BEFORE she was even born, little Anouk Lien India had already visited three countries.

Anouk's mum Kate van Doore-Nave and her partner Andrea are involved with the Forget Me Not Children's Home, a charity in Hervey Bay that supports orphaned children overseas.

The couple travel to do work with the charity about twice a year and when Kate was about 20 weeks pregnant they visited Nepal, Uganda and India.

"She is well travelled already," Kate said.

Because they have spent so much time overseas, especially in Nepal, Kate said they were both relaxed about the visit.

( Kate van Doore's partner orphanage in Uganda )

Uganda: Orphanage Swindles Donor Money

THE memories still linger. Of little children chattering around, climbing walls and scampering for porridge. They screamed and, like tiny birds chirped around their 'mother'- a dark-skinned woman with a tardy accent. Her name - Pastor Florence Athieno.The year was 2009. The place? Love Ministries Orphanage in Kisimu village in Nabweru sub-county in Wakiso district. Two years down the road, everything is gone. Love Ministries has been closed.

LOVE Ministries has been dragged to Police by its Australian funders for embezzling funds meant to support the orphanage. Forget Me Not Children's Home (FMNCH), a registered Australian children's charity, has been supporting the orphanage for the last one year.

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'A good intention is not always a good idea'

Associate professor

Dr Kristen Cheney

Professor

Marinus van IJzendoorn

The illegal adoption of babies born in the Republic of the Marshall Islands into the United States has become an industry. In a move to address this issue, three Marshallese citizens were recently charged with criminal trafficking in persons in Majuro.

The three defendants charged by the RMI courts include a Marshallese residing in Arkansas. The other two defendants are residing in Majuro, according to a report from the Marianas Variety. The case involves the attempted recruitment of a Majuro woman to give up her baby for adoption in the U.S. state.

According to the Marianas Variety, charges were filed by RMI assistant attorney general Meuton Laiden against Justin Aine, 46, Aiti “Hatty” Anidrep, 49, and Sally Abon, 53 on March 14.

Marshall Island passport holders can travel to the U.S. under the Compact of Free Association. However, traveling for the purpose of adoption is illegal, according to the report. The RMI court scheduled an April 12 preliminary hearing on the case.

There were 54 successful applications, mostly from foreign countries, for adoptions in 2018 – a 10-year high, Minister for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity Michael Falzon said as he officially opened the National Adoption Strategy for public consultation on Tuesday.

Out of these 54 applications, 38 were for children from India, 8 from Slovakia, 7 from Portugal and 1 from Thailand.

The strategy is based on 25 recommendations which are planned to be implemented by 2022, and the prime objective of it is to facilitate adoptions while ensuring that everything is done with the best interest of children, who – Falzon said – must never be treated like commodities – at heart.

Falzon said that prospective parents applying for inter-country adoptions had benefitted from a €10,000 government grant to cover part of the expenses that they faced due to the adoption process.

The minister also noted that the government had concluded an agreement which would pave the way for adoptions from Bulgaria, and that discussions were underway for a similar agreement with Moldova as well.

1. Short title.

PART I

ADOPTION OF CHILDREN

2. Power to make adoption orders.

3. Restrictions on making of adoption orders.

"In secondary school, fellow students did the Hitler salute"

There is still a lot of ignorance about adoption. Sisters Maja and Adinda put the finishing touches on the i.

In the adoption debate, it seems like everyone gets a vote, except for the adopted ones themselves. For youth media agency StampMedia, journalist Anouk Torbeyns, himself an adoptive youngster, went looking for that voice. This is the story of Maja and Adinda.

Maja (33) and Adinda (30) are two adoptive sisters from Ghent. At a very young age they were adopted from India and Sri Lanka respectively. Now they feel completely Belgian, but it could also have turned out differently. In their youth, the sisters were regularly confronted with racism.

"If you grow up in the neighborhood of Geraardsbergen, chances are that you will be the only colored person," says Adinda. "In elementary school you hear things like 'you are not allowed to play because you are a brown cow'. In high school I was confronted with students who did the Hitler salute or threw French fries at my head."

The case offers a rare glimpse into the thriving adoption pipeline to the U.S., documented in a Civil Beat investigation in November.

In its toughest criminal action to date to slow a thriving adoption pipeline to the U.S., the Republic of the Marshall Islands has charged a well-known adoption fixer with human trafficking, a potential 15 years prison sentence.

The case centers on a January 2018 incident in which the fixer, Justin Aine, was stopped at the airport in Majuro, the Marshallese capital, just before boarding a plane to the U.S. with two women, one pregnant and the other with a month-old infant in a stroller.

“Black Market Babies,” a Civil Beat investigation published in November, found that Aine has worked with at least two U.S. attorneys to facilitate adoptions of Marshallese children. The court documents in this case do not name any lawyers.

Two Marshallese women alleged to have helped Aine were charged with aiding and abetting human trafficking, with a potential sentence of seven years.

Manat (26) is "eternally grateful" to his parents for adopting him

"I have been adopted and I am more than grateful to my adoptive parents. In fact, it is priceless. Thanks mum and dad." This is what the 26-year-old Manat Janmaat writes under an article from RTL News on Facebook about adoption. He shared his story because, according to him, adoption was put in too negative a light.

Yesterday we wrote how the number of adopted children from abroad who end up with Dutch parents continues to fall. According to emeritus professor of adoption René Hoksbergen, it is the result of adoption scandals, better reproduction techniques and more prosperity in former adopting countries.

Hoksbergen argues for a further reduction of foreign adoptions. "The impact of an adoption is large and although there are very good adoptive parents, you remove a child from a large part of his or her identity," Hoksbergen said earlier in Trouw. More than a hundred responses came to our story. Not everyone agreed with the professor.

Reactions

The Marshall Islands has charged three people with offences relating to the trafficking of babies.

The charges mark the country's first legal move to stop the flow of illegal adoptions of Marshallese babies in the United States.

The three accused are all Marshall Islanders.

Two are from Majuro and the other is resident in Arkansas which is understood to be a popular destination for pregnant Marshallese mothers who adopt out their babies.

The three accused made an initial court appearance this week before Judge Witten Philippo, who scheduled a preliminary hearing for April 12 where arguments will be presented in detail.