In the landscape of initiatives aimed at better understanding the history of international adoption and the many irregularities that have affected it, the " Historical study on illicit practices in international adoption in France was published on February 6, 2023. Carried out by Yves Denéchère, professor at the University of Angers and recognized specialist in the history of international adoption, and Fabio Macedo, doctor of history, the study, rather than analyzing in detail the adoptive practice between such and such countries at such and such a period (as did the Netherlands and Switzerland for example), produces a unique compilation of the available sources. The body of the document thus consists of a review of academic literature including a rich bibliography, and an annotated guide to sources – archives, audiovisual sources, press – likely to document illicit practices. The conclusions offer “ avenues for reflection to launch in-depth research on the subject or more simply to guide the analyzes".

This enormous work of researching sources draws a fascinating history as to the way in which information relating to abuses and bad practices have, since the 1970s, flowed between the countries of origin and France. Communications from diplomatic representations are particularly enlightening in this respect, pointing out precisely and sometimes insistently the problems noted by the diplomats in charge of issuing visas. Explicit press articles concerning trafficking are also listed as early as 1976.

In their analysis, the authors conclude: " Since the 1980s at least, and in particular major court cases and publicized in Peru or Brazil, all the structured actors of international adoption were aware of illicit practices perpetrated in the adoption international. They could not therefore be unaware of the risks of offenses relating to international adoption ” (p.137). And to add:It would have been necessary to be blind and deaf to what was said, shared, written, published. This position is even less defensible coming from people or associations claiming experience and expertise in international adoption, a rigorous choice of their partners and in-depth knowledge of the contexts and procedures of the countries of origin in which they work. . In doing so, they bear an undeniable share of responsibility for certain deviations ” (p.140).

Coincidentally, I have just finished Véronique Piaser-Moyen's testimonial book " My daughter, I didn't know ". The author first recounts the story of the adoption of her daughter in Sri Lanka in 1984, describing in detail those very special moments when candidates for adoption become adoptive parents. The second part of the book is devoted to uncovering the widespread abuses when Sri Lanka practiced large-scale intercountry adoption. This book is of real interest if you want to understand the origins of the difficult questions that cross international adoption today. By following these parents step by step, we realize how difficult, if not impossible, it would have been to question an administrative act or an incongruous request when picking up the child. Language, emotional stress, the staging of local actors and a certain underlying violence make any initiative, any questioning of the system, illusory. This powerlessness becomes devastating upon discovery of the abuse, leading to feelings of betrayal and guilt that are very difficult to overcome. It is repeated when the "fight for the truth" which then begins also becomes a source of stress, threats and disappointment, especially since Mrs. Piaser-Moyen, after her adoption, is involved in helping other French families wishing to adopt in Sri Lanka.

Putting the historical study and intimate testimony into perspective then questions the statement quoted above regarding the blindness of the actors and their respective responsibilities. For the researchers, the information was there, but hardly anyone paid it the necessary attention. For the Piaser-Moyen parents “ They [the French State] knew and they told us nothing ” making them “ accomplices in an irreparable crime ” (p.329).

Adoption without parental consent, falsification of documents, payment for child abandonment. These are some of the irregularities found in a study of four decades of international adoptions by French people in different countries, including Brazil. The report, published this week, documents illegalities and crimes that occurred in the adoption process, in the registration of the child and in the removal from his country of origin.

The study was carried out by Yves Denéchère and Fabio Macedo, two historians from the University of Angers, and reveals the dark face of the increase in the number of international adoptions carried out by French people from 1979 onwards.

The researchers analyzed thousands of diplomatic files from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the subject and found reports of various illicit practices in the process of adopting children. The researchers studied documents up to 2021, which contained information about adoptions in dozens of countries.

“The most common problem is the lack of consent by the biological family. Be it lack of free and informed consent from the mother, or from the biological family”, explains Macedo.

In the period studied, the countries of origin with the highest number of children adopted by French people were Vietnam, Colombia, South Korea, Haiti and Brazil.

Malawian judge Fiona Mwale who authorised U.S. singer Madonna's adoption of two girls has now delivered a thoroughgoing critique of the legislation surrounding adoptions in that country, with strong recommendations for parliament on changes that should be made urgently, to protect the many vulnerable babies who need new homes and families through the adoption process, reports Carmel Rickard for Legal Brief.

Mwale has pointed to the need for Malawi to become a signatory to the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, a convention which, she said, "provides the practical requirements necessary for states to safeguard the best interests of the child in cases where foreigners fly in to adopt a child."

Many of these will require legislative changes and therefore could be some time in being made - but the judge has strongly motivated both the need for changes to the legal and practical content as well as the need for urgency.

The Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) has accused Madonna of human trafficking and sexually exploiting children by charitable organization Raising Malawi which the singer founded in 2006. The non-profit seeks to support orphans and vulnerable children through health and education programmes. Madonna adopted four children from Malawi.

According to EWF, Madonna's 1992 book titled Sex was cited in the petition, which features adult content, softcore porn, and sadomasochism. Pornographic content and LGBTQ conduct is punishable by law in the country of Malawi. "Gay porn stars were photographed in pornographic pictures with Madonna performing vulgar sex acts with the same sex which should have been disclosed during her adoption case in 2006 in Lilongwe, Malawi."

An apology to the victims of forced adoption in Wales has been welcomed by campaigners as pressure builds on the Scottish Government to do the same.

Julie Morgan, the deputy minister for social services in Wales, apologised to the unmarried mothers forced to give up their babies saying their suffering has been “appalling”.

She said: “I would like to ­convey my deepest sympathy and regret that, due to society failing you, you had to endure such appalling historical practices. For this I am truly sorry.”

The Welsh Assembly member added: “Whilst forced adoption practices predate devolution in Wales, they have a lasting legacy on all those who experienced them – for both the parents and the children. I want to put on record my profound sympathy to all those who have been affected by historic forced adoption.”

Scotland’s leading forced ­adoption campaigner, Marion McMillan, whose evidence was considered as Australia led the world 10 years ago to make the first official apology, said Nicola Sturgeon had had a decade to say “sorry”, but had failed to do so.

A six-day-old baby girl, who the gang had abducted and wanted to sell, was recovered from the possession of the accused.

Mohali police on Friday said that they have so far found that a woman — who had been arrested earlier this week and subsequently found to be part of a racket that stole newborns — also provided fake adoption certificates.

Police are also probing the role of some Asha Workers in the scam as the gang could have in touch with the workers to know about the deliveries of children.

Police on Monday had arrested Manjinder Singh, and his wife Parwinder Kaur — both residents of Faridkot — and Charanbir Singh, and his wife Sakshi, both residents of Patiala, for being part of a racket that was involved in stealing and selling newborns. A six-day-old baby girl, who the gang had abducted and wanted to sell, was recovered from the possession of the accused.

On Friday, the police told The Indian Express that they have found in the course of their investigation that Sakshi was also involved in providing the fake adoption certificates. A laptop that was issued to Sakshi by Punjabi University — where she was an employee — for official work was confisticated for further probe.

The historical study on the illicit practices of international adoption in France, made public by two historians from the University of Angers, could well mark a turning point in this policy which is similar to human trafficking. This report, which identifies “systematic illicit practices, source of immense profits” is in every respect frightening. The two researchers Fabio Macedo and Yves Denéchèrewho have gone through some 9,600 pages of archives from the State's diplomatic archives, shed light on a bewildering system of trafficking in bought children, the creation of false orphans, even kidnappings when the biological mothers refuse to abandon their offspring. In the microcosm, this state of affairs is not really a surprise. Already in 2000, the United Nations and UNICEF published a damning report on the subject. There was then the highly publicized scandal of the association l'Arche de Zoéwho had tried to exfiltrate a hundred children from Darfur to France. The novelty that this new study highlights is that these facts have been repeatedly denounced by the French diplomatic corps, without their supervisory administration being concerned about it. In fact, five associations seriously questioned in the report are still approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! These shortcomings tinged with a culpable laxity demonstrate the gross dysfunctions of the State in terms of control, but also in the feedback of information to the decision-making centres. France would be well advised to distance itself from this policy of scribbling which could end up playing tricks on it. Since last September, the UN has allowed illegal adoptions to be recognized as crimes against humanity. France, the fourth host country in the world, has allowed the arrival on its soil of 120,000 children since 1970. How many are affected by these excesses? The report does not say so. The grenade of illicit adoption is however unpinned. It remains to be seen where and when it will explode.

The association, one of the largest French organizations for the adoption of children internationally, had its authorizations withdrawn in December 2022. For several years, its probity had been called into question.

The news is "a beginning of relief" , after years spent alerting public opinion to the alleged excesses operated by the French adoption organization Rayon de soleil de l'enfant etranger (RDSEE) in several countries. At the end of January, Marie Marre, founder of the collective of French Adoptees from Mali and herself adopted through RDSEE in Bamako, discovers what she has been calling for since her discovery, in 2018, of many areas of he shadow surrounding its adoption: the Quai d'Orsay has repealed all of the authorizations issued to the organization.

Rayon de soleil, which could until now still carry out adoptions in five countries (Bulgaria, Chile, China, South Korea and India) on behalf of French couples, is now prohibited from acting as an intermediary. The ministerial decree confirming this , dated December 21, 2022, had gone under the radar. The reasons for this global arrest – a rare sanction – are not specified.

"The ministry, in taking this decision, considered that the repeated attacks against RDSEE in certain media did not allow the OAA [authorized adoption body] to fully carry out its mission" , specified, for its part, the association on its website. On November 23, 2022, Le Monde published the results of five years of investigation into alleged irregular adoptions carried out by this association, one of the largest French organizations responsible for the adoption of more than 7,000 children across the country. world since the late 1970s.

In Mali but also in the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Haiti, Peru and Romania, multiple sources ranging from the diplomatic archives of the State to French adoptees, biological parents and adoptive parents, including former officials of the association, questioned the probity of Rayon de soleil. All accused the association of having lied to adopt children who should not have been adopted. Contacted before the publication of the article, the Quai d'Orsay had then confirmed that there had "certainly been illicit practices" within the organization, before specifying that it now considered it as a " reliable interlocutor in the way he works today".

A shocking report compiled by two historians questions the 'systemic' nature of the irregularities that have persisted in some 20 countries for over 30 years.

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Thane, Feb 13 (PTI) Three persons, including the mother of a newborn girl, have been arrested for allegedly cheating and extorting money from a man through a child adoption fraud in Maharashtra’s Thane district, a police official said on Monday.

The complainant has said he had two sons and wanted a daughter, and had spread the word about anyone seeking to give up their girl child for adoption, Zone I Deputy Commissioner of Police Jayant Bajbale told PTI.

“The complainant was approached this December by a friend who said an acquittance wanted to have his infant daughter adopted as his wife had left him after the child’s birth,” he said.

“The complainant gave his friend Rs 20,000 as maternity hospital expenses and waited for adoption documents. The child was soon taken back by the father. A man then called the complainant on January 5 saying he would have to pay Rs 2.5 lakh for completion of adoption documentation,” the DCP said.

Despite paying this amount, the accused continued to demand more money but were delaying completion of legal formalities connected to the adoption, which aroused the suspicion of the complainant, who approached police.

It will be impossible to adopt a child from Vietnam from Flanders. Flanders is stopping cooperation with that country because there are insufficient guarantees that the rights of children eligible for adoption and those of their families are guaranteed.

Flemish Minister of Welfare, Hilde Crevits (CD&V), has confirmed this in the Welfare Committee. The decision comes after a first round of screening of countries of origin for adoption, in which adoptees and adoption services were able to participate. Among the adoptees was Mai Linh Verdonck (27) from Bruges, who was adopted as a baby in Vietnam by a Belgian couple. 'I had to go through a lot of information, it was a complex matter: procedures, financing, legislation. For example, I noticed that Vietnam is not transparent about how they prepare adoptions. They also think that children should only be allowed to have a say from the age of nine. Plus: it is actually illegal to give up your child. Adoptes can ask the government for help if they want to find their origin, but the only answer I got,

To be clear: Verdonck did not have to decide on the final verdict. This was done by the Growing Up agency, in collaboration with the minister. "I had not anticipated that the decision would be so concrete," says the Bruges-Vietnamese. 'It is positive that the interest of the child prevails. Personally, I also found it positive that I was involved for the first time in my life and was allowed to contribute.'

No central database

In the Welfare committee, Bruno Vanobbergen, CEO of the Growing Up Agency, explained how the screening was done in consultation with European organizations, Unicef, the intercountry adoption services and adoptees from the country in question. He said that Vietnam does not have a central database on adopted children: there is insufficient insight into which and how many children have left. There is also no insight into the informed consent that parents can give or the financial transactions.