A dual Canadian American citizen made her initial appearance in court in Plattsburg, New York today after being extradited to New York from Canada to face charges relating to her role in a deadly human smuggling conspiracy that left a family of four, including two small children, dead in the St. Lawrence River.

In June 2024, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of New York returned an indictment against Stephanie Square, 52, of the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation (AMIR), Canada, for conspiring to engage in alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit, and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III, and Erin Keegan, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

Square was arrested in Canada in August 2024 at the request of the U.S. government. Her extradition followed extensive coordination and cooperation between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement authorities. Co-conspirator Timothy Oakes, 34, from the AMIR, was arrested on June 15, 2025, and remains detained pending trial for his role in the deadly conspiracy. U.S.-based co-conspirators Dakota Montour, 31, and Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow, 43, both of Akwesasne, New York, and Janet Terrance, 45, of Hogansburg, New York, entered guilty pleas on Jan. 23, 2025, Oct. 8, 2024, and March 6, 2025, respectively.

According to court documents, Square allegedly was the U.S.-based leader of an alien smuggling organization (ASO), that regularly smuggled aliens across the U.S.-Canada border via the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation. During the week of March 27, 2023, a prolific Canadian smuggler contacted Square to smuggle a Romanian family of four across the St. Lawrence River into the United States. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Square is alleged to have recruited multiple co-conspirators to assist with the smuggling of the family, though one refused to assist due to the high winds on the St. Lawrence River that night. Undeterred by the dangerous weather conditions, as alleged, Square enlisted one of her regular drivers, Dakota Montour, to transport the family via automobile to Timothy Oakes’ residence on Cornwall Island, a notorious staging area for cross-border smuggling operations.

The rescued infants have been handed over to Shishu Gruha, and all arrested individuals were sent to judicial remand, while police are on the lookout for the absconding parents.

NALGONDA: Nalgonda District Superintendent of Police Sharath Chandra Pawar on Wednesday announced the arrest of seven people, including a doctor, in connection with the illegal adoption of a 10-day-old girl and a 21-day-old boy in two separate cases.

Addressing a press conference, the SP said police seized Rs 20,000 in cash, seven mobile phones, and an adoption agreement from the accused. The operation was conducted following complaints filed by ICDS Supervisor Saraswathi on October 27, leading to two cases being registered.

Three police teams traced the families who sold and bought the babies, along with intermediaries — including Dr Matta Shanthi Priya, who allegedly brokered the deals.

In the first case, Kurra Babu, a mutton shop worker, decided to give away his newborn daughter after his wife delivered a baby girl. He contacted Dr Shanthi Priya, who facilitated the illegal adoption to Kadali Samba Murthy and his wife for Rs 2.3 lakh. Police arrested the doctor, who later confessed to mediating between the couple and Kurra Babu after learning of his willingness to sell the baby.

"I didn't do anything wrong," she maintains to this day. But according to the presiding judge in Mons, there's ample evidence that Michèle H., now 82, from Tournai, kidnapped at least 14 children from Guatemala and trafficked them to unsuspecting adoptive families in Belgium. "It turns out my biological mother isn't my mother, but the mother of another kidnapped adopted child who now lives in Belgium. But who am I then?" asks Eva Langenus (41).

Bjorn Maeckelbergh

October 30, 2025, 10:00 AM Last update: 10:12 AM

I currently don't know where I was born, nor when. Actually, I know nothing. Except that black-and-white photo of the woman in my file is definitely fake. (hesitantly) I've cherished that image for years. But she's not my mother.

The High Court of Judicature at Madras, in a significant ruling, has held that the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, (JJ Act) do not apply to adoptions validly conducted under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, (HAM Act). In a judgment delivered on October 25, 2025, Justice To Read More Please Subscribe to VIP Membership for Unlimited Access to All the Articles, Download Available Copies of Judgments/Order, Acess to Central/State Bare Acts, Advertisement Free Content, Access to More than 4000 Legal Drafts( Readymade Editable Formats of Suits, Petitions, Writs, Legal Notices, Divorce Petitions, 138 Notices, Bail Applications etc.) in Hindi and English.

The Madras High Court recently held that in case of adoption of an unmarried woman's child, an adoption deed executed by the grandparents would be valid, when it is shown that the mother had concurred to such adoption. “The mere fact that the grandparents of the child had executed the adoption deed alone cannot make the adoption deed invalid so long as the adoption deed was...

https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/madras-high-court/madras-high-court-grandparents-executing-adoption-deed-not-invalid-mother-concurrence-308195

Kasaragod: A childless woman who illegally adopted a newborn boy and raised him as her own for four months had to give him up after an Anganwadi worker and an ASHA visited the biological mother’s house and found the baby missing. It was a harrowing day for the adoptive mother in her mid-50s, clutching the child to her chest, sobbing, begging not to be separated, threatening to end her life, first before the police and then before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

She was inconsolable, shattered, while the biological mother stood indifferent, refusing to take the child back, said a CWC official. By evening, the boy was “rescued” and handed over to a foundling home in Kasaragod, in line with the law, but crossing a woman’s maternal love. “I don’t know how she will sleep tonight. The baby was bonding well with her,” said the official, who found the day equally traumatic.

The woman told the CWC that she had turned to illegal adoption after her formal application to adopt a child was rejected, citing that she was financially unfit. She is a homemaker; her husband is a daily wage labourer. In 2015, the Kerala government introduced a rule requiring prospective adoptive parents to have an annual income of at least ₹3 lakh. Even those who meet the income requirement, officials say, can later be deemed ineligible during a social investigation for the same reason. “The rule is discriminatory irrespective of its intent. Nowhere else in India does such a financial cap exist,” said the CWC official.

The woman’s secret began to crumble when the Anganwadi worker, responsible for the health, nutrition, and well-being of pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under six, visited the house of the biological mother near Kumbla, 12 km from Kasaragod town. When she enquired about the child, the woman fumbled and avoided giving a clear answer. Sensing something amiss, the Anganwadi worker alerted the local ASHA and together they approached the Kumbla police.

During questioning, the mother confessed. Her first husband had died, leaving her with two children. Later, she married a man who already had a wife and children and worked in a restaurant in Bengaluru. Four months ago, she gave birth to a boy. “In the first week itself, the child was handed over to the other woman. They must have come to an understanding even before the birth,” said the CWC official.

The alleged Belgian kingpin in a large-scale adoption fraud involving stolen "orphans" from Guatemala will finally have to answer before a criminal court after all these years. The court in Tournai has ruled this .

Pieter Huyberechts

Were numerous babies and young children taken from Guatemala against their parents' will in the 1980s? It certainly seems that way. A story that began with a complaint from Sandra S. from Vilvoorde. In August 2014, the woman read in our newspaper the story of Dolores Praet, who was adopted by a Belgian couple in 1985. In 2011, she traveled to Guatemala to find her biological mother, Rosario Colop, in the village of Santa Maria de Jesus, the name she found in her adoption file. Colop no longer lived there. A villager told her that a girl had disappeared in the 1980s. She wasn't Colop's daughter, but the daughter of another couple. DNA analysis confirmed it: they were the biological parents. Colop was arrested for allegedly arranging fraudulent adoptions.

Many recent events have emphasized the need for investment in the social service workforce. My trip to India to participate in the launch of a social work training program was one event that highlighted the importance of this profession and how critical social workers are in making positive changes in child care systems.

India: On the Road to Alternative Care


I recently visited Delhi, India to participate in the International Symposium on Family Strengthening at Jamia Millia Islamia University. This two-day symposium convened professors, social workers, early child development students, and leaders in government and nongovernment sectors who are concerned about protecting children, especially those living outside of family care. The symposium celebrated the inauguration of India’s first National Resource Centre in Foster Care. The Centre is headed by Dr. Meenai, a well-respected social work professor who has a wealth of expertise in the field of child development.

Madhavi, head of the UK-based foster care agency, Liberty Fostering, enthusiastically explained the details of recruiting, screening, and providing ongoing training and support for foster families, as well as the placement of children and the supervision of placements.

I watched the audience pose serious questions such as:

• How does one deal with foster families that are different castes or religions from the child, the biological family, or the social worker?
• Could fostering be accepted as a legitimate way to assist vulnerable children, or would there be a stigma associated with it that would prevent families from wanting to get involved?
• Who and how would we begin to recruit families? Who would be responsible for and supervise them?
• How could a program like this be funded?
• Do foster parents get paid to provide care?
• How would foster care fit into the limited existing child protection framework?

Forty families in Flanders are currently in the process of adopting abroad, and 35 others have been promised they can still join. This is despite an adoption pause being in effect since the end of 2023. "The message isn't clear, and that's difficult," says Member of Parliament Freya Perdaens (N-VA).

Veerle Beel

October 28, 2025 at 11:59 PM

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The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, has apprehended a 60-year-old influential figure within the Orphanage Owners Umbrella Body of Nigeria.

The individual, who also founded the globally recognized Civil Society Organisation, the National Council of Child’s Right Advocates of Nigeria (NACRAN), based in Benue State, was taken into custody over allegations of extensive child trafficking, illegal adoption, and child sales.

In what officials described as a major breakthrough, operatives from NAPTIP’s Makurdi Command successfully rescued 26 children out of an estimated 300 who are believed to have been trafficked and sold across Benue, Enugu, Lagos, Nasarawa, and Abuja.

Authorities have launched an intensive manhunt to locate the remaining 274 victims as investigations continue into the full scope of the syndicate’s operations.