Roe v Wade has been the law of the land in America and at the heart of that nation's political debate for almost 50 years.

That debate continues even now that the law – which in 1973 established the right of a woman to have an abortion until the point of viability, or later if required to protect her health or life – has been overturned.

But at the centre of the very public legal drama, somehow hidden was not just one woman – pseudonymously known as Jane Roe – but two: Norma McCorvey, the real Jane Roe, and the daughter she gave birth to while her abortion rights case was working its way to the top of the US legal system.

Journalist Joshua Prager tells ABC RN's Sunday Extra that for most of his life he'd assumed "the woman who won the legal right to have an abortion, had one".

When he learnt that McCorvey gave birth to a daughter – the legal ruling was handed down after she gave birth – who was adopted by another family, he became intrigued by the question of who this person was.

"What? Doctor Jan in prison?” In the Indian children's home that the detained pediatrician co-founded at the time, they were greatly shocked and worried. Not that they think the Belgian did wrong things there. “Jan was like a father to the children here.”

For years, evangelical Christians were enthusiastic supporters of adoption by sponsoring conferences, targeting adoption-friendly Sundays and staging adoption fairs in parish halls.

Thousands of overseas children got new homes. Leading the way were evangelical luminaries such as recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman (three daughters from China) and then-Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore (two sons from Russia). Enthusiastic parents took up the challenge, traveling overseas for one or more children, even adopting special needs kids whose home countries were not interested in their care.

More than a decade after this movement peaked, many families who went overseas are in crisis mode: respite weekends are booked through 2023, there is an annual Christian conference devoted to burned-out parents, and a new documentary has been released on desperate families who have extremely ill children. Parents now say that the churches that encouraged them to adopt in the first place aren't there for them now.

Few statistics exist on the number of adoptions gone wrong, other than a 10-year-old study by the US Department of Health and Human Services reporting "adoption disruptions" ranging from 10-25 percent. This little-known statistic points to a meltdown in the industry and a sign that adoption and foster care have become a landmine for many families who believed God had called them to help these children.

No one told them there could be an aftermath. Here are some of their stories.

‘I’ve been putting the pieces together. Of our adoptions, our lives, and your death.’: Adoptee reflects on trauma of adoption in open letter to late sister

“Dear Lark,

I miss you. Over the years, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about you, our family, adoption, and have even taken an interest in the historical context of how our very unique lives came to be. It’s more than just dates, names, and events—and I have come to appreciate the stories more as I piece them together. It now makes sense why you were so good at doing puzzles. I remember how you’d have these large scraps of cardboard with the piles of puzzle pieces separated by color. These were puzzles with thousands of pieces so small it seemed you could fit them together in whatever way you wanted. Yet you would always piece them together.

I also remember the time our family dog, Mary, came bounding into the room and destroyed a puzzle you were working on. What a mess! You were definitely frustrated, but simply started again, and successfully solved it, as you always did. I only wish solving the puzzle of your pain during your time with us had been easy.

So much has happened since you left us in 2008, and I’ve been putting the pieces together around the circumstances of our adoptions, our lives, and your death. I’ve learned to stop asking why and instead I’m asking how. Asking why this happened to you has been more about me dealing with my pain over losing you. Being stuck in the realm of my own imagination and disbelief, blame, and guilt. Perhaps this letter is speaking to that, but I believe it’s also questioning how this happened and wanting to understand more deeply.

There are lots of conversations driven on the impact of intercountry and transracial adoption and many times I see these driven by people who have little to no first-hand experience of this very complex topic. I have seen long conversations (usually lacking nuance) from both people of colour and white people sharing perspectives without actually asking adoptees their perspectives, focusing on centering their views vs those they claim to understand. There is a problem with this because we see it time and time again in diversity and inclusion work. From people making assumptions on what other groups of people need based on their own personal thoughts and experiences, to tech solutions being created without truly listening to those who it affects. Listening vs speaking over is key - it helps us challenge bias, put friction in before decision making and enable us to truly reach people of all backgrounds.

As a transracial adoptee (the situation in which a family adopts a child of a different race), this is my experience, and mine only.

From Sri Lanka to Ireland

I was adopted at three weeks old by a white Irish couple from rural Ireland. This decision was taken because my parents tried for many years to have biological children, and even with IVF, unfortunately/fortunately this wasn’t possible. On their final round of IVF, they met a nurse who knew a couple who had also had similar problems and adopted from Sri Lanka. So, she made the connection.

I am 31, and was adopted in 1991. Adoption (and certainly intercountry adoption) is complicated. I want you to consider how the advancement of technology will have made this more streamlined. No longer do you need to have copies of forms sent to you by post, fill them out by pen, posting them half way across the world and wait for weeks for them to arrive, no less the time waiting for a response. This process took my parents approximately six years to do.

New Zealanders with an interest in adoption are being encouraged to have their say on options for reforming Aotearoa’s 67-year-old adoption laws.

The Ministry of Justice - Te Tāhu o te Ture has today unveiled a range of options aimed at

putting the rights and best interests of children at the heart of a new adoption system.

The Ministry held its first round of public consultation last year. Deputy Secretary Policy Rajesh Chhana said the Government now wanted to hear again from the public about some options it is considering for a new adoption system.

"Last year, the Ministry of Justice heard from over 270 people and organisations, and met with over 25 individuals and groups," Mr Chhana said.

ADOPTION is a personal decision for prospective parents. To be valid, one should follow the procedures set by our laws.

The Supreme Court discussed the legal implication of adoption in the case of Renato Lazatin vs. Judge Campos, G.R. No. L-43955-56, 30 July 1979, to wit:

“Adoption is a juridical act, a proceeding in rem which creates between two persons a relationship similar to that which results from legitimate paternity and filiation. Only an adoption made through the court, or in pursuance with the procedure laid down under Rule 99 of the Rules of Court is valid in this jurisdiction. It is not of natural law at all, but is wholly and entirely artificial. To establish the relation, the statutory requirements must be strictly carried out, otherwise, the adoption is an absolute nullity. The fact of adoption is never presumed, but must be affirmatively proved by the person claiming its existence. xxx”

This means that adoption must be through court processes. Otherwise, the adoption cannot be considered valid, insofar as the laws are concerned.

However, in 2022, Republic Act No. 11642, otherwise known as the Domestic Administrative Adoption Act, was signed into law. The purpose is to provide a more efficient process under the attached agency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, to be known as the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) with quasi-judicial powers to approve and grant all types of adoption.

Cases involving adoption of children are now administrative instead of judicial proceedings and should be filed before the National Authority for Child Care (NACC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and not with the trial courts.

Adoption cases now pending before the trial courts should be withdrawn first before they can be transferred to NACC for resolution, the Supreme Court (SC) said.

On the basis of the mother’s statement and enquiry, her friend Sonia and their associates Meena, Vineet, Rekha and Moni were arrested from Delhi and UP.

A seven-month-old baby was rescued by the Delhi Police this month after his parents allegedly sold him to a Haryana-based couple for Rs 5 lakh. Police said it was the baby’s mother who informed the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) helpline about the case and asked for support to get the pending payment as she had allegedly only received Rs 20,000.

The DCW and Delhi Police found that the baby was sold 3 days after his birth at an IVF centre in Ghaziabad and arrested all eight persons, including the mother, in a case of child trafficking. The gang members have allegedly been operating from Delhi, UP and Haryana.

According to the police, the matter came to light on May 12 when the mother called the DCW helpline and confessed she had sold her baby in October 2021 and wanted help with the pending payment.

“We conducted an enquiry and found that the woman gave birth to a boy in October last year at a Malviya Nagar-based hospital. Her friend Sonia got her discharged two days after the delivery and took her to Sangam Vihar. A day later, she took the woman and her baby to an IVF centre in Ghaziabad where the baby was sold to another woman named Meena. The parents were promised Rs 5 lakh in exchange for the child,” DCP (South) Benita Marya Jaiker said.

LONDON: British couples adopting children in Pakistan have been left stuck in the country due to visa processing delays caused by the sudden Ukraine refugee crisis, the Guardian reported.

The British newspaper found that Home Office visa delays were part of “wider failings” in processing, with families seeking adoption around the world prevented from returning to the UK.

One Briton, stranded in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, since November, told the paper: “It’s 37 degrees here, there are shortages of gas and water, and the electricity goes off for several hours a day. I’m afraid to go outside because of the kidnapping risk and political instability here.

“I’ve been here since November. Getting our baby took three weeks, then we applied for her visa on Jan. 18. Initially, the Home Office told us it would be 12 weeks — that was 21 weeks ago.

“My older son misses nursery, my husband is at work in the UK, my father is sick and I can’t be with him, and my employer wants to know when I’m coming back.