BY JACK McBrams

Kondanani Children’s Village at Bvumbwe, 30 kilometres from Blantyre towards the scenic tea plantation landscapes of Thyolo, is regarded as the finest orphanage in Malawi. By far. 

So highly regarded that, 13 years ago, Kondanani Children’s Village made global headlines when global pop star Madonna adopted four-year-old Chifundo Mercy James from the orphanage.

From the outside, the orphanage mirrors an image of bliss and happiness—a perfect haven for the 168 orphans of ranging ages that are privileged with free shelter, education, and care.

However, by sifting through court documents and interviewing victims and witnesses, PIJ has uncovered allegedly shady shenanigans that paint the institution in a different light.

Jason and Lacy Carney

2nd Milk, a Christian charity claiming to feed underprivileged children in Malawi has been exposed as a fraudulent operation designed to give the owners access to significant donor funding that they use to fund a luxury lifestyle. Financial statements track how the charity founders pocketed most of the money donated to the charity, ramping payments to themselves up as authorities started looking at their charitable businesses more closely.

GOLDEN MATONGA & GODFREY MAOCHA 

GOLDEN MATONGA

Jason Carney, the founder of the controversial Malawi registered NGO exposed by PIJ for exploiting Malawi children has been arrested by authorities in the US.

The specific charges against Carney, whose organization has been the subject of two major PIJ investigations around the use of its finances and illegal adoptions in Malawi, are yet to be released.

Closure of LongArm Child Care, a Lilongwe-based orphanage, is pitting its American sponsors against its Malawi-based Country Director. The Americans believe the closure is aimed at stripping the orphanage of its assets and that officials from the social welfare office are part of the plot. The locals say the Americans use the NGO to steal.

JULIUS MBEŴE 

• October 19, 2006submitted to: Members of the House of Representatives, Committee of Justice | status: submitted | draftedby: Kim Verhaaf, Marcos Lukana Champi, Milou van UdenRecommendations for Specification of Post Adoption ServiceAccording to article 9c of the “Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 for the Protection ofChildren and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption”.IntroductionSince 1991, associations of and for intercountry adoptees have beenestablished in the Netherlands and are active in the adoption field.

Korean adoptees worldwide are grappling with a devastating possibility: they were not truly orphans, but may have been made into orphans.

For decades, adoptees were told they were “abandoned”, “rescued” or “unwanted”. Many were told their Korean families were too “poor” or “incapable” to raise them – and they should only ever feel grateful for being adopted.

But these long-held stories are now under scrutiny.

Our recent research interrogates the narratives that have obscured the darker realities of intercountry adoption. Rather than viewing adoption solely through the lens of “rescue”, our work examines the broader power structures that facilitated the mass migration of Korean children to western countries, including Australia.

South Korea’s reckoning with its adoption history

In a landmark judgment, the Chhattisgarh High Court has held that women employees who adopt children are also entitled to childcare/child adoption/maternity leave since it is a fundamental right of every mother under Article 21 of the Constitution, irrespective of the mode of attainment of motherhood, to give motherly care and attention to their new-born children.Justice Bibhu Datta Guru...

Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten are raising adopted Black children – something he recently discussed on the "Flagrant" podcast. And they're hardly alone.

Scroll through TikTok and you'll find wholesome, heartwarming stories about White parents with Black children posting videos perfecting their children's hair. Many comments are encouraging: "omg her hair is beautiful and so is a mothers love." "A mother who TRIES is all our kids need." "You’re doing a great job caring for them."

Buttigieg alluded to plenty of advice he received on his children's hair from Black parents on social media. "They're like, 'let me tell you how to do it,'" he said.

Today, there are plenty of resources for parents who adopt children of a different race, a process known as transracial adoption. But that wasn't always the case.

For transracial adoptees who grew up in White families decades ago, these TikTok videos and the attention this subject is now getting bring mixed emotions. It's encouraging to see how far things have come in terms of adoptive parents working to better understand their children's needs. But these viral positive posts aren't reflective of what they experienced.

DAVANAGERE: A special-needs child from Amulya Orphanage in Davanagere will soon join his adoptive family in Italy, marking the tenth international adoption from the facility.

The child's adoptive parents were chosen through Central Adoption Resource Authority's (CARA) selection process after his teenage biological mother expressed her inability to raise him.

Tarun, 3, with walking disabilities, will be transferred to his adoptive parents through DC G M Gangadharswamy on May 13.

T N Kavitha, the district child protection officer, said: "Govt-specialised adoption agency Amulya Kendra, Davangere, rceives legally free adoption (LFA) recommendations from the district child welfare committee in keeping with rules for orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered children."

The officer further said: "A 19-year-old unwed mother had surrendered Tarun about three years ago. When the Italian couple showed interest in adopting him, we completed the formalities." The couple had satisfied all adoption criteria.

While law prohibits direct adoptions, the process is based on an assessment of prospective parents' health, psychological well-being, social standing, and financial capability.

Post-adoption monitoring continues for two years with quarterly welfare updates.

Let me introduce myself!

This week, to everyone's great surprise, Dick Schoof was suddenly presented as intended prime minister, which means that Mark Rutte's  successor  seems to be known in one fell swoop. But while the VVD veteran kept his private life strictly  under wraps , a little more is known about Dick Schoof. Let me introduce myself!

Dick Schoof

Would the premiership rest on the shoulders of Geert Wilders ? Or would the role go to Ronald Plasterk ? Suddenly there was a name (unknown to many): Dick Schoof was put forward by the parties involved as intended prime minister.