiu published photos of Sorina and her mother. We reproduce a few lines from the journalist's editorial, published on Spotmedia.ro .

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Department of State (the Department) is the lead Federal agency for implementation of the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention), the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA), and the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012 (UAA). Among other things, the IAA and UAA give the Secretary of State responsibility, by entering into agreements with one or more qualified entities and designating such entities as accrediting entities, for the accreditation of agencies and approval of persons to provide adoption services in intercountry adoptions. This notice is to inform the public that on June 2, 2022, the Department entered into a renewed agreement with Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity, Inc. (IAAME), designating IAAME as an accrediting entity (AE) for five years.

The text of the Memorandum of Agreement is included in its entirety at the end of this Notice.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 672 of 2023 In R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 16799 of 2022 With CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR STAY) NO. 2 of 2023 In R/LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 672 of 2023 ========================================================== REGISTRAR, BIRTH AND DEATH REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT Versus NITESHBHAI NARSHIBHAI MANGROLA ========================================================== Appearance: MR KAUSHAL D PANDYA(2905) for the Appellant(s) No. 1 for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2 ========================================================== CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.V.ANJARIA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J. C. DOSHI Date : 27/06/2023 ORAL ORDER (PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.V.ANJARIA)

On May 11th Korea marked the 18th anniversary of Adoption Day, intended to raise public awareness about adoption, promote a positive adoption culture, and encourage domestic adoption of children in need while safeguarding their rights and interests. For nearly two decades, the government has attempted to achieve these important goals through the enactment of new policies, but unanticipated barriers have limited their success.

With the longest-running adoption program in the world, Korea sent out more than 200,000 children between 1953 and 2022. Inter-country adoption was devised after the Korean War as a method of rescuing war orphans, but the demand for Korean children increased exponentially in the 1970s, reaching its highest point in the 1980s. In 1985 alone, 8,837 Korean children left for inter-country adoption, amounting to 1.35 percent of live births or more than one in 75 children, the highest rate anywhere in the world.

Inter-country adoptions declined in 2013 by two-thirds from their peak in 2004, due to a shortage of available children. This phenomenon became more salient during the COVID-19 pandemic because nations closed their borders for international travel. In this context, the pandemic functioned as a de facto moratorium on inter-country adoption. Nevertheless, inter-country adoption from Korea increased by nearly five percent from 2019 to 2020, becoming the third-largest source that year.

Inter-country adoption of Korean children has continued alongside alarmingly low fertility rates. According to Statistics Korea, the country's fertility rate fell to 0.78 in 2022 and is expected to keep dropping. A group of children's rights activists and the overseas Korean adoptee community ascribe the perpetuation of inter-country adoption to limited and often absent government interference, profit-driven practices, and powerful agencies influencing policies. However, some scholars (including this author) suggest that it may also stem from the country's collective wariness of differences. Those perceived as a threat to this moral order are thought as being unworthy of public assistance.

Historically, the Korean government seems to have used inter-country adoption programs as a mechanism for social exclusion. First, biracial children― those conceived of temporary relationships between Korean women and American servicemen or U.N. soldiers ― were sent abroad, because they were considered to be "racially contaminated" and thus considered unfit for Korean society. Between the late 1950s and the mid-1970s, close to 4,500 biracial children were sent abroad for adoption.

Gradually, Korean children, mostly born out of wedlock, have been offered for inter-country adoption. Korea underwent rapid industrialization in the 1960s, utilizing a labor force of young single women between the ages of 15 and 25. These women moved to large cities to financially support their families back home while working for exploitative wages. However, a lack of social support, inadequate sex education that emphasized women's chastity, and the financial burden of abortion led them to become unwed mothers, many of whom gave up their babies for adoption.

Lastly, children with disabilities or health challenges are more likely to be offered for inter-country adoption than domestic adoption. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, from 2018-2020, 1,025 infants were adopted domestically, with only 103 of them having a reported health condition. In contrast, during the same period, 852 children were placed for inter-country adoption with 341 of them having health issues. Historically, disability has been viewed as a moral problem, bringing disgrace to the family. Furthermore, these differences often instigate societal fear and discomfort. Therefore, it is considered the best for them to be removed from Korean society through adoption abroad.

Inter-country adoption has persisted in Korea for 70 years. If the government truly wants to terminate inter-country adoption, it needs to identify cultural and social barriers and develop a child welfare system indigenous to and appropriate for Korean culture. The system must recognize children of all backgrounds as relevant to the country and worthy of public assistance. Without this system in place, whenever "unfit" children are born, the Korean government will continue to look for quick solutions outside the country without making substantial efforts to solve them domestically. The result will be a continued legacy of perpetual dependency on inter-country adoption.


Ma Kyung-hee (kyungheem@daum.net) is a researcher and editor specializing in mental health.

MILAN. In Italy one becomes a parent in only two ways, by biological relationship or by adoption. Words entrusted to a newspaper by the Minister to the family and equal opportunities Eugenia Roccella after the events in Padua, where last month the prosecutor challenged the birth certificates of 33 children of two mothers. Parents by contract? No thank you. The Italian right (and not only) opposes the Gestation for others (Gpa) so much as to want to transform it into a universal crime and does not welcome other forms of medically assisted procreation either, such as heterologous fertilization which in any case is only allowed for heterosexual couples . Lombardy councilor Guido Bertolaso recently filed a complaint with the public prosecutor's office for a much-contested fertility fair held in Milan last May.

But if the falling birth rate is a problem, primarily for the Government which makes it a flag issue, can we perhaps answer that adoptions are a viable solution? We see. A same-parent couple who have resorted to surrogacy abroad can only resort to a special adoption in Italy, a procedure which requires the intervention of a judge of the Juvenile Court and which in any case does not guarantee a full adoption since not only does it leave the children out of the estate but it is also exposed to the risk of being challenged. A long journey with an uncertain outcome, a limbo of years, as the rainbow families denounce. Ordinary adoption, an option to which heterosexual couples have access, is currently excluded. Although difficult, foster care is possible, but what happens more often than not is that same-parent couples who sign up for lists are never called back. As for the transcripts of birth certificates in the Municipal Registry, the problem is the legislative vacuum, and for dads it is a road that almost always ends with an appeal.

The life of a "traditional" couple who want to adopt is not any easier. Years of waiting and postponements, of social workers and courts, of psychologists, interviews and assessments: a story already written. Like that of Angelo and Vittoria, eight years to embrace Andrea, a native of Burkina Faso, and a coup d'état in between which certainly didn't shorten the times. Or that of Laura and Stefano, also 'linked' to Burkina Faso, who received the suitability decree from the Court of Mestre in 2020 and today may have to wait another year at least before the country's definitive green light.

Ciai, one of the authorized bodies and active since 1968, denounces a "constant, dizzying and irreversible" drop in the number of international adoptions in Italy. In 2022 it concluded 16 (there were 20 in 2021, 14 in 2020) and as of 31 December there were 58 pending. Overall in Italy at the end of 2022, the Commission for international adoptions (Cai), which supervises compliance with the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 and operates within the Presidency of the Council of Ministers at the top of which Minister Roccella sits today, has counted 565 successful adoptions. They were 563 in 2021, 526 in 2020 and it is likely that we are heading towards a further reduction. In 2001, according to Istat data, there were almost 4,000 foreign minors adopted in Italy. There are 2,500 couples waiting, according to Ciai data, which moreover has recently opened to adoptions for singles and same-parent couples. What weighs heavily is the lack of children for reasons that concern the international scenario, from the demographic decline in countries such as China and Vietnam to conflicts such as the one in Ukraine, from nationalisms such as in the case of states such as Poland and Ethiopia, to the complications caused by administrative and judicial systems subject to continuous shocks, as in Burkina Faso, which combine to close the channels. But that's not all: the inefficiency of social services and juvenile justice also weighs heavily. to the complications caused by administrative and judicial systems subject to continuous shocks, as in Burkina Faso, which combine to close the channels. But that's not all: the inefficiency of social services and juvenile justice also weighs heavily. to the complications caused by administrative and judicial systems subject to continuous shocks, as in Burkina Faso, which combine to close the channels. But that's not all: the inefficiency of social services and juvenile justice also weighs heavily.

At least three adopted kids and their adopted parents were invited to the symposium.

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Congress, on Monday, has raised an objection after Union minister Smriti Zubin Irani got pictures clicked with adopted kids and parents at symposium, alleging violation of law. The opposition party has also demanded action against the organisers.

A symposium on child protection, safety and welfare organized by the union ministry of women and child development in Bhopal on Sunday, has fallen in controversy, over the union minister's pictures with adopted kids.

The Congress state media vice president Bhupendra Gupta, alleged, “Despite being a minister, she (Smriti Irani) didn’t hesitate in making public the identity of adopted kids and parents who’ve adopted them. All the BJP leaders are the same when it comes to violating the law.”

“Being a minister, she has some legal obligations to fulfill, but instead of abiding by the legal obligations, she has violated the law by making public the identities of the kids and their adopted parents. She often remembers Rahul Gandhi, but has herself violated the law. The Congress will explore legal options in the matter and move accordingly. The BJP needs to apologize to the country, the adopted kids and their parents, for the minister’s irresponsible act. We demand legal action against the organizers of the event,” Gupta demanded.

A team of engineers who surveyed the Bon Secours plot in Tuam has reported similar anomalies at the Co Tipperary site which could be mass burial plots.

There have been calls for a fresh investigation at Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home after the discovery of what’s believed to be mass baby graves.

A team of engineers who surveyed the Bon Secours plot in Tuam has reported similar anomalies at the Co Tipperary site which could be mass burial plots.

An expert survey by TST Engineering Company pinpointed several locations in the grounds of the abbey with likely human activity beneath the surface.

Almost 1,100 babies died at the home in Roscrea between 1931 and 1969 – but only 42 infant remains were found by the Commission of Inquiry.

Possible trafficking victim asks help to find biological family

Kuo Downing-Reese (郭慧如), a US flight paramedic who might have been the victim of a Taiwanese child-trafficking ring in the early 1980s, on Thursday appealed for the public’s help in finding her birth parents.

Accompanied by her adoptive mother Mary Reese, Downing-Reese has returned to Taiwan in an attempt to locate her birth family.

Private firms that provide genetic testing to help locate relatives are not common in Taiwan, Downing-Reese said, adding that her search on Web sites such as Ancestry.com and 23&me had proven unfruitful, reducing her hopes of finding her parents.

However, after a number of adoptees reported success in reuniting with their families in Taiwan, she became hopeful and decided to embark on her own campaign, Downing-Reese said.