Thousands of South Korean children were adopted by Australian families under false pretences, according to investigations by both the Associated Press and the ABC. The agency responsible for facilitating adoptions since 1978, Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS), allegedly claimed children were orphans when, in reality, those children were received from hospital workers who had been bribed by the agency.

Many of the 3,600 adoptees, now aged in their thirties, had unusually similar case files: born to a single mother, and orphaned. In interviews with the ABC, adult adoptees said their own research had proven their biological parents were alive and had been misled in some cases into believing their child would be adopted by a Korean family. South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is now investigating hundreds of adoptee cases and has already confirmed an extensive campaign of deceptive falsification of documents. Australia has not launched an official investigation.

In August, Senator Linda Reynolds called for a broader parliamentary inquiry into intercountry adoption practices, seeking a stop to all international adoptions until more comprehensive safeguards are in place to prevent “trafficking” of orphans.

Quiet migration poses concern over processes

As Melbourne University academics Jay Song and Ryan Gustafsson wrote in 2023, while intercountry is a form of migration, it is not often viewed as such. They wrote in their paper ‘Korean Adoption to Australia as Quiet and Orderly Child Migration’ that “Adoption involves what Anne Collinson (2007) has termed ‘the littlest immigrants’ who, as children, are disempowered and not afforded a voice, and rarely portrayed in the Western media as immigrants. Child/infant migrants remain in the shadow of their adult custodians. They have no agency nor the means to express their consent in the migration and settlement process, which is often considered a private, family affair.”

Vijayawada:After receiving a complaint, police have started an inquiry into the alleged illegal adoption of a baby girl by a childless couple in Narasaraopet, Palnadu district. The women and child development authorities said that an illegal adoption of a months-old baby girl by a woman came to their notice. The childless mother wanted a child and adopted the baby girl, reportedly unaware of the adoption rules.

Meanwhile, the police have started the inquiry on the issue amid allegations that money was involved in the illegal adoption and also the issue was not limited to just one baby as there were reports of a few more babies given in adoption for money. Palnadu district women and child development project director Uma Rani said, “It has come to our notice about the unauthorised adoption of a baby girl by a woman with no children, probably unaware of the norms to do so. We have alerted the police on the issue to take up inquiry.”  

Tilbagekaldelse af tilladelse til at yde adoptionshjælp vedrørende børn med bopæl i Sydafrika 

Jeg har i dag truffet afgørelse om at stoppe adoptionsformidlingen af børn fra Sydafrika. 

Da Danish International Adoption (DIA) fortsat har tilladelse til at yde adoptionshjælp vedrørende børn fra udlandet, og da tilladelsen vedrørende Sydafrika er givet til DIA, betyder dette, at DIA ikke længere kan bistå ansøgere med at gennemføre en adoption fra Sydafrika. Det betyder således også, at der efter DIAs ophør ikke foreligger tilladelse til at yde adoptionshjælp vedrørende Sydafrika. 

Court’s Decision: The Bombay High Court allowed the foreign adoption petition filed by the petitioner, Bal Asha Trust, on behalf of the proposed adoptive parents, Spanish nationals Mr. Luis Fernando Lage Puebla and Mrs. Maria Del Carmen Garcia. The court granted permission for the adoption of a male minor, Priyanshu Rajkumar, and allowed the couple to rename him Priyanshu Lage Garcia. The adoption was approved under Section 59(7) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and in compliance with the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, 1993.

Facts: The male minor, born on July 1, 2015, was found abandoned by CSMT Railway Police Station, Mumbai, and subsequently admitted to C.C.D.T. Ashray, Mumbai, on December 13, 2019. He remained there until January 5, 2023, after which he was transferred to Bal Asha Trust by an order from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Mumbai City-I. On July 31, 2023, the CWC declared the minor legally free for adoption. Following the issuance of a No Objection Certificate by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) on August 13, 2024, the petition for adoption was filed.

The proposed adoptive parents, residents of Madrid, Spain, have been married since June 1, 2012, and have no biological children. They were found medically fit for adoption through medical reports dated June 6, 2024, confirming that they are free of chronic or communicable diseases. The adoptive father is employed as an IT specialist, and the adoptive mother works as a credit risk expert, with substantial annual incomes reported.

Issues: The primary issue was whether the adoption of the male minor by foreign nationals complies with Indian law and international adoption standards under the Hague Convention and the Juvenile Justice Act.

Petitioner’s Arguments: The petitioner, Bal Asha Trust, argued that all legal requirements for the adoption had been met, including the minor being declared legally free for adoption by the CWC and the issuance of a No Objection Certificate by CARA. The petitioner emphasized that the adoptive parents were deemed suitable for adoption, as evidenced by the Home Study Report and Psychological Evaluation Report from authorized agencies in Spain.

Original Text[Belgique/condamnation de Julienne Mpemba : ce jugement est-il partial ?
1 year ago Isaac Kilikumbi
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Enseignement primaire et secondaire
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Dans une analyse rendue publique ce mardi 15 octobre 2024, Job Nkuna, expert en protection et adoption internationale des enfants, a partagé une critique acerbe du verdict rendu par le Tribunal correctionnel de Namur, en Belgique. Ce dernier a été condamné Julienne Mpemba, une Belgo-Congolaise, à dix ans de prison avec arrestation immédiate pour son rôle dans des cas d'adoption d'enfants originaires de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) en 2015.

Un procès controversé

Selon Job Nkuna, la condamnation de Julienne Mpemba, survenue le 10 octobre 2024, repose sur des fondements injustes. Il dénonce un procès entaché de biais et s'interroge sur le rôle réel de Mme Mpemba dans ces adoptions. Il rappelle que Mme Mpemba, en tant que simple hébergeuse d'enfants, n'avait ni pouvoir administratif ni influence sur les procédures d'adoption internationales. Elle ne délivrait aucun document officiel, ni ne supervisait les processus juridiques relatifs aux adoptions.

Nkuna souligne qu'aucun enfant ne peut quitter la RDC pour la Belgique sans l'autorisation de la Direction belge de l'Adoption, et que c'est l'Ambassade de Belgique à Kinshasa qui, à l'époque, s'assurait de la validité des documents avant de délivrer les visas Schengen aux enfants adoptés. Pour l'expert, il est donc injuste de faire porter l'entière responsabilité de ces procédures complexes à Mme Mpemba, alors que d'autres acteurs impliqués dans la chaîne d'adoption, y compris des responsables belges, restent étrangement absents du procès.

Un procès aux relents de discrimination ?

Sending unwanted offspring abroad, bringing desired children to Switzerland – since the 1950s, Switzerland has been involved in a systematic child transfer.

Shortly :

• Between the 1970s and the early 2000s, around 2,200 children were adopted from India.
• Reports confirm systematic child trafficking and failures of the Swiss authorities.
• Documented irregularities include missing signatures and contradictory information.
• To make their work easier, officials noted “mother unknown” on numerous birth certificates.

Some were found on the streets, others were taken to children's homes by relatives - many were taken away from their mothers immediately after birth.

In the sixties and seventies, getting pregnant without being married was a big taboo in the Netherlands. Thousands of girls and young women therefore kept their pregnancies secret and gave birth to their child in isolation. Many of them were then forced by social pressure and circumstances to give up their baby.

The children ended up in homes or special children's departments, such as the Midwifery School in Heerlen. They were then adopted by parents who had often been waiting for a child for a long time. Although people thought adoption was a good idea at the time, it turns out that the impact of the events continues to have a long-lasting effect, both on the mothers and the adopted children and on the adoptive parents.

The four-part television series Dossier Afgestaan ​​brings together the personal stories of birth mothers, adopted children, adoptive parents and care providers.

In the series, various women talk about their experiences with unwanted pregnancies at a young age. Their babies were sometimes taken away immediately after birth, and they themselves had to continue with their lives as if nothing had happened. After a few days, for example, they went back to school or training and hardly anyone knew that they had become mothers. "When I came home from Moederheil, my father literally said: it is not talked about anymore," says a certain Cecilia.

Sambalpur: A 17-day-old baby boy from Khoirpali village in Bargarh district’s Sohela Block, who was allegedly sold to a family in a neighbouring village, was rescued by an official of the district’s child welfare committee on Saturday.

The illegal adoption was arranged using a notary and stamp paper, which is illegal. The district administration is investigating whether the adoption involved a monetary transaction.

The baby’s parents, who already have five children, were unable to raise another child and allegedly facilitated the transfer using notary documents.

The baby boy was allegedly handed over shortly after birth to a family seeking a son, as they only had daughters.

The boy’s father said, “I already have children aged 8, 6, 3, 2, and 1, and this baby was our sixth. Since I was unable to raise another child, I gave him away. I didn’t even have money to buy medicines for my children, so I gave the baby to a family in the neighbouring district to secure a better future for him. They do not have any boys. We did not take any money from them.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-20/tas-hold-forced-adoptions-tasmania-compensation-push/104489306?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1gK3fCKLkwlIuiDOZg3orM8fbDnfkr9LU0XldALbqN1JoBUzJd_V-3Q-o_aem_4Zdw5Y2v85ZD_mtXDxAfFg

In short:

A group of Tasmanian mothers who had their babies forcibly removed are continuing their push for compensation.

Forced adoption of the children of unwed mothers occurred in Australia up until the 1980s.

What's next?

Greek authorities have arrested a Bulgarian national involved in an illegal child adoption ring operating between Bulgaria and Greece. The 30-year-old man was detained during a routine identity check in central Athens.

Police report that the individual is connected to at least six cases of illicit adoption involving Bulgarian children. As part of a criminal network, the man targeted vulnerable pregnant women in Bulgaria, offering them money in exchange for their newborns, which were then transferred to Greece for adoption.

Investigations reveal that he facilitated the transactions between the mothers and a network consisting of doctors and lawyers who helped legalize these adoptions. The man is said to have received over 10,000 euros for his role in brokering the arrangements.

The price per child has now escalated to over 30,000 euros, according to anti-trafficking investigators. Authorities have presented undisputed evidence proving the suspect profited from the sale of children. He has been referred to the prosecutor's office for further legal proceedings.