Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday took a serious note of the irregularities alleged by Jennifer Haynes, 27, who was deported to Mumbai last year. The central government willhave to give the court an explanation for her deportation.
The Central Adoption and Resource Agency (Cara) had stated in an affidavit that it was not involved with Haynes's adoption as it came into existence in 1990, a year after Haynes was adopted by US nationals Edward and Melissa Hancox. Justice DY Chandrachud and justice RG Ketkar were, however, of the view that the agency could not absolve itself from its responsibility.

Justice Chandrachud remarked, "This may be just the tip of the iceberg." He called for all documents pertaining to Haynes's adoption. The court asked Cara to find out if any supervision was conducted after the high court permitted Haynes's inter-country adoption in November 1989. The court also asked Cara to inquire whether there were any breaches on part of the Americans for International Aid and Adoption and Kuan Yin Charity Trust in Mumbai that processed her adoption.

Haynes's advocate Pradeep Havnur told the court that his client's life in Mumbai "was worse than animal existence."

DNA was the first to report Haynes's case. She was deported to Mumbai in July last year owing to unfinished documentation at the time of her adoption. "I have got some hope after the court has sought an explanation from the government. I see it as a positive step in my case," Haynes said.

The court has asked the Centre to file an affidavit stating on what basis they accepted Haynes's repatriation and adjourned the case till June 10.

Mayura Janwalkar

Mumbai: Not much has changed for Jennifer Haynes, 27, in the nine months that she has lived in Mumbai. But the one thing she really wants is her children. In July last year, Haynes was deported to India because the Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA) had left her citizenship formalities incomplete at the time of her adoption in 1989, she alleged.

Jennifer, who is put up in a home for women in Chembur, said that she didn't do much all day. "I'm trying to get a job in a call centre because I can speak very good English, but I have no documents to prove who I am," Haynes told DNA.

She said that she wanted to work and earn money to be able to rent a place of her own so that she could bring her children -- Kadafi, 5, and Kanassa, 4-- to India until her way to go back to the USA is cleared.

"My family sends me money from the USA but it's not much," Haynes said. She said that the only job that she had been offered was of a house maid. "I don't want to do that because I am educated enough to get a better job."

Born in Mumbai, Haynes was adopted by US nationals, Edward and Melissa Hancox, and flown to USA in November 1989. However, she claimed that she was sexually abused as a child in her first foster home in Georgia and then changed 50 different homes, in many of which, she continued to be abused.

Haynes was convicted in 2001 and 2004 for illegal possession of cocaine by the US department of justice. However, the Board of Immigration Appeals deported her to India in 2008 claiming that her citizenship formalities were left incomplete at the time of her adoption. "There are so many times that I just want to break-down, but I'm just taking one day at a time hoping that I will get to see my children soon," Haynes said.

The Central Adoption Resources Authority (CARA) has filed a report in the case of an allegedly fraudulent adoption process carried out by an American agency. The adoption process had landed 27-year-oldhttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/adoption-scam-central-authority-awaits-report-from-state-us-agency/474704/ Jennifer Haynes in trouble after she was deported back to India in July last year.

Jagannath Patil, deputy director of CARA in his report, has said that CARA has communicated with the central agency in the US and also asked the Maharashtra Government to conduct an enquiry in this regard.

Patil stated that “CARA will be able to form any opinion in the matter only after getting reports from these quarters.”

Haynes, who was adopted by an American 20 years ago, had moved the Bombay High Court seeking action against the Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA) which had processed her adoption papers.

In her petition, she has blamed the AIAA for jeopardising her stay in America as her adoption process was carried out in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, and the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Inter-Country Adoption.

Mayura Janwalkar

Mumbai: On September 29, Jennifer Haynes celebrated her 28th birthday by herself at a shelter in Chembur. Ideally, she said, she would have been on a holiday in the US with her husband Justin and children Kadafi, 5, and Kanassa, 4.

Haynes had moved Bombay High Court earlier this year against Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA), the agency that processed her adoption papers 20 years ago. She was abruptly deported to India last year as even after her adoption in 1989, there was no documentation pertaining to her American citizenship.

Haynes, an Indian, was adopted by American nationals Edward and Melissa Hancox in 1989. "I didn't talk to my kids on my birthday. They didn't even know it was my birthday. I've been away so long that they are not into me anymore," Haynes said.

With absolutely no proof of identity, Haynes is struggling to make ends meet in Mumbai, her place of birth. "I applied for a job in a call centre in Belapur. I am fit for the job since I don't need any language or accent training. I even cleared their tests but with no documents I cannot get any job," said a frustrated Haynes. She said that she is currently teaching English to five children aged between three and 11. "I earn some money by doing that but it's very little," she said.

Although the high court is hearing Haynes' case, the Centre as well as other agencies involved are taking their time to file their replies to Haynes' allegations. She had sought a stay on foreign adoptions and de-registration of the AIAA until she is sent back to her family. Haynes, however, fears that she may have to stay put in Mumbai for another three-four years. Her advocate Pradeep Havnur said that the court will hear her case after two weeks.

Meanwhile, in a letter written to the Central Adoption Resources Authority (CARA) by Vishvas Sapkal, the consul general of India in Chicago on September 17 said that AIAA, that Haynes has alleged is responsible for her deportation, is a 35-year-old organisation that has placed 5,089 children from Asia, Latin and South America and eastern Europe with adoptive families.

"Since 1980, AIAA placed 617 children from India. Last five years, the average placement from India is 10," stated Sapkal's letter addressed to CARA's deputy director Jagannath Pati. He said, after the year 2000, citizenship is automatically granted to the adopted child but for children adopted prior to that, the adoptive parents had to apply for citizenship. This was not done in Haynes' case. Moreover, the letter says she, as an adult, did not apply for citizenship and was deported as she was found guilty of felonies

Mumbai: After spending more than a year without an identity in India, the case of Jennifer Haynes, 28, who was deported to India 20 years after her foreign adoption, may be set in motion.

The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the inspection of the progress report filed with the court after Haynes's foreign adoption was allowed in 1989.

As a procedure, the foreign adoption agency that processes the adoption of a child is supposed to file a progress report of the child with the court from time to time until the child attains adulthood.

But Haynes's advocate Pradeep Havnur said, "We have examined the records pertaining to Haynes's adoption. Neither the Indian adoption agency nor its American counterpart has filed any progress reports in all these years since her adoption."

Additional solicitor general DK Khambata told the court that the Central Adoption Regulation authority too has called upon the Americans for International Aid and Adoption, the agency that processed Haynes's adoption in 1989 for the progress reports filed by it.

Haynes was deported to Mumbai in July 2008 owing to incomplete formalities at the time of adoption as a result of which she did not gain American citizenship in spite of having been adopted by an American family and lived there for the past 20 years.

Justice Ranjana Desai and justice Mridula Bhatkar will hear the case on December 10.

Mumbai: Twenty-one years after 85-year-old Clarice D’souza gave away Jennifer Haynes, 28, in adoption to US national George Hancox, she filed an affidavit in the Bombay high court, stating that she could not disclose the identity of her biological mother.

Haynes was deported to India owing to incomplete adoption formalities at the time of her adoption in 1989.

Haynes, who was separated from her American husband and two children — aged six and five — as a result of her abrupt deportation, had alleged various malpractices under the guise of foreign adoptions and sought action against the Americans for International Aid and Adoption that processed her adoption.

Refuting allegations made by Haynes, D’souza, a trustee of the now defunct Kuanyin Charitable Trust from where Haynes was adopted, has stated that many children are adopted by US nationals and they settle and adapt well.

D’souza has stated that Haynes allegations are baseless and her petition in court is not maintainable, as she has not exhausted the remedies available to her.

An exasperated Haynes said: “More than anything else, I want to go back to my children. But now that I am here in India I want to know something about myself, my family, my mother. I don’t want to go back to the US empty-handed.”

But D’souza’s affidavit suggests she will have to remain clueless about her parents. The 85-year-old said that revealing her mother’s identity would be a breach of confidentiality her mother was promised at the time of surrendering her child. She also states that it is now over 20 years since the documents were submitted to the court and she does not have them anymore. Haynes’s advocate Pradeep Havnur has sought two weeks time from the court to file a reply.