The Search Squad uses old-fashioned snooping skills to bring families together.

By Danielle Campoamor

One Facebook group is showing the true power of social media by helping people find the missing pieces of their lives.

A group named Search Squad uses old-fashioned snooping skills and connections on the social media app Facebook to help reunite family members around the world who have been separated by either adoption or other factors.

The group, which is volunteer-based and who call themselves 'Search Angels', say that everything they do is free of charge. To date, the group has helped thousands of people learn more about who they are, where they came from and — perhaps most importantly — complete their forever families.

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis recently promulgated a law increasing the duration of parental leave for parents who have adopted a child from one year, which is currently the case, to two years.

The project provides that the adopter or, optionally, either of the spouses of the adopting family who earn income subject to income tax, either from salary and related activities or from independent activities, copyright, or agricultural activities, may benefit from a so-called accommodation leave with a maximum duration of two years, as well as a monthly allowance.

The project's initiator, Liberal (PNL) deputy Alin Ignat, said after the parliamentary vote that the initiative is as simple as it is essential for people who decide to adopt a child in Romania, but especially for children who are given the chance of a life in a family through adoption.

"Today, these people benefit, upon request, from a paid leave with a maximum duration of one year. Unfortunately, reality shows us that many of the adopted children who have ended up in the social protection system following abandonment or the death of their parents have severe traumas to overcome, and the process of adapting to the new family is complex and full of challenges, a process that often involves psycho-emotional, medical, and behavioral recovery through integration into various specialized programs. We started from such cases when we devised and initiated the project that helps adoptive parents by granting the possibility of an accommodation leave of up to two years," Ignat said, cited by News.ro.

The Liberal deputy also stated that this project addresses the problem not only financially, but also addresses time, a resource that is often more precious. "In this case, it is about the time spent together by families where adoption truly creates parents and children, time translated into trust in each other, in oneself, and in the future, time translated into secure attachment, needs that receive responses, and steps towards emotional balance," he said.

Online it is teeming with self-proclaimed health gurus and life coaches, according to science journalist Adriaan ter Braack, known as quackery critic 'Sjamadriaan'. He competes with the opportunistic 'fake gurus', who promote products that, at best, do nothing.

very morning there was a glass of water on the table, with a piece of paper underneath. A grid of two by two boxes was drawn on this, in which random numbers were written. According to a naturopath, the energy of the numbers would radiate into the water, causing my father to recover.

AN OPPORTUNISTIC NATUROPATH DISRUPTED MY FATHER'S RECONCILIATION PROCESS WITH FATE

The Rajasthan High Court has directed "adoptive parents" of a child to hand over the custody of the nine-month-old to her biological mother, after finding that the child was illegally taken away by the woman's father and handed over to someone else. The child is over 9 months old and her mother is about 18 years and three months old. The custody of the minor child was handed over to...

The Bombay High Court clarified on Friday that it hadn’t stalled any adoptions and all procedures should continue as they were before the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment 2021.A division bench of Justice GS Patel and Neela Gokhale made the clarification in view of news reports that adoptions had come to a standstill following its order in January 2023.“We...

Andrea's birthday is always fraught with despair.

Key points:

• Andrea found out she was adopted when she was five
• She's struggled with the trauma ever since
• She wants to make sure other adoptees are better supported

Even when she was a child, Andrea struggled to enjoy the day of her birth.

"Yes, of course I enjoyed the presents and got excited, but I could not take this blackness off me every time it came to my birthday," she said.

They’re sick of hearing “You should be grateful.”

During the 90s and early aughts, you probably knew of a family who adopted a baby girl from China. At the time, the One Child Policy limited the number of children in Chinese families, and many Chinese kids were adopted by Western families as a result. (According to the State Department, American families adopted about 81,600 Chinese children from 1999 to 2018). The media narrative around this focused on adoptive families saving babies and young children from bad circumstances. 

Content creator Taylor Shennett was one of these babies — she was adopted from China at nine months old by American parents: “[My parents] chose to do international adoption because my aunt saw a video about the One Child Policy and the overflow of girls in China,” she tells Katie Couric Media.  

But adult adoptees like Shennett say that the narrative around adoption focuses too much on gestures toward an infant in need. She’s turned to an unexpected platform to speak out on how you probably use the wrong words when you describe the experience of adoption. And there’s also a chance you’re not really hearing adult adoptees when they discuss some of their less-than-pretty experiences.

By now, you’re familiar with the silly trends (like funny filters, songs, and dances) that TikTok has popularized. But adult international adoptees use TikTok for serious advocacy — and they’re reaching a real audience. The hashtag “adoptiontrauma” on TikTok currently has 92.8 million views while “adoptionstory” has a whopping 836.2 million views. 

"It's really difficult to know where I belong."

Mimi Woods, from Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, was adopted from Thailand at the age of three.

Over the years she has struggled with issues around identity and belonging, but wanted others to know they were not alone.

The 22-year-old said adoption was a "taboo subject" which "needs to be talked about more".

Mimi and other young Welsh adopted people have created a bilingual podcast episode for the National Adoption Service for Wales about their experiences featuring nine adopted people between the ages of 13 and 26.

MANILA, Philippines — Implementing the law simplifying adoption will give a lot of families and children better chances in life, Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to Daza, the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act (Republic Act No. 11642), which was signed in January 2022, fixes old problems in adopting children.

“Through RA 11642, we are correcting age-old problems in adoption — which typically took years to resolve.  The previous law, RA 8552 (Domestic Adoption Act of 1998), required a set of procedures — while founded on good intents — that often lead to emotional and financial strains on parties involved, not to mention clogging of cases in courts,” Daza said.

“Not only are we building better chances for families and children, we are also ensuring clear procedures for helping abused or neglected children. Children in these difficult circumstances need the society’s concerted efforts,” he added.

Daza issued the statement after the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) launched the Omnibus Guidelines on R.A. No. 11642 in a program earlier.

Minister Franc Weerwind was determined to stop adoption, but changed course at the last minute after consultation with his own party D66. This is evident from research by the Nederlands Dagblad.

The devastating final report of the committee that investigated intercountry adoption. It now appears that Minister Weerwind wanted to stop adoption, but ultimately did not. image Robin Utrecht

More than a year ago it was a great relief for prospective parents: intercountry adoption became possible again. Minister Franc Weerwind wrote to the House of Representatives about his decision on April 11, 2022: 'For adopted children, growing up in a Dutch family offers an opportunity that they would not otherwise have had.' However, the number of countries from which adoption is allowed has been severely limited.

A month earlier, he had a completely different letter ready, according to documents that the Nederlands Dagblad requested through an appeal to the Open Government Act (WOO). The draft letter actually states that he wants to quit within five years, because the adoption system is prone to abuses. 'Adoption is no longer a sustainable instrument to protect the interests of children.' The risk of abuse simply cannot be removed, Weerwind thought.

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