This is the 12th article in an adoption series. So far, this series has covered the right to origin of adoptees from Korea. The second phase of the series will discuss the historical development of the politics surrounding inter-country adoption with an aim to move beyond those sad stories of the past often depicted in the media. Instead, the next set of articles will illustrate how the system of inter-country adoption that led to such stories remains to this day and continues to govern the politics of adoption.

By Lee Kyung-eun

History is the sum of the choices that we, as a nation, have made thus far.

This graph shows the number of children who were born in this country but left shortly after birth (more than 90 percent were under the age of one) to become the sons and daughters of families in Western countries. Each dot on the graph represents human beings cast out of the protection of this nation.

While more than 80 countries throughout the world have sent their children overseas for adoption, Korea's experience remains noteworthy. It began as the birthplace of inter-country "orphan" adoption in 1953 and has persisted in engaging in the practice. This nearly seven-decade-long history of exporting children is not found anywhere else in the world and has led people both inside and outside the country to ask, "Why can't this country stop this practice despite its economic achievements and progress?"

These panels formed to prevent crimes against children

V. Ramaraj, Member of Tamil Nadu Commission for Child Rights, said the State government should provide legal status to child protection committees formed at various levels.

Mr. Ramaraj along with Prison Superintendent Senthil Kumar and other senior officials inspected the Salem Central Prison and Women’s Prison on Friday to assess whether any children of convicts are in the prison and whether they are provided with facilities. Mr. Ramaraj also interacted with a few inmates.

He told presspersons the State government through a Government Order had formed child protection committees at six levels including Block, Village and Corporation to prevent crimes against children. These committees should be given legal status and the Commission would recommend it to the government.

Mr. Ramaraj said the government was also looking at strengthening the child protection offices.

Chinees adoptiemeisje vindt ouders terug

26 januari 2007, 09:28

HILVERSUM - Het KRO-programma Spoorloos heeft een zeer opvallend succes geboekt in het achterhalen van de biologische ouders van een uit China geadopteerd meisje.In de uitzending van komende maandag is te zien dat de biologische ouders van de 10-jarige Eline uit Noord-Holland worden achterhaald in de stad Chongqing.

Een daadwerkelijke hereniging tussen Eline en haar biologische ouders in China is er overigens nog niet geweest, aldus Paul Vertegaal, eindredacteur van Spoorloos. Volgens hem willen de Nederlandse adoptieouders dat Eline eerst rustig het nieuws op zich laat inwerken. In een later stadium kan er dan een ontmoeting komen.

Het succesvol achterhalen van de biologische ouders van Chinese adoptiekinderen is uiterst zeldzaam. In Nederland, waar ongeveer 5000 uit China geadopteerde kinderen wonen, is zover bekend een dergelijke succesvolle zoektocht nog niet eerder gemeld. Internationaal is er op internetforums wel eerder gemeld dat adoptiekinderen uit China in contact zouden zijn gebracht met hun biologische ouders, maar zonder harde bewijzen daarvoor te leveren.

After our Dracula interlude, our tour continues towards Bucharest. But you don't just get there. Then you first have to cross a mountain. The Fagaras. If I'm right, that's part of the Carpathians. There is a short way and a nice way. That choice is not difficult. It will be the beautiful.

And this is not just any pretty road. Connoisseurs have proclaimed it the most beautiful road in Europe. Of course we won't let that pass us by.

This road - the Transfagarasan, 90 km long, and labeled "the road to the clouds" - was once built on the initiative of Nicolas Ceausescu, the communist ruler. The last communist leader before the populace fought themselves free and stormed his palace in a revolutionary uproar and summarily killed him, in December 1989.

Many stories circulate about Ceausescu. For example, about how he came to power. A power struggle had broken out at the top of the communist party in Romania. A few strong leaders held each other tight, preventing the battle from coming to an end.

In the end, Ceaucescu was put forward as a compromise candidate and accepted by all the belligerents, because he had no education, and everyone was convinced that he was too stupid to become dangerous to anyone.

Beneficial, benevolent and progressive as the amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act may seem to be, they are myopic and do not seem to be in tandem with parallel family law legislations

Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have approved the 2021 amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act), which allows district magistrates to issue adoption orders instead of civil courts. Amending provisions of the JJ Act to recognise executive magistrates as a competent authority authorised to issue adoption orders will allow speedier adoption of children.

Beneficial, benevolent and progressive as the proposals may be, they are myopic and do not seem to be in tandem with parallel family law legislations. The cited reasonings — delay in civil courts and adoption processes being non-contested litigations — ignore the “interest and welfare of child” principle. The purpose defeats the ends. Further, it may create statutory conflicts with contradictory and inconsistent interpretations in issues relating to marriage, adoption and guardianship. The wholesome solution then may be to not amend the act or incorporate similar amendments in other existing laws.

Adoption of children under the JJ Act, which is outside the scope of the provisions of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA), is guided by Sections 56 and 57 of the JJ Act, wherein irrespective of religion, orphan, abandoned and surrendered children can be made wards of single or divorced persons as per procedure laid down under the Adoption Regulations, 2017. The process entails a robust and protective mechanism routed through the Central Adoption Resource Authority (Cara). Ultimately, under the JJ Act, all Cara approved adoptions require an adoption order from a court, which under the JJ Act “means a civil court, which has jurisdiction in matters of adoption and guardianship, and may include the district court, family court and city civil courts.” Section 61 of the JJ Act mandates that before issuing an adoption order approved by Cara, the court shall satisfy that the adoption is for the welfare of the child, as per the wishes of the child and without consideration, payment or reward for the adoption.

Interpretation of “court”

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Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Assembly debate on 26 January 2000 (5th Sitting) (see Doc. 8592, report of the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mr About; Doc. 8626, opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mrs Wohlwend; and Doc. 8600, opinion of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, rapporteur: Mrs Vermot-Mangold). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 January2000 (5th Sitting).

1. The Assembly affirms that all children have rights, as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and, in particular, the right to know and be brought up by their parents in so far as this is possible. The purpose of international adoption must be to provide children with a mother and a father in a way that respects their rights, not to enable foreign parents to satisfy their wish for a child at any price; there can be no right to a child.

2. The Assembly therefore fiercely opposes the current transformation of international adoption into nothing short of a market regulated by the capitalist laws of supply and demand, and characterised by a one-way flow of children from poor states or states in transition to developed countries. It roundly condemns all crimes committed in order to facilitate adoption, as well as the commercial tendencies and practices that include the use of psychological or financial pressure on vulnerable families, the arranging of adoptions directly with families, the conceiving of children for adoption, the falsification of paternity documents and adoption via the Internet.

3. It wishes to alert European public opinion to the fact that, sadly, international adoption can lead to the disregard of children’s rights and that it does not necessarily serve their best interests. In many cases, receiving countries perpetuate misleading notions about children’s circumstances in their countries of origin and a stubbornly prejudiced belief in the advantages for a foreign child of being adopted and living in a rich country. The present tendencies of international adoption go against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates that if a child is deprived of his or her family the alternative solutions considered must pay due regard to the desirability of continuity in the child’s upbringing and to his or her ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.

The majority parties in the Flemish Parliament (N-VA, CD&V and Open VLD) have developed a new framework for the so-called intercountry adoption, the adoption of children from abroad. The aim is to avoid as many uncertainties and abuses as possible and to better assist prospective parents.

he rules on intercountry adoption were only renewed five years ago. "But the theme is evolving so quickly that new regulations are required," says Flemish MP Katrien Schryvers (CD&V).

"Not only has the number of intercountry adoptions fallen sharply (from 122 in 2012 to 62 in 2016), which strongly influences the organization of the adoptions. We were also repeatedly confronted with questions and ambiguities in existing channels," says Schryvers, who now proposes a number of reforms together with Lorin Parys (N-VA) and Emmily Talpe (Open VLD).

Amendments

It happens that an adoption service or the Flemish Center for Adoption suspends or terminates cooperation with an adoption channel or service abroad, for example in the event of doubts about the integrity or when the legislation in the country concerned changes.

Sarah Labee_ Johanna and Matthias- Veenendaal- series adoption (2)

Johanna had been talking about Colombia ever since she could talk. Sarah was afraid she wouldn't find a family. And Matthias felt less need to go looking for his biological family. Nevertheless, the entire Labee family went on a roots trip in 2016.

Are there any topics that have not yet been discussed that they would like to mention? At the end of the interview, Matthias, Sarah and Johanna Labee look at each other for a moment. “Yes,” says Sarah. “I wish everyone a roots trip, but let it be a well-considered choice. You have no guarantee of a good outcome. The foundation that was looking for our families in Colombia explicitly warns against this. You may want to contact your biological family, but you do not know whether they are open to that.”

itchy

The Colombian flag is on the cupboard under the stairs in the hall of the Labee family in Veenendaal. In the living room, photos recall the roots of Matthias, Sarah and Johanna. It is therefore not surprising that they are interested in news about adoption. But it is certainly not the case that it immediately dominates the conversations at the table, the three of them agree in unison.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has granted bail to a couple accused of illegal adoption of a child sold to them by Idhayam Trust director G.R. Sivakumar.

Justice B. Pugalendhi granted bail to the couple with conditions. The court took into account the fact that the couple were childless and had applied for adoption through various modes. They believed that the adoption was legal.

The key accused in the case were Sivakumar and his associate Madarsha. A woman who was unable to maintain her children had handed them over to the home run by the trust. Sivakumar claimed that one infant died of COVID-19 and then sold that infant.

He said the infant was infected with COVID-19 and said he was taking it for treatment to the hospital. Later, he told the woman that her baby died and the final rites were performed as per COVID-19 protocol.

Suspecting the activities of Sivakumar, the woman lodged a complaint. It was found out that the infant was sold to a childless couple. During the investigation it was brought to light that another infant was sold to another couple.