Adoption laws need to be overhauled to stop M?ori tamariki being “severed” from their birth family and culture, experts say.

The Government is seeking feedback on proposed options for a reformation of the adoption system.

New Zealand’s adoption laws are 67 years old and were ratified in the Adoption Act 1955.

Options in the proposed system would include giving adopted people access to their adoption records at any age, legal recognition of wh?ngai (a traditional method of open adoption to relatives) and post-adoption contact agreements.

Canterbury University’s Dr Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll, a senior lecturer in M?ori health and wellbeing, said a reformed adoption system was important for M?ori.

All of their married life, Andrew and Bridget Olsen have dreamed of having four kids. They envisioned for themselves a family of both adopted and biological children.

Now, 15 years into their marriage, they are closing in on their goal. The couple adopted at birth their daughters Halley, 11, and Mady, 9, and have their biological son, Layne, 7. The Mankato area couple has been on an adoption waiting list for their fourth child for 2½ years.

“Our vision was to have a beautiful family, and that’s what we have,” Andrew said.

The couple went through Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota for Halley’s and Mady’s adoptions, and are using the agency again for their fourth child. They are one of 10 families on a waiting list for adoption, with more families wanting to adopt than there are babies to adopt.

Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota specializes in domestic infant adoptions and also does home studies for international adoptions.

More than 800 children have died in state-run specialised adoption agencies since 2018, according to official data. Of these, most are below two years old, officials said, painting a tragic picture of neglect.

The main reason for the fatalities, they explained, is “unsafe abandonment”, including children being found with dog bites and so vulnerable they can’t be saved.

Breaking up the numbers, the Central Adoption Resources Authority (CARA) said in response to multiple RTIs filed by PTI that 118 children, 104 of them below two, died in state and Central Government-run agencies in 2021-22.

In 2020-21, the number was 169 and in 2019-20 it was 281. In 2018-19, 251 children died in the agencies, according to the data.

Of the total 819 children, 481 were girls and 129 those with special needs, defined as those who have some type of disability and require exceptional care and extra help.

June 1, 2022 - Exactly 60 years after the independence of Rwanda and Burundi, the three-part documentary series Metissen of Belgium tells the disconcerting history of more than 300 metis from the Belgian colonial period in Rwanda.

The makers of the series do this on the basis of the life stories of three of them: Jaak, Paul and Jacqueline.

As illegitimate children of a white father and a black mother, they were taken from their mother by the Belgian government and placed in Save's boarding school in Rwanda. Just before independence, they also had to leave there and were rushed to Belgium.

There they ended up uprooted and traumatized in an adoptive family or an orphanage. They were events that marked the rest of their lives. It was only in 2015 that they gained access to their official file and were able to search for their roots.

A production by The Chinese for Canvas.

In August 2020 I said I was writing an article about Ofsted and the barriers to accessing therapy as an adopted person in the UK.

The response to that tweet confirmed I was not alone in my own confusion around:

Who can offer adoption counselling? Do they need to be registered with Ofsted, and - if so - why?

Does the UK government and Ofsted know that this layer of regulation is adding to the barriers adoptees face in getting support? Some are having to take other routes to therapy, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) which can have a neutral or even negative effect when it comes to adoption issues. And even more worryingly, some adoptees said they are at breaking point, they have self-harmed and had suicidal ideations.

Why are non-Ofsted registered therapists required terminate support if they later find out that someone they are treating is adopted? Not nice for anyone, particularly an adopted person who may struggle with trust and making attachments.

Marathon day yesterday at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Morning of meetings with the Belgian member of the Children's Rights Committee, Benoit Van Keirsbilck, as well as the representatives of Child Rights Connect, a umbrella organization bringing together a large number of NGOs and associations campaigning for children's rights.

Intense afternoon, during our hearing by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, where the issue of children stolen at birth to be offered for adoption was on the agenda.

Mariela Sr – Coline Fanon ( Racines Perdues – Raíces Perdidas ) testified to her fight and her moving story. Abducted at birth in Guatemala, she was declared dead, then sold for adoption in Belgium to parents who were unaware of this odious traffic.

For my part, I presented the motion for a resolution that I tabled in the House and which aims to give all those concerned in Belgium the status of victim and to begin an in-depth investigation into these illegal adoptions.

The memorandum of amendment to the amendment proposal for the Artificial Insemination Donor Data Act (Wdkb) was sent to the House of Representatives on 19 May. This memorandum provides for a scheme for donor children of B donors and for a replacement consent after the death of the donor. The procedure for B donors from before 2004 will be the same as for donors from after 2004. This means that the donor's personally-identifying data will be provided, unless he can demonstrate a compelling interest. Donors from before 2004, who want replacement consent to be given by a specific person after their death, can now give consent for this. At this time, no information is provided if a donor prior to 2004 has died.

Read the summary

Procedure Legislative amendment

The memorandum of amendment makes a number of substantive changes to the bill that was submitted to the House of Representatives on 23 June 2021. The political groups can submit their questions and comments on the bill in writing before 15 June 2022. Minister Kuipers will respond to this in writing; the bill will then be discussed in the House of Representatives.

Scheme for donor children of b-donors

Even as Indians are opening up to the idea of adoption by single parents or

adopting a sibling for their biological child, they remain averse to accepting

children with special needs.

Fewer than 50 children with special needs found a home within India in the past

three financial years, accounting for less than 1% of the total 9,443 in-country

The police handed over all the abandoned newborns to the Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals (Sofosh), a voluntary charitable trust, working for such abandoned children

On January 14, when twin newborns wrapped in a blanket were spotted near the Pashan lake by morning walkers, police swung into action and arrested the parents who abandoned the infants on January 22.

While the police were able to locate the parents in this case, there are 35 other cases registered at various police stations where no progress has been made.

According to statistics provided by Pune police, 14 newborns were found in 2017; six in 2018 and 15 during 2019.

The police handed over all the abandoned newborns to the Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals (Sofosh), a voluntary charitable trust, working for such abandoned children.

Joyce Sylvester writes weekly about topics that touch her. This week she talks about adoption. "I also wish the children a more open society after arrival."