The Delhi High Court recently came to the rescue of an Australia-based couple, who were precluded from taking their adopted son back to the country for over 4 years, due to inaction of CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority).Justice Sachin Datta observed that the Adoption Deed was executed in 2020 and thus directed the Authority to forthwith issue a NOC enabling the Petitioner-couple to...

https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/delhi-high-court/noc-for-inter-country-adoption-held-up-for-over-4-years-delhi-high-court-directs-cara-to-take-steps-within-4-weeks-295574

By Edgardo Ayala (IPS)

HAVANA TIMES – The children who were snatched from their birth families in the middle of El Salvador’s Civil War are now adults. A group of them are now struggling to adapt to a bittersweet process that still moves them: the joy of having found their families again, but also the sadness of knowing half their lives went by, decades of uncertainty, without being together.

The fathers, mothers, siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and other relatives are experiencing the same emotions. They saw those children disappear one day, ripped out of their homes, often by soldiers involved in an intricate network of human trafficking. Unbeknownst to the families, these children were then put up for adoption through unregulated channels.

During El Salvador’s civil war (1980-1992), hundreds of children who lived with their families in combat zones marked by frequent military operations, were snatched by soldiers under orders from officers who formed part of that trafficking network.

“The children were seen as booty, and a way of making money,” Ana Escalante explained to IPS. She directs the Probusqueda [pro-Search] Association, an organization that has worked since 1994 to investigate cases of children separated from their families in the context of the war and offered up for adoption in foreign countries.

Justice Sachin Datta noted that the adoption was lawfully completed in 2020 and found no valid reason for CARA to withhold the NOC.

NEW DELHI: In a strong rebuke to bureaucratic delays, the HC has directed the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to immediately issue a no-objection certificate to an Australia-based couple who had been unable to take their adopted son abroad for over four years.

Justice Sachin Datta noted that the adoption deed was executed in 2020 and observed that the adoption had been lawfully concluded under the applicable legal framework. Hence, there was no legitimate reason for CARA to withhold the NOC.

CARA argued that, under the Adoption Regulations 2022, children adopted under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA) require documentation from the receiving country’s authority under the Hague Convention, 1993. It further claimed the adoption deed was registered using a General Power of Attorney (GPA), allegedly invalid under Queensland law.

The Court cited a recent Supreme Court case where CARA was directed to issue an NOC to a UK-based single woman. Justice Datta also referenced Article 37 of the Hague Convention, stating that adoptions under HAMA must be judged by its provisions and cannot be subjected to retrospective international conditions.

Job Description

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.  Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. And we never give up. 

For every child, hope

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, advocacy and operations. In doing so, UNICEF establishes, promotes and nurtures partnerships with broad spectrum of national and international partners, most notably Government and its institutions.

Assignment background

On Wednesday 18 June, Minister Norma Foley officially launched a project to develop a best-practice framework and a roadmap for the reform of domestic adoption in Ireland. The project is being led by the Adoption Policy Unit of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality in partnership with the Child Protection Section of UNICEF Europe & Central Asia and the European Commission Reform and Investment Task Force and is funded by the European Union through the Technical Support Instrument (TSI).

This project will develop an evidence-based, best practice framework and roadmap to make sure that the child’s best interests are the paramount consideration at all stages of the adoption process. Learnings from other European Union and non-EU countries and engagement with stakeholders locally will help inform the project and provide a chance to reflect on how the lessons learned can best be applied in Ireland. The ultimate goal is to achieve better outcomes for everyone involved, most importantly, the child.

The TSI project is one part of a wider European initiative in which Ireland is joining with Croatia, the Czech Republic and Portugal to strengthen child protection systems and uphold children’s rights across the region.

The launch event brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including professionals in child protection and adoption services, academics and people with lived experience, ensuring that a wide range of voices will help shape this work. Representatives from the other countries who are part of this initiative, and staff at the EU Commission, also attended the event online. In addition to the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, the meeting was addressed by UNICEF’s Senior Child Protection Regional Advisor for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO), Aaron Greenberg UNICEF ECARO’s Ina Verzivolli and Martin Punaks Head of Sector (Labour market, social services and inclusion) with the European Commission’s Reform and Investment Task Force, Florin Popa and Principal Officer Seosamh Mac Carthaigh of the Department’s Adoption Policy Unit. The keynote address, “Domestic adoption and international human rights standards and principles”, was given by the Lead Consultant on the project, Mia Dambach. Judit Rozsa, Director of the Commission’s Reform and Investment Task Force provided a pre-recorded message.

Launching the project, Minister Foley said:

To say that Pauline was surprised is an understatement, rather stunned when she heard Mayor Stemerdink say her name. The Voorschoten native is the initiator and co-founder of Villa Voorschot, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on Saturday afternoon. A great opportunity for a medal and Pauline was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau.

“But I didn’t do it alone,” Pauline quickly exclaimed. “My husband Marcus, family, friends, they all helped.” That was true, but Pauline got things rolling. The supporters of the application for a medal called her ‘tireless, involved and dedicated’.

The adventure started 15 years ago. Pauline was looking for a place for her multiply handicapped son with autism. “He was a young adult and wanted to leave home just like everyone else, but living alone was of course not an option.” So Pauline thought she would build it herself. She got to work with a large group of parents. She negotiated with the municipality, found a housing corporation that could take over the land from the municipality, brought in ASVZ to supervise the residents, looked for and found sponsors and on 20 June 2015 Villa Voorschot opened its doors, a small-scale residential and work location for 16 young adults where living, working, supervision, care and social entrepreneurship came together.

Pauline was chair of the board from the start, after seven years she became an advisor. Since July 2022, Pauline has been chair of the Care Committee at Stichting Voorschot. She was involved in setting up the committee and introduced the committee to healthcare institution ASVZ, the supervisors and parents of the residents and those involved outside the foundation. Last year, the board was commissioned to put together a project group 'Complete Package Home'.

In this setup, living and working, Villa Voorschoten was quite unique in the Netherlands. Even then Prime Minister Mark Rutte came by to hear more about the project. Pauline also used her knowledge and experience in the board of Stichting Hethuis in Leidschendam. A living and working place for 18 young adults with multiple disabilities was opened there in 2021. Pauline also founded Stichting Dienstverlening Ouderinitiatieven (SDOI). Parental initiatives are small-scale residential facilities (such as Villa Voorschot and Hethuis), set up by parents for their disabled children. She was and is also active as a mediator in conflicts within parental initiatives, and she is a member of the complaints committee of the SDOI.

The Better Care Network (BCN) is an interagency initiative that facilitates global information exchange and collaboration among the growing number of organizations, governments, community groups, and individuals working to strengthen children’s care. BCN’s core purpose is to inform and influence global action for children without adequate family care and, as a dynamic interdisciplinary global network of organizations and individuals, share learning from the global to the local level to generate momentum and drive systemic change.

Today BCN is recognized as the preeminent global information hub and convener to influence action for children without adequate family care. The BCN website (bettercarenetwork.org) is the largest global collection of key research, tools, events and other documentation on issues related to strengthening family care and alternative care, designed to support academics, policymakers and practitioners alike. BCN convenes the Transforming Children’s Care collaborative (TCC), established as the primary convening mechanism to facilitate sector wide and cross sectoral collaboration to advance children’s care. 

Role purpose:

The BCN Senior Advisor, Evidence and Learning, plays a lead role in supporting BCN’s work to identify, capture, and share learning and evidence on children’s care and care reform globally. The Senior Advisor works with members of the network and the Transform Children’s Care collaborative (TCC) to support data collection, learning, and collaboration on system level change, to facilitate shared learning through BCN’s knowledge platforms, and to ensure that BCN’s work is supported by a strong organizational learning strategy and monitoring framework that underpin its approaches and impact.

This position requires maintaining a strategic understanding of key global, regional, and country-level factors that support or impede the appropriate care and protection of children who are at risk of losing family care or are outside of family care, as well as identifying potential points of intervention. It also requires contributing to continuous learning and collaboration to support the generation and application of evidence to improve care systems, and to strengthen BCN’s capacity to deliver on its role as the global hub of knowledge and convenor for the care sector. As part of this role, the Senior Advisor takes a leading role on specific projects and representational and liaison activities, including inter-agency working groups, advisory panels and joint initiatives.

This fundraising challenge to individuals, governments, and philanthropies will provide essential nutrition programmes and urgently needed supplies for the most vulnerable children and women

PARIS/NEW YORK, 27 March 2025 – Today, global nutrition leaders met in Paris at the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit to discuss how to improve access to life-saving child and maternal nutrition.

To significantly address the urgent needs of the most at-risk women and children, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the UK government and other private and public partners, established the CNF in 2023 with a goal of raising US$2 billion by 2030.

Currently, the World Bank estimates that an additional US$13 billion per year over the next 10 years (2025-2034) is needed to scale up nutrition interventions to address undernutrition globally.

The CNF is an ambitious UNICEF-led financing mechanism designed to accelerate the scale-up of evidence-based, high-impact actions to tackle critical nutrition challenges, including wasting, stunting and anemia in children and women in high-need countries. By addressing both prevention and treatment, the CNF bridges critical gaps in nutrition services, ultimately saving lives and building resilience in vulnerable communities. The CNF aims to reach 320 million children and women annually with life-changing nutrition programmes.

According to South Tripura Deputy Collector and Magistrate Sukanta Dey, the baby girl's parents didn't follow the legal procedure for adoption.

A 23-day-old baby girl was on Wednesday rescued from a couple to whom she was allegedly handed over by her parents at Hrishyamukh in South Tripura district five days ago, officials said.

Shambhu Malakar, a resident of Haripur in Hrishyamukh, gave the baby to Gourango Shil, when she was 18 days old allegedly because of poverty.

After receiving information about the incident, a team comprising Deputy Collector and Magistrate Sukanta Dey, the block development officer, and Child Line members went to Gourango Shil’s home and rescued the baby.

“We visited Gourango Shil’s residence and found the baby. When asked about the baby, they claimed that they got the baby from Shambhu Malakar but denied giving money in exchange. We also visited Shambhu Malakar’s house and he claimed they have three children and that is why they gave the baby up for adoption,” Sukanta Dey said.

Children adopted from China may have been the subject of human trafficking, the state adoption investigation has concluded.

Questions have been raised about what Ulf Kristersson knew about the alarms.

According to a board member, discussions were underway about what the money to China was actually used for.

– There was irritation that the fee was not transparent.

Quick version