Dutchwoman searches for mother in Mangalore

Stanley Pinto, TNN | May 12, 2013, 12.52 AM IST
MANGALORE: “Dear mother, I’m desperately searching for you. I understand that at the time of my birth you were in a vulnerable situation and could not keep me with you. But maybe today your situation has changed or at least you can meet me secretly if you want. So please contact me…”

That’s the message of India-born Dutchwoman Lobke Sanders, who lives in Wehl and is searching for her biological mother. This self-employed woman who works in human resource management was adopted by a Dutch couple when she was a year old from Mt Rosary Charitable Institution, Moodabidri on November 17, 1981. (more…)

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When Ramesh wanted to take his four children, they were sent to a family in Denmark

Google Translation:   Full text in Danish HERE

Politiken, 12 May 2013

In 2003, four Indian siblings abducted and adopted to Denmark against their father’s will.

That believes the Indian Prosecutor leading a major case against the perpetrator, who is also accused of similar cases.

The children’s father, Ramesh Kulkarni, the year before been widowed and underwent a economically difficult time – he had therefore temporarily handed over his children in an orphanage named Preet Mandir, where he visited them regularly and hoped to get them back home.

The children were cared for temporarily go to an English school until Ramesh Kulkarni came economically on its feet and able to take them home again.
But one day the children were gone, and he got knowing that they were in Denmark. Through organization AC International Child was they ended up with two parents in Funen. (more…)

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Human trafficking NGO believes that the move is a step forward, but could have less than desirable consequences

Christian Wenande
May 10, 2013 – 14:22
Adoptions have dropped since revelations that ‘child harvesters’ were being used in Ethiopia to lure local families into putting their children up for adoption (Photo: Colourbox)

A new report from the parliamentary ombudsman to the national social appeals board, Ankestyrelsen, about adoption rules means that biological parents could gain the right to have contact with the children they’ve given up.

The report maintains that “the right for an adopted child and his/her biological family to maintain a family life established before the adoption by way of contact is protected” by the European human rights convention.

The report’s recommendations represent a massive change to how adoption terms are interpreted today.

“The statement is a breach of how the adoption process has been regarded until now, where parental rights over the adopted child have unequivocally belonged to the adoptive parents,” Lene Myong, an associate professor at Aarhus University who has researched cross-cultural adoptions, told Politiken newspaper. (more…)

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India-born German national Arun Dohle wants to help four persons find their biological parents

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Stanley Pinto, TNN | May 9, 2013, 07.46 PM IST

MANGALORE: India-born German national Arun Dohle, who found his biological mother after 17 years of struggle and litigation, is now on a new assignment.
His mission is to locate the biological parents of four persons adopted from Mangalore.

Arun told TOI: The four persons, who do not want their identity disclosed, were adopted” from this area. While one person was adopted from Nirmala Social Welfare Centre, Ullal, the other three were given away from an institution at Moodabidri.

Of the four, three were adopted by couples in the Netherlands, one from a couple in Germany. While one was adopted through Terre des hommes, an international charitable humanitarian federation which concentrates on children’s rights based in Germany, the other three were adopted through Wereldkinderen (World Children), the Netherlands. Wereldkinderen is a child welfare organization dedicated to children without a home and has permission to mediate in inter-country adoption.

During his interaction with Terre des homes, Arun found that the agency did not have records for the adoption of the person in question. It is surprising that an organization which concentrates on children’s rights’ has not the requisite papers. I’m here to find out the missing link in the whole chain of events,” he said.

Anjali Pawar, child rights activist from Pune who is here to trace the biological parents of the four adopted persons along with Arun said: The adoption” cases are not always a case of ‘unwed mother’ giving up the child. We have found out that many adoptions took place without first providing required assistance to the mother by the authorities concerned here.

Arun was reunited with his mother in Pune in 2010. He was adopted by a German couple in 1971. Meanwhile, activist Geeta Menon from Stree Jagruthi Samithi, Bangalore, on Monday submitted the Karnataka high court’s directive to the government, directing police to assist Chaya Maria Schupp to trace her biological mother. Chaya, resident of Dieburg, 30km from Frankfurt in southern Germany, was adopted by a German couple when she was about 6 years old under suspicious circumstances.

 

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Adopted Children: Right to family contact

Google Translation (Part of Text)  - Full Text HERE

Ministry of Social Affairs has seen report that finds that biological parents and children as a starting point cannot be separated by adoption.

Politiken, 9 May 2013
Dorrit Saietz

A month ago, met four Ethiopian mothers up at the Danish Embassy in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to complain about the way they
had been enticed to be adopting their children to Denmark.

Now a new opinion of the Appeals Board Family Law Department under the Ministry of Social Affairs, finds that these mothers have the right to
seek contact with their children in Denmark and that the authorities should treat application from the child, even the adoptive parents are opposed.
‘The right of an adopted child and its original parents to support a family, which was established before adoption, in the form of contact with each other (s)
generally protected ‘of Article 8 in the European Convention on Human Rights, concludes the Appeals Board, among other things.

…/…

It was an activist organization by the name Against Child Trafficking, which helped the Ethiopian women to seek embassy and which has, inter alia helped
Indian parents to search for their adopted children. (more…)

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Biological parents have the right to contact with adopted children

DENMARK 8 MAY 2013 KL. 1.23

When a child is adopted, it must not be cut off from contact with the original parents. That states the Appeals Board under the Ministry of Social Affairs as a result of the cases of Amy and Masho. It can change practice.

By DORRIT SAIETZ
A total reorientation of our whole perception of adoption.

It is a new opinion of the Parliamentary Ombudsman from the Appeals Board under the Ministry of Social Affairs result, experts believe.

It finds namely that the right to family life and thus contact between children and indigenous parents are protected, even if a child has been given new legal parents through adoption.

‘The opinion is a violation of the manner in whichwe hitherto perceived adoption, where ownership of the adopted child very clearly belonged to the adoptive parents, “said assistant professor at Aarhus University Lene Myong, who has researched transcultural adoptions and sees an important fundamental recognition that adoptees may have family in the donor country who want contact.

Senior lecturer in social law Stine Jørgensen believes that statement puts a big question on the concept of adoption. “We think that with adoption, the child got some new legal parents, and thus ended. But in reality, there are still biological parents, so it is a kind of legal fiction in which one constructs a new legal family relationship, “said Stine Jørgensen, University of Copenhagen.

The Ombudsman questions

The Ombudsman has sought to clarify whether adopted children have the right to contact with their original family. The occasion was the media coverage of the cases of the two Ethiopian adoptees Amy and Masho. He now finds the statement that ‘the right of an adopted child and its original parents to support a family, which was established prior to the adoption, in the form of contact with each other as a starting poin,t is protected ‘by the European Convention on Human Rights.

It especially will affect the approximately 1,500 children who have been adopted after 2009, when a new Danish Adoption Act came into force.

Arun Dohle from the European NGO Against Child Trafficking, which fights against unethical adoption practices has read the statement: “If I have understood the report correctly, it is a very big step forward, but shows how bizarre the system is. This can not only cause the system wide open cracks, but can totally get it to go to deadlock. ”

Amy’s case as an example
both adoption agencies in Denmark and parents organization Adoption and Society have indicated that they welcome the ‘open adoptions’, where there is a continuing contact between the child and the biological family.

However, according to Arun Dohle, it is not so simple.

In the final analysis open adoptions could lead to a stream of younger children from poor countries for a temporary stay in Denmark. ‘If Amy’s case should serve as a model for future adoptions of older children, you can continue to say to vulnerable families: Just send your children to Denmark because Denmark will ensure that the child visits you every year, and that it may come back when it’s got a good education, ” he says.

 

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Danish TV – New Critics in Adoption Case

Date: 2013-04-23
Source: http://www.dr.dk

Arun Dohle (ACT)  interviewed

WATCH ONLINE  http://www.dr.dk

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UNICEF: Child harvesters is a known phenomenon

Source: http://www.dr.d
GOOGLE TRANSLATION:

Adoption agency DanAdopt refused Sunday to know about the word ‘children harvest’, although it is a common phenomenon.

8 April 2013

Gimma Kebele worked for DanAdopt’s now closed orphanage in Ethiopia, ENAT Alem. Beside the job as a night watchman, he earned money to find suitable families and convince them that they should be adopting their children.
Written by: Nikoline Vestergaard

It is a well known phenomenon when Ethiopian orphanage pays for men to go door to door to collect children for adoption. Those between men are known as the so-called child harvesters.
So says children’s organization UNICEF.

Sunday evening adoption agency DanAdopt denied knowledge of children harvests, in spite of that organization back in November last year after an inspection trip to Ethiopia wrote in a statement that they are aware of the phenomenon. (more…)

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German hopes to find her mother

Stanley Pinto, TNN | Mar 23, 2013, 06.48 AM IST

MANGALORE: Chaya Maria Schupp was six when she was adopted by a German couple. At 36, she still yearns to know who she really is, and find the woman who gave birth to her but gave her up, and why. Chaya suspects something amiss.
A resident of Dieburg, 30km from Frankfurt in southern Germany, Chaya has been trying to track her biological mother for years. Now, she is a little more hopeful of meeting her, thanks to the Karnataka high court’s directive to the government to provide all assistance in her long and arduous quest. All she knows is that Ullalholds the key.

Chaya told TOI from Germany: “It’s wonderful; I’m very excited by this verdict . I thank the judge for passing this order so quickly, understanding my turmoil and state of mind. It has rekindled my hope of finding my biological mother . I know police have a lot of power and they will help me.” (more…)

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Scourge of Child Trafficking

Date: 2013-03-02

Indian bi-lingual magazine.

Cover Story is about “Foreign Adoptions” in India and story is rooted in recent 19th Feb Press Conference organised by Against Child Trafficking (ACT) and HAQ Centre for Child Rights. Page 14 to 18.

Full article in English HERE

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