Sumiati knows better than anyone that adoption is not always a sweet spot. When she was six months old, she was adopted from Indonesia. For years, Sumiati struggled with the feeling that she was not wanted. To get answers, she looked for her biological mother. The trail ended when she found out that there was an adoption fraud.

“I was six months old when I was picked up by my adoptive parents from a children's home in Indonesia. I grew up in an environment where everyone was white and, with my dark skin tone, always felt like the odd man out. In addition, I constantly had the feeling that I was missing something. It felt like nostalgia for something unknown. When I tried to put these feelings into words, I was told to be grateful for the opportunities presented to me, because life in Indonesia would have been much more difficult. Of course I am grateful for the material prosperity in the Netherlands and for all the opportunities that I have been given, but there was no room for that gnawing bit of lack, deep inside. ”

DEPRESSIONS

'I started to suffer from depression, an inferiority complex and a personality disorder and struggled with the question of whether my life had any meaning. My home situation made everything even more complex, because my adoptive father had also had a difficult childhood and that had an effect on the upbringing. He considered himself my savior and made me feel like I had to excel at everything. This reinforced my feeling that I should not have been born. I thought that my existence was useless because my biological mother didn't want me and I was a disappointment to my adoptive parents. ”

'I was a mistake that had to go'

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Connecting with the original family is a delicate matter for adoptees. A website wants to offer help.

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Defence for Children International-Liberia (DCI-L), a child right advocacy group, has called on the government through the ministries of Justice and Labor to investigate 34 children trafficked from communities in Todee, Lower Montserrado County.

Foday M. Kawah, DCI-L Executive Director, at a press conference held in Monrovia, said DCI-Liberia during its preliminary investigation conducted in Todee communities including Zuana Town, Kpenibu Town, Dowee Town, Tokpalon Town, Gbeno Town, Juhag Town, Kaiyeah Town, Gbajah Town, Beabah Town, Nyehn town and Bona Fahn and came to a conclusion that 23 parents have been allegedly victimized by child trafficking.

Kawah, speaking on June 9, said the incident occurred ten years ago (2004-2009), during which 34 children were allegedly “abducted, smuggled and trafficked” from their parents and subsequently adopted by the West African Children Support Network (WACSN) without their consent.

He said out of a total of 34 children, there were 12 boys and 22 girls who are believed to be trafficked in the US and other parts of the world.

Kawah, therefore, is calling on the government of Liberia to investigate at the level of the Probate Court whether or not the biological parents of these children gave consent prior to adoption; ascertain whether these children were adopted with their known names and that the state party takes urgent measures to abolish informal adoptions and expedite the enactment of the Adoption Bill, as well as ratify the 1993 Hague Convention No. 33 on Protection of Children and Cooperation regarding Inter-country Adoption and the Proper implementation or enforcement of the Anti-Trafficking law.

New adoption scandal revealed in Brazil

Two thousand babies sold in Europe

Once again the international traffic of babies is in the headlines of Brazilian newspapers after the arrest in Curitiba (South) of a fake lawyer, Arlete Hilu, accused of leading one of the most important networks of illegal adoption of Brazilian children by foreigners.

Suspected of having sold some 2,000 children to foreign couples, especially Europeans, Ms. Hilu had already served a prison sentence from March 1987 to December 1989 for this trafficking which can bring in up to 350,000 BF per baby.

For several years now, a real clandestine child export industry has been established in Brazil: on the one hand, couples from rich countries in need of children, on the other, Brazilian women in misery who agree to undoing their baby in exchange for a minimum wage (1,700 BF), often right after childbirth. Women posing as social workers or nurses roam the “favelas” (slums), looking for mothers-to-be in distress likely to abandon their babies and to whom they promise a pittance or a free tubal ligation after the surgery. delivery.

Although intercountry adoption, according to systematic reviews as well as meta-analysis, is from a perspective of child protection, a successful intervention, this often comes at the cost of lengthy therapy and support. Both in studies as in clinical practice intercountry adoptees are overrepresented in mental health services worldwide (Barroso, Barbosa-Ducharne, Coelho, Costa, & Silva 2017; Palacios & Brodzinsky, 2011; Van IJzendoorn & Juffer, 2006; Rutter et al., 2009). From my clinical experience, the focus on classifying the problems and using highly standardized treatments are not enough to help intercountry adoptees and their families (Vinke, 2011, 2012). In this practice-based article, I propose to use the concept of Van der Kolk's Developmental Trauma Disorder to describe the problems intercountry adoptees face in combination with Waters’ Star model (Waters, 2016; Van der Kolk et al., 2009; Gindis, 2019). Although not an official DSM-5 disorder, DTD has been embraced by many clinicians as a valid concept to approach the diversity of symptoms seen in patients coming from severe deprivational backgrounds such as intercountry adoptees. Both have proven useful in my small private practice2DTD and the Star model prove helpful especially when dealing with dissociative symptoms. In 2004, the ISSTD published guidelines on evaluation and treatment of dissociative symptoms in children and adolescents, yet dissociation is hardly ever mentioned in diagnostical evaluations. This strikes as odd since in daily life of adopted families, in clinical practice, in peer supervision, when discussed, dissociative behaviours seem often very present. Still they are hardly ever referred to in research, assessment or treatment in relation to intercountry adoptees. In this article, I will focus on trauma related dissociation in intercountry adoptees and present a theoretically informed, practical approach to this phenomenon with respect to intercountry adoptees that integrates insights from developmental, trauma and neurobiological research. The approach is illustrated by using some clinical case-examples.

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The TV2 documentary "The Danish children from India" can give rise to a number of questions about adoption from the orphanage Shejar Chhaya and a study that the National Board of Appeal launched in 2014. Here you can see our answers.

Briefly about the course

2005 AC Børnehjælp interrupts the collaboration with Shejar Chhaya due to lack of development in the quality of the work.

2014 Media coverage of problems with adoptions by Shejar Chhaya from 2004 to 2008.

2014 The National Board of Appeal launches investigation of Danish adoption cases from the orphanage in the period from 2004-2005

As a result of a questionnaire from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which was drawn up on behalf of the Committee for the Investigation of Intercountry Adoption, and which was distributed by post among international adoptees on Friday 17 April, many recipients have raised questions about the purpose. of this research. Not only with regard to the purpose, but there is also concern about the method of obtaining personal data: how does Statistics Netherlands know that we have been adopted (abroad)?

On April 17, I wrote to Mr Daalmans and Mr Van der Schors about this by e-mail. On April 20, Mr. Daalmans called me back with an explanation of a response that was in preparation and which I would receive later by e-mail. He first wanted to clear the air by phone.

My main concern is that subjective feelings about how adoption per individual has turned out do not fit into an investigation into abuses in intercountry adoption. It seemed for a while, given the highlighted parts of the survey (what was your relationship with your educators, what was your school days, what are your social contacts, what do you think about adoption) that the CBS survey would be about this. In the past, adoptees have already taken part in satisfaction surveys, in which the results were used by all kinds of parties and misused to proclaim their own vision towards politics and government. I also emphasized this in the telephone conversation. I also explained in more detail why I think that the entire explanation in the accompanying letter and folder creates a lot of confusion. The approach of the CBS survey and the research process has been described in such a way that it seems to me that the group of adoptees is once again being used for a useless satisfaction survey. Incidentally, FIOM is already mapping out the needs and wishes of adoptees in their search for their roots. Are all those studies next to each other now all necessary? It all costs time and money. Are all those studies side by side now all necessary? It all costs time and money. Are all those studies next to each other now all necessary? It all costs time and money.

Mr. Daalmans explained that a questionnaire was drawn up in the context of the independent investigation into intercountry adoption in the past, so that the committee can include the results in the recommendations that will be addressed to the Ministry of Justice and Security. The CBS investigation is therefore part of the investigation into abuses in international adoptions in the past and the results will be incorporated in the report that is expected in October 2020. However, it is not a question of whether or not the adoptee is satisfied with the fact that he or she has been adopted, said Mr Daalmans. If it is found that the Dutch government has failed in the past, it is therefore also important to know what the needs of adoptees are in the context of root search and what they may encounter as a result of those abuses. It may also be that the outcome is that nothing can be directly blamed on the Dutch government at the time, but that the Joustra Committee also makes recommendations about what the government could do (moral duty?) To support intercountry adoptees in answering parentage questions. . The committee wants to investigate this itself with the help of an independent research agency - which performs a task based on the Central Bureau of Statistics Act - and does not want to use the needs and wishes that the FIOM has collected during these recommendations all kinds of meetings with adoptees that have taken place recently. As I myself believe, FIOM is not a sufficiently independent party for this.

This was the thrust of the conversation. Below an explanation that I received by e-mail afterwards to supplement our conversation. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether or not to complete the survey on this basis. I do not want to go into that and I cannot determine that. I only tried to create more clarity about the purpose of the research, the way in which personal data are obtained and what the results are used for. In my opinion, it is important that the research method, the method of analysis and processing of the data obtained are adequately substantiated and justified in the report of the Joustra Committee. Validity and reliability of the study should also be discussed. Does the research provide an answer to the research question and do the results serve the actual purposepurpose of it? Unfortunately, we can only judge it properly afterwards.

WEBSITE HELPT GEADOPTEERDEN EN VERLOREN FAMILIE TE HERENIGEN

‘We willen geadopteerden emotioneel voorbereiden’

Contact maken met de oorspronkelijke familie is voor geadopteerden een delicate zaak. Een website wil hulp bieden.

VAN ONZE REDACTRICE ANOUK TORBEYNS

BRUSSELWat als ik geadopteerd ben en mijn oorspronkelijke familie wil zoeken of contacteren? De website A-search tracht geadopteerden met deze vragen een eind op weg te helpen. Hij is gemaakt door en voor geadopteerden.

In this SAP blog highlighting the relationship between the government and the foundation Flash, who was involved since 1979 with the adoption of children from countries such as Sri Lanka. Flash will be discontinued in 2010. The foundation has mediated for a total of 2,410 children, most of whom come from Sri Lanka.

How did it work? When adoptive parents from the Netherlands had a permit in principle from the Ministry of Justice, Flash contacted a few permanent private mediators in Sri Lanka. In practice, the Dutch parents stayed in Sri Lanka for about 3 weeks, with a travel visa applied for and granted by the Dutch embassy on the last day of the child's stay. Flash advised a week after arrival in the Netherlands to report to the local aliens police in order to apply for a residence permit. Because no details of the child had to be provided in advance, foster parents were usually not aware of who the child is and who the biological parents were. On March 2, 1983, the Ministry of Justice wrote to Flash that from now on the name in writing to the Ministry of Justice, date of birth, nationality and gender of the foster child are stated. The practice of granting a travel visa to adopted children was formally 'not entirely correct'. As a result, an authorization for temporary residence must be issued from now on. A condition for this is that the parent (s) and / or the legal representatives of the baby have renounced the baby in a locally applicable manner and acceptable according to Dutch standards. The personal details of the child to be adopted must be known to the Ministry of Justice before the parents go abroad. A condition for this is that the parent (s) and / or the legal representatives of the baby have renounced the baby in a locally applicable and acceptable manner according to Dutch standards. The personal details of the child to be adopted must be known to the Ministry of Justice before the parents go abroad. A condition for this is that the parent (s) and / or the legal representatives of the baby have renounced the baby in a locally applicable and acceptable manner according to Dutch standards. The personal details of the child to be adopted must be known to the Ministry of Justice before the parents go abroad.

Flash reports on July 11, 1983 that this would mean that the foster parents would have to stay longer in Sri Lanka and that she does not agree. Apparently the interests of the buyers were greater than those of the child. Rather than halting adoption, the government is allowing Flash to continue to handle current affairs in the usual manner. As a result, it remains unknown where exactly the baby comes from. The Ministry of Justice announced on September 28, 1983 that it does not wish to process requests from foreign nationals whose full personal details are not yet known. Flash is now given another postponement, until January 1, 1984, to announce the child's personal details in advance. In the letter of June 5, 1984 from the Ministry of Justice, it is noted that Flash is still making requests without the required statement.

On July 26, 1984, representatives of Flash reported on their working visit to Sri Lanka, where they discussed the problem of applying for temporary residence by name. It is agreed that prospective foster parents may travel to Sri Lanka as soon as a child becomes available. As soon as the details of the child are known, they will be forwarded to Flash and the application for the authorization for temporary stay will be applied for. This, too, is contrary to the required advance notice of these essential data. The government has consciously let Flash run its course. Given the coverage of adoption practices worldwide and in Sri Lanka in particular, and Flash's reputation, this is particularly careless. As a result, hundreds if not thousands of babies have been taken from Sri Lanka, without knowing who their family was and is. The government had the power to allow adoptions only if it was established who the baby belonged to, that the parent (s) in Sri Lanka gave permission to give it up, and that everything was recorded so that the baby could later interact with his or her family in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, many children were found to have been robbed from hospitals, born in baby farms, and there was widespread fraud with passports by rogue traders.

In the next blog, attention will be paid to regulations when it comes to adoption.