22.5.2013 | 22.55 | SF1
23.3.2013 | 05.10 | SF1

Senkenesh und Hussen leben in Äthiopien und haben fünf Kinder. Als sie die Diagnose Aids bekommen und ihnen ein Arzt sagt, sie hätten nur noch fünf Jahre zu leben, beschliessen sie schweren Herzens, ihre beiden jüngsten Kinder zur Adoption freizugeben. Gert und Henriette in Dänemark sind überglücklich, als sie über die Adoptionsagentur DanAdopt die vierjährige Masho und deren zweijährigen Bruder Roba adoptieren können. Doch die Kinder haben schreckliches Heimweh, vor allem die kleine Masho. Ihre Adoptiveltern sind heillos überfordert. Sie sind zwar psychologisch geschult, aber haben keinerlei Erfahrung mit Kindern. Die leiblichen Eltern in Äthiopien sind verzweifelt, weil sie die versprochenen Berichte über Masho und Roba nicht bekommen und keine Ahnung haben, wie es ihnen geht. Inzwischen machen sie sich schwere Vorwürfe, dass sie ihre Kinder weggeben haben. Denn dank Aidsmedikamenten vom Staat geht es ihnen gut, und sie haben Arbeit gefunden. Gert und Henriette hingegen kapitulieren. Masho verweigert das Essen und will die Adoptiveltern nicht akzeptieren. Schliesslich geben sie das Mädchen in ein Heim, behalten aber weiterhin das Sorgerecht für sie. Sie erlauben ihr nicht, nach Äthiopien zu ihren leiblichen Eltern zurückzukehren, obwohl das Mashos einziger Wunsch ist. Doch auch ihre Eltern geben nicht auf: Mithilfe einer dänischen Kinderrechtsorganisation versuchen sie, das Sorgerecht für Masho zurückzubekommen.

Corrupt orphanage and deprived poor families who lose their children to the State shakes Colombia

which is among the major give countries of adopted children also to Denmark.

…/…

“A mother visited the orphanage seven times, but eventually got to know that her boy was given up for adoption to
Netherlands”
Manual Teodoro, TV journalist

…/…

After Politiken approached the AC International Child Support, it updated their website and says now that Los Pisingos to expectations had extended its closure, and the previous leader was asked to resign. AC has also moved the waiting parents to other Colombia waiting lists.

According to AC International Child Support the closure was due to ‘economic reasons’. They do not details that the sacked director [Pisingos) is accused of having stabbed large amounts of money in the pocket and to have transferred monthly rate of 31,000 Danish kroner to a mysterious account in London.
IBCF even characterize what occurred, as' criminal, intentional, calculating and repeated '.

.../...

Powerful orphanage

On DanAdopt's website features a some more candid explanation of why the number of adoptions from Colombia last year dropped sharply.
"At the same time (...) this year there has been a media debate on adoption in Colombia, after a number of controversial television programs
that generated accusations that adult adoptees who had been reunited with their biological families, would have been been tricked and children put
up for adoption without their biological family consent, "writes DanAdopt in a news update in December.
But while it appears that the criticism has nothing on him.
"They produced charges against ICBF which were fully or partially refuted in court, but the programs gave rise to violent debate ', it says.

The interpretation may Manuel Teodoro on no way recognize.
"The reaction of the programs were violent, and private orphanages went together in a common action taken against us, where all the programs were reviewed with a fine-tooth comb. They found one thing: I the third broadcast, we showed a birth certificate, where one could recognize a portion
the name of a boy who is now 16 years old and living in the Netherlands. It was a mistake, and it was described as was the Hiroshima bomb and used as evidence that all five broadcasts was a lie from beginning to end ' he says.

Congressman Angela Robledo says to the investigation of the adoption industry and the other private orphanage continues.
"But political will is lacking. The private orphanage belongs to a group of very powerful, rich and conservative families'.

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Denmark:
Reaction held off

The Board is of the opinion that we at the time probably should have contacted directly to the intermediary organizations'.
These are the words of a mail response from Head of Social Appeals Board Family Law Section Trine Heath, who we have asked how the Danish
body that oversees the adoption, responsive to the problems have emerged in Colombia.
She says that the Appeals Board has been told that the orphanage Los Pisingos has been closed due of "economic conditions" and that the closure
has been extended.

Appeals Board is now awaiting further information, and at a later time 'it may be appropriate to contact IBCF (State Colombian child welfare, Ed.) "writes Trine Heath. As for the broader criticism raised in the five TV shows and which, among other documents, children being forcibly removed from poor parents and put up for adoption abroad without parental authorization, the Appeals Board does not even have done anything.

In September 2012 received authority in all beneficiary a longer statement by ICBF on laws and procedures. Appeals Board was satisfied, although IBCF even
was the offending party.

Among other things because television broadcasts did not come with examples of specific cases where forced adoptees children ended up in Denmark.
Today the Appeals Board regrets, however, that it did not inquire further.
In the case of the two Danish adoption agencies, DanAdopt and AC International Child Support, both of which mediate children from Colombia and IBCF.
But overall, confidence in Colombia is intact, says the Appeals Board.

Dorrit SAIETZ
Appeals Board was aware of problems in Colombia last year, but was happy with a presentation by contentious child protection.

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. The adoption took place through Wereldkinderen (World Children), Netherlands, a child welfare organization dedicated to children without a home and has permission to mediate in inter-country adoption. Her adoptive father Harry is a financial accountant and mother Mia worked in office administration.

Juliana Mascarenhas was the mother of Lobke who was christened Elizabeth. Juliana was a resident of Bale Honnur and disappeared from the institution on July 5, 1981, according to a note there.

India-born German Arun Dohle, a researcher at Against Child Trafficking (ACT) and child rights activist Anjali Pawar from Pune, who are here to trace Lobke’s biological parents, said: “After Juliana’s mother Alice, who was mentally unsound, left home, her father Louis went in search of her. Both never returned. Sr Winnifred (now deceased) from Bale Honnur Juliana to work as a domestic help at the house of Joseph Menezes at Kadri Kambala-Bejai. An affair with a boy in Bejai landed her in the institution on May 29, 1980 when she was five months pregnant,” said Anjali. Juliana studied at Sringeri Government School till Class IV. Their search for Joseph through Bejai Church members ended without any success.

Lobke approached ACT and has given the power of attorney to Arun Dohle, who found his biological mother after 17 years of struggle and litigation, and Anjali to investigate her background. People who have any information in this case can contact 09822206485 or anjalipawar575@gmail.com.

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.

The case is now pending in the Indian courts and deals with a whole series of Indian parents, all of which have been cheated of their children. According to the indictment took place in Ramesh Kulkarnis cases like this: “Mr. Admane (from the orphanage, ed.) got him in a clever way to sign in some sheets of letterhead paper and some totally blank sheet under the pretext that these papers were needed to registry the four children at Preet Mandir and at school. ”
In the same way he got signatures from his sister and brother in law, after which they took the children themselves.

According to police investigation, the accused worked together to falsify documents for adoption, they have pushed money of both Indian and foreign parents who wanted to adopt children they have embezzled from orphanages and used the money for personal luxuries – Including scores of hotel bills from, inter alia, Hyatt Regency in Mumbai and a luxury hotel in Goa, a ruby necklace, diamond earrings as well as a long number of remittances to their family members and private accounts.

Children as commodity

Despite the fact that the matter has been thoroughly illuminated in the Danish media on several occasions,  Ramesh Kulkarni today, ten years after, continued no contact with his children.

DR showed the 2007 documentary ‘A Baby Business’ created by the two Danish journalists Nicholas Vesselbo and Katja Døssing in cooperation with DR. In the film documented how adoptive has been a coveted commodity in India, and journalists went out and heard Ramesh Kulkarnis history. The distraught father dreamed only of getting her children home and was convinced that he could give them a good life, now that he had to work and had come back on its feet.
They also sought out another of the orphanage, AC International Child Support received from children and purported to be from a new Danish adoption agency.

With a hidden camera filmed the ‘business meetings’ with the orphanage owner, who offered them children 7,000 dollar apiece. “It is the most daunting task I’ve been on. We were told to the orphanage owner, we met with, was a known assassin. Authorities could also give us great concern, perhaps imprison us if they found out we were working undercover. We felt greatly threatened. I have seldom been so relieved as when we sat in the plane on the way home, “says Nicholas Vesselbo.
The film caused a sensation and was the Danish authorities to stop adoptions from India, while the case was investigated.

Family Affairs wrote to the Indian adoption authority Cara (Central Adoption Resource Agency), which corresponded back that the charges had nothing on him.
Cara could provide a copy of a consent form signed by the father and Several other studies fully correct and documents.
Everything was so in perfect order.

Ramesh Kulkarni was full of lies, when he claimed that he had been “cheated” its children and adoptions from India could resumed after a break of only four months.
Then nothing happened for a few years. However, in 2010 the case was reopened by a new Indian Attorney General, and introduced new and more experienced investigators on the study, tells adoption activist Arun Dohle from the organization Against Child Trafficking, which combats illegal adoptions.

“The new public prosecutor declared with one that applicants might was right, and a new investigation was required. And so it all came to light – corruption went all the way to the top of Cara ‘.
The new indictment of May 2010 tells in detail how Ramesh Kulkarni – Like a number of other parents – was tricked her children. The papers, Family Affairs had been submitted in 2007, according to the indictment counterfeit.
No new study The Danish authorities were informed through a new TV show in June 2010, and when Against Child Trafficking in March 2011 sent a copy of the indictment.
But this time was not introduced stop for adoption from India. There was also not a major new study. Family Affairs initiated instead a round of correspondence, where they wrote to the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development and requested information on the case.

The letters are filled with polite phrases as’ we apologize earnestly for The short deadline ‘and’ we sincerely hope on your understanding in this very delicate case ‘and so on.
Answers come back in the same tone of voice and are full of assurances that the matter treated with the utmost seriousness and that “Cara has performed his obligations as adoption authority fully responsible’.
It also states that Preet Mandir license for adoption is suspended while the case investigated.

And then all’s well. “At the present basis, the Family Agency’s assessment, that adoption services from India to Denmark so far can be maintained ‘Decide Family Affairs.
An internal Indian matter In an email response to Politiken writes Head the adoption office Trine Heath:
“The trial is of course an internal Indian concern and we must await progress of the case and the potential impact of the case may prove to be for the parties involved and authorities’.

Arun Dohle of Against Child Trafficking says this: “I am speechless. This is an international crime. Danish parents came to India and stole, kidnapped four children, now in Denmark, where India does not have jurisdiction. It can not be an internal Indian issue, ” he said.

Politiken is familiar with the Danish family’s identity, but it has not wanted to comment. C Child, as in 2003 facilitated the adoption, writing in a mail response to Politiken that the calculator case as completed from both Danish and Indian page.

Ramesh Kulkarni struggling on with free legal aid and voluntary assistance from local NGOs.
It is now ten years since his four children disappeared to the distant Denmark.

21 February 2013 there was a great adoption conference in New Delhi. Both the Appeals Board and the Danish adoption agencies were present and during a separate meeting with the Indian adoption authority Cara got the Appeals Board merely stated that the case still pending before the courts, it appears it is a record, Politiken had access to.

In the lobby of the hotel was Ramesh Kulkarni along with ten other families believe they have been stolen their children foreign adoption, and showed pictures of their children.

15 April Ankestyrelsen [Appeals Board] wrote another letter to Cara, where they politely thanked for meeting. They stressed finally that “we trust that Cara will keep us informed about new developments in Kulkarni case. (…)

As you know, the case is obviously very delicate and a continuing cause for concern for everyone involved. We are deeply grateful for Cara’s cooperation in this regard ‘, It says.

Arun Dohle from ACT, who helped to arrange parents’ protest in Delhi, said Ramesh Kulkarni today has realized that he will never get his children back.
His greatest hope is to make contact with them so he can get their blessing to enter into a new marriage and move on with his life.

Dorrit SAIETZ

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.

A decision to implement legislation that would recognise biological parents would drastically alter the concept of adoption.

“People think that an adopted child has received new legal parents, case closed. But in reality, the biological parents still exist and it is a sort of judicial fiction to construct new legal family relationships,” Stine Jørgensen, a lecturer of social rights at the University of Copenhagen, told Politiken.

The parliamentary ombudsman has initiated the adoption changes in the wake of media coverage of a child adopted from Ethiopia, Amy, who was taken from her adoptive family by Næstved Council by force.

The move could have particularly significant consequences for the around 1,500 children who have been adopted after 2009, when a new Danish adoption law was ratified.

Arun Dohle from Against Child Trafficking, a European NGO, said that the move could have positive as well as negative connotations.

“If I’ve understood this report correctly, then it is a huge step forward, but it also conveys how bizarre the system is,” Dohle told Politiken. “Not only could it generate gaping cracks in the system, but it could also completely jam it up.”

Dohle contended that one consequence would be opening the doors to a steady stream of older children from poorer countries to Denmark on temporary residence permits.

”if Amy’s case will set a precedent for future adoptions of older children, then in the future you can tell vulnerable families to send their children to Denmark because then the country will ensure that the child visits them every year and that the child can return home when he/she has received an education,” Dohle said.

In related news, Denmark has never seen as few applications for adoption as it has in the past two years. In 2012, there were 438 applications, while 2013 projections indicate there will be just 352 applications, the lowest amount in over 12 years. In contrast, there were 1,071 adoption applications in 2004 and in 2005 there were 1,183.

According to the adoption advocacy Adoption & Samfund (A&S), the recent revelations about ‘child harvesters’ in Ethiopia have had an effect.

“It used to be positive to be an adoption family, but now we have heard from some of our members that they feel like they’re being viewed negatively in the public space,” Marianne Østergaard, a board member from A&S, told Politiken.

And while the number of adoptions continues to dwindle, the prices increase. As of February 22, people looking to adopt through the DanAdopt adoption agency could pay anywhere between 132,500 and 224,400 kroner per adoption, depending on the location of the child.

Related articles:

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.

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.

Open doors for adoption

In practice it is far from certain that a parents in distant countries will use the power and have the ability to search to resume
contact with their children.
Lene Myong indicates that especially parents, who are poor and illiterate, are dependent that the Danish authorities them of their rights.
“If they do not get support, the court quickly may be an empty. On the other hand, we will definitely see more activism in relative to these issues. it takes place already many places, for example in Ethiopia and South Korea, and I have only reason to believe that it will grow, “said female.

To Arun Dohle from the ACT it appears as a starting point, it is excellent that Denmark now recognize the right to family life in the ECHR also for adoptees.
“But what does it mean? Can the children’s parents now immigrate to Denmark? If they right to family reunification in line with other people so they can live their life in Denmark, “he asks.

Also Lene Myong from Aarhus University warns against unintended effects of a greater openness to biological families can maintain contact with their
children. This makes it as yet more attractive for poor families to send their children on what they perceive as a temporary placement in a rich
country.
‘Of course, this one option misused to reap more children, “says she referring to revelations to ‘child harvesters’ persuaded Ethiopian parents
to give their children. “It is also why there is a need for fundamental discussion of what adoption is used ‘.

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.

MICHAEL GOVE’s drive to increase adoption levels risks becoming a “distraction” from efforts to help the majority of children needing homes, an eight-month inquiry into the care system has concluded.

Adoption drive could ‘distract’ from helping needy children, care inquiry finds Photo: ALAMY
By John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor10:15AM BST 01 May 2013

The inquiry by eight charities concluded that the current system is failing thousands of children, shifting them from placement to placement, severing family ties and friendships rather than encouraging stable relationships.

It questioned whether the care system could even be called a “system” because of its fragmented nature and “stark” variations between different areas.
The inquiry called for alternatives to adoption, such as long term fostering placements or so-called kinship care – where parental responsibilities are taken on by relatives to maintain family ties – to be given greater recognition.
And it recommended retaining rules requiring social workers to have to give “proper attention” to children’s racial backgrounds when making care arrangements.

The Government is in the process of changing the law to prevent race being a barrier to speedy adoption.

Adoption push could break up families unnecessarily, peers warn 06 Mar 2013
The charities, including the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), Family Rights Group and the Fostering Network, said there was an “increasingly urgent” need for a different approach in the way children are treated.

“Why do we persist in breaking children’s old relationships when we introduce them to future carers, despite knowing that so many children who do not happen to be in care manage to negotiate complex family relationships as they grow up?” they conclude.

They go on: “Our main conclusion … is that ‘permanence’ for children means ‘security, stability, love and a strong sense of identity and belonging’.
“This is not connected to legal status, and one route to permanence is not necessarily better than any other: each option is the right one for some children and young people.

“Adoption, although right for some children, will only ever provide permanence for a small number of children in care.”
They add: “The Care Inquiry was set up in the summer of 2012 because of our shared concern that the government-led focus on increasing the numbers of children adopted from care runs the risk of distracting attention from the other options for permanence that are important for the majority of children in care or on the edge of care.

“We are supportive of the Government’s intention to speed up decision making, to ensure that children can move to live with permanent carers as quickly as possible, and to strengthen support after adoption.

“We want to see a similar commitment to improving the life chances of all vulnerable children.”

A Department for Education Spokesperson said: “Every child deserves a safe, stable and loving home.
“We know adoption is not right for every child, which is why we are reforming the system so it is better focused on what each child needs to thrive.
“We are improving the skills of social workers so they are able to judge what is best for each child.
“We are transforming fostering services to allow foster carers to get on with the job of looking after children in their care.
“We are reforming residential care to make sure that all homes are safe and secure places, and we are making local authorities take responsibility for providing their kinship carers with the help and assistance they deserve.”