Europe wants more adoptions

Declining supply of children for want-to-be parents leads to a new European policy

On the 30^th of November and the 1^st of December, the European Commission organizes the Conference: Challenges in Adoption Procedures in Europe: ‘Ensuring the Best Interests of the Child’. This is a preparation for a new European Adoption Policy, which will have major implications for children in child protection, including foster children or children in children’s homes. These children could, with the new measure, easily qualify first for European and then international adoptions.

The foundation United Adoptees International (UAI) hopes that Vice President Joan Hansink can be present to stand up for the rights of children and parents. The UAI believes that children have the right to be raised by their parents and if not possible the right to social protection or alternative forms of care provided by the governments. Adoption is not the solution to a failing care system. The European Union guarantees its citizens the right for social protection. Does this not count for these children and their parents?

In practice, the new policy would mean that children in foster in no time would be available for adoption. For example, a Dutch child in foster care would after 18 months become adoptable for a couple from the Netherlands. If there would be no possibility, then the child could be adopted by a couple from Naples. As a last solution, the child can be adopted worldwide. Another consequence will be that under the new European Adoption Convention and the new policy no longer only children under 8 years can be adopted, but also up to 18 years. Parents get like this little chance to get their children back and to keep them, and it relieves governments of their obligation to provide alternative care for children who cannot be raised by their parents (Article 20c of the UN CRC). With the declining supply of children for want-to-be parents these adoptions are a solution. But this is not in the interest of children.

The European Union has asked Romania in 2000 no longer to export children, but apparently gets back to that decision. Also, the Council of Europe, with the European Adoption Convention, is working towards paving the way for adoptions by gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. The strong adoption lobby is working through the European Commission and searches to legalise new adoption opportunities. There is little to no publicity about the conference and invitations were carefully picked, especially to prevent nasty dissonant voices. The UAI and its partners intercepted at the last moment the announcement for the upcoming European Commission and Council of Europe Conference in Strasbourg via its Finnish contacts. Participation by the UAI was initially not accepted and remains until today still uncertain.

Interestingly, the Dutch government accepted the European Convention and the new adoption policy apparently uncritically, without realizing that it will have consequences for the Dutch policy regarding (inter-country) adoption and its existing care system for children. It is remarkable that the Convention on the Dutch website is shown as a hammer piece, while the majority of the Members of Parliament, except the Christian Democrats, does not seem to be aware of the European Adoption Convention. The Convention as now formulated, will according to the UAI lead to an infringement of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The UAI has in recent years pointed out the consequences of the upcoming Convention and policy to several MPs charged children’s rights.

The UAI is not convinced of the good intentions of the current compilers and the democratic process of all this and hopes to have the opportunity to be present in Strasbourg to demand attention to children and parents who as a vulnerable group do not have a voice in the debate.

For more information see : www.adoptionprocedure.net

And for the Adoption Lobby see: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=65ECF0C3AFE7961A

Prosecution of IIlegal Adoption in the Netherlands

Justice investigates illegal adoptions

By Anneke Stoffelen, November 19 2009

AMSTERDAM - Justice is currently examining nine couples in recent years who bought a child abroad. Although the adoptive parents of baby Donna, in a similar case, in early 2009, were immune from prosecution, the Public Proscutioner (OM) is nevertheless planning to prosecute those couples by criminal law.

Illegal adoption is a growing problem, claims director Marie-Louise van Kleef of the Council for Childprotection. "That is because the supply of adopted children from abroad decreases. Then parents find alternatives. And the Internet gives you easily access to find a child. "The past two years ten cases of which children where taken illegally from abroad for adoption appeared.

Baby Donna

The case surrounding baby Donna, who in 2005 was bought by Dutch parents in Belgium, sparked a lot of commotion. Last year a same case of the Belgian baby Jayden, was also illegally taken to the Netherlands for adoption. But there are so many more similar cases which did not appeared in the publicity. "We maintain anonymity, trying to handle those cases with care to keep the interest of the child as main perspective," says Van Kleef. "Imagine what will happen when Donna is 18 and she reads all these things about herself at the internet. That is tragic."

Addition to those Belgian children, it goes also for babies from India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cambodia. The possibility exists that these kind of children will be going back to the country of origin in the future. In the case of baby Jayden, this has already happened. When the cases of the other children appeared, they immediately where placed in a Dutch foster home.

Limitation period two years

The Council for Childprotection stated, that they do that to prevent the repetition like in the case of Baby Donna: The ‘foster parents’ got Donna by court ruling, nevertheless the way they got her, because the girl stayed so long in the family (Family Life EVRM article 8) . It would not be in the interest of Donna's to move her away from this couple.

The period the OM can prosecute in cases of illegal adoptions is limitated to a period of two years . According to Van Kleef, adopters know this very well and often calculate how to handle these situations.

Ministry of Justice said earlier, to tackle illegal adoption much harder. Now the maximum fine is 6.700,- euro. Child trafficking is punished more heavily, but that only counts due regard child exploitation.

UAI Comment: International Private and Criminal Law, do not see and respect the child - located for adoption - as a human being with a physical and mental integrity who should have the ability to stay in their own family and environment, and be protected for such an assault on personal life and history. Abduction and Trafficking of the child for the purpose of adoption, even-though, the adoption procedures, regulations and international human rights are severed, the international law does not protect any child in this circumstance, unless there has been paper-fraud or an act against State Laws. Taking babies/children away in an illegal manner is not punishable due regard that the final result; Adoption, is seen as an act in the best interest of the child. Legally, no questions asked what the consequences for the family of origin and the Adoptee will be in the future. With this statement the UAI wants to present again, that the best interest of children and Adoptees is not served by present adoption laws and treaties but those of adopters and their organisations and legal systems.

No longer peripheral

No longer peripheral

November 17, 2009

In response to the article on Nov. 11, “A generation fights to reform adoption laws”, I write from the perspective of a Korean adoptee returning to my country of birth in the hopes of being reunited with my birth family.

Adoption agencies are seen as the bridge between adoptive families and adoptees and the birth family. They work to provide a prospective adoptee with the best possible adoptive family and prepare the child for an imminent adoption. In regards to the post-adoption process, many agencies assist adoptees, but it is an area severely lacking a consistent and cohesive framework due to the current adoption laws.

As a Korean adoptee, in retrospect I am grateful for the organization of my adoption, one of the better established and renowned adoption agencies in South Korea. But having started the post-adoption process almost five months ago, I lack confidence in the agency’s ability to fulfill my wish to be reunited with my birth family. I am still waiting for an outcome.

As an adopted child, I was stripped of my Korean citizenship and my Korean heritage, having no rights. In effect I have been “raped” of my heritage by organizations, who should have protected me, with the government being essentially complicit. With a strong longing to recoup my Korean heritage, I am seen as a foreigner, someone who cannot speak the language and who cannot understand the culture.

I have no regrets about being raised in another country, as I believe blood has been arbitrary in terms of my upbringing. But I am ashamed and bewildered, returning to my country of birth and experiencing the feeling that I am not wanted and don’t belong, feelings I am not alien to.

Despite my stoicism in locating my birth family, I can’t help surrendering to the bleak statistic of 2.7 percent of adoptees being reunited with their birth families. I sense that this is due to a combination of false records and misinterpreted information, a strong air of face saving on the part of adoption agencies and the negative atmosphere and stigma associated with abandoned and adopted Korean children. I appreciate the work and activism of adoptee rights and community groups as they essentially give the majority of adoptees a voice, where the vested interests of government groups and adoption agencies are silent, in terms of adoptee rights.

During my post-adoption experience, I have been exposed to a lack of professionalism, with completed post-adoption documents being misplaced by the adoption agency, forcing me to resend my documents. Furthermore the communication with the adoption agency has been deficient as my barrage of e-mails regarding updates about my search has been met with a deafening silence.

I pray that reforms to the adoption laws in Korea improve adoptees’ access to information and records relating to their adoption. I continue to wait with bated breath about any news about my birth family. As long as the adoptee is seen as a peripheral part of the adoption process, then we will continue to wait in darkness.

Margaret Hurrell, margushurr@hotmail.com

Pity third world orphans, but they're not a commodity

The push for inter-country adoption by people like Deborra-Lee Furness, pictured, is misguided.

DIANNE DEMPSEY November 15, 2009

Photo: Danielle Smith

Maggie Millar has a problem with Deborra-Lee Furness' work. Supported by her movie star husband, Hugh Jackman, Furness has cranked up a campaign to open up overseas adoption for Australian couples. Part of this campaign has been creating National Adoption Awareness Week, which will be running this coming week.

Maggie Millar is an artist and an actor, too, though she never reached the heights of fame of Furness and Jackman. You might remember seeing her in Bellbird or Prisoner, or you might remember her in Neighbours as the Reverend Rosie Hoyland. Millar has also been a stalwart of Australian theatre and has been praised by critics as warm, lusty and downright brilliant.

One reason, perhaps, for the brilliance of her acting was that she had plenty of practice, even as a little girl. You see, Millar was adopted and she never quite got the knack of being part of her adoptive family. ''All of my relatives were like aliens to me; as I no doubt was to them,'' she says. After a troubled childhood, Millar found out at 17 that she was adopted.

It wasn't until many years later, when she read a book by Nancy Verrier, that she finally understood her anguish. Verrier is a US psychotherapist specialising in adoption issues. She is also an adoptive parent. Her first book, The Primal Wound, has been welcomed by adoptees worldwide as their bible.

According to Verrier, the infant and mother are still connected outside the womb - physiologically, psychologically and spiritually. The infant, she says, knows the mother's smell, voice, heartbeat, energy and skin. On adoption, the separation results in a terrible feeling of abandonment that is indelibly printed upon the unconscious mind of the child. The grief of separation is so profound that it causes a searing wound, a primal wound.

It is because of the fear of being abandoned again that adopted children often display two types of behaviour. They will either be provocative, rebellious and angry, or they will become withdrawn, compliant and forever on guard. Sometimes they will display a combination of both behaviours.

Millar says the pain of separation and the subsequent loss of identity is accentuated for inter-country adoptees. ''The statistics around these adoptees are only now coming to light and they are disturbing,'' she says. ''They have much higher rates of suicide and depression than children who are adopted within their own countries. Many of these adoptees go back to their country of origin but even there they do not feel at home, they are dispossessed, their identity stolen.''

> read full article <

Comments 10

Deborra-lee Furness pushes for more adoptions

By Jessica Tapp

Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:25pm AEDT

Deborra-Lee Furness and husband Hugh Jackman have two adopted children. (Reuters)

Australian actor, director and producer Deborra-lee Furness has helped launch the second National Adoption Awareness Week (NAAW) in Sydney.

Furness, from Orphan Angels, and Dr Jane Aronson, the founder and chief executive of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation, both spoke at the launch.

"We want to use the week to address our politicians and lobby for policy changes that will have a huge impact on the lives of so many people who are touched by adoption," Furness said.

"By opening up the discussion, we can remind our governments of their promise when they signed the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

"We are one of the most developed nations in the world and we have one of the lowest inter-country child adoption rates. It begs the question why we're not making a greater contribution to ... inter-country adoption."

Last year there were only 270 inter-country adoptions in Australia, the lowest in the world.

Australia does not have a census on adoptions, which makes it hard to see how diverse the group is, NAAW organisers say.

Ms Furness also touched on issue of foster care.

"There are 30,000 kids in foster care now. Let's do it better," she said.

"I think there needs to be someone that's bold enough to step up and facilitate a permanent family for these children that are kept within the foster care system. Forty-five percent of homeless youth come from foster care."

> read full article <

Other Articles: Deborah-Lee Furness slams Australian Government's racist 'anti-adoption culture'

Adopted From Korea and in Search of Identity

NEW YORK TIMES

November 9, 2009

J. Michael Short for The New York Times

Kim Eun Mi Young in her San Antonio home with family photographs and mementos.

By RON NIXON

As a child, Kim Eun Mi Young hated being different.

When her father brought home toys, a record and a picture book on South Korea, the country from which she was adopted in 1961, she ignored them.

Growing up in Georgia, Kansas and Hawaii, in a military family, she would date only white teenagers, even when Asian boys were around.

“At no time did I consider myself anything other than white,” said Ms. Young, 48, who lives in San Antonio. “I had no sense of any identity as a Korean woman. Dating an Asian man would have forced me to accept who I was.”

It was not until she was in her 30s that she began to explore her Korean heritage. One night, after going out to celebrate with her husband at the time, she says she broke down and began crying uncontrollably.

“I remember sitting there thinking, where is my mother? Why did she leave me? Why couldn’t she struggle to keep me?” she said. “That was the beginning of my journey to find out who I am.”

> read full article <

> research beyond culture camp EBD Adoption Institute <

> response in media About That Piece on Transracial Adoptions in the New York Times...

Korean Adoptees <

The babies airlifted out of Saigon

Viktoria Cowley was just a toddler when she was airlifted out of Vietnam, one of 99 children plucked from the war-torn country by the Daily Mail. Now she is trying to reunite the scattered evacuees.

Viktoria Cowley doesn't know how old she is, but she thinks about 36. Orphaned at a young age during the Vietnam War, she doesn't even know her parents' names.

Vikki spots herself in the Mail's 1975 report on the airlift

Her earliest documented experience dates from April 1975, when she appeared on the front page of the Daily Mail, aged about two. She was one of 99 babies and children airlifted out of Saigon in the newspaper's mercy mission as the Vietcong advanced at the end of the war.

The headline declares the orphans safe saved from an uncertain future and a potentially terrible fate.

Now, three decades after her arrival in Britain, Viktoria, known as Vikki, of Eastbourne, has recently embarked on a mission of her own - to reunite her fellow travellers. She has made contact with 15 so far.

The first she found after many weeks searching online for information about the airlift. "I eventually found my first gem - someone who had a very similar name to mine and was in the same orphanage as myself in Saigon. I soon connected with her online and made my first Vietnamese adoptee friend."

And now she wants to find the remaining 83.

"I'd love to be able to get in contact with them, share their story, just find how much they know about themselves, about the airlift."

> Read full article <

ADOPTEES IN KOREA FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

A generation fights to reform adoption laws

November 11, 2009

Six Korean adoptees filed an appeal with the Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission last year to request a probe into irregularities in their adoption documents and possible illegal procedures at local adoption agencies.

Now, they’re involved in a full-fledged battle to reform adoption laws and procedures, and they’re getting help from some heavyweights.

Adoptee rights and community groups as well as unwed mothers, the public interest law firm Gong-Gam and Democratic Party Representative Choi Young-hee have joined forces with the adoptees in an effort to convince lawmakers to revise the Special Law Relating to the Promotion and Procedure of Adoption.

The National Assembly has now taken up the issue and is exploring changes through a series of hearings.

The latest hearing took place yesterday.

If their efforts succeed, the groups will drastically change the landscape of domestic and international adoption in Korea, a country which lawmaker Choi said at yesterday’s hearing said “still has a stigma attached to it as one of the major exporters of children.”

It would also rank as one of the few cases in the world where adoptees returned to their original country and changed adoption practices through legislation.

False records

When they started this quest, the adoptees, hailing from three different countries, said their adoption records contained contradictory information.

In one case, an adoptee only identified by her initials, SIA, said her adoptive parents in Denmark were informed by an adoption agency in 1977 that it did not have the records of her birth parents. But when SIA came to Korea in 1998 and asked for information about them, the agency did in fact have information about her birth mother. SIA also found that the adoption was done without her mother’s consent.

> read the whole article <

TRACK NEEDS SUPPORT FOR NEW BILL IN KOREA

Because this bill is the culmination of all our work

Because the government is finally taking us seriously

Because you want to be part of the positive change

Come to the public hearing on our adoption bill,

written by us and for us, and organized by us

at the South Korean parliament

Tuesday Nov. 10, 2009, 10 AM – 12:30 PM
National Assembly Conference Room #128.

Line 9 National Assembly Station exit 6 (국회의사당역).

(See attached flyer for printable map and great artistry.)

Please bring your RESIDENCY CARD or PASSPORT in order to enter.

Professional English simultaneous interpretation and translation of documents will be provided.

For the first time a bill will be presented that reflects the needs and incorporates the experiences of the adoption community (adoptees, family, and unwed mothers), a bill created not by the government nor by adoption and social welfare agencies, but instead created by those in the adoption community itself: TRACK, ASK, KoRoot, unwed mothers who are raising their own children, and our allies the Gonggam Lawyers.

The adoption community needs your sick days.

As the driving force behind this bill, the adoptees have to come out to show our bill’s sponsor that we support this work as much as she does. It will be this bill against the government’s bill when it comes time to vote. So please be present for this historically important moment for our community.

Look, we don’t take missing a day of school or a day off of work lightly, but we also need you that morning. The reason you get sick days and why language institutes, like Yonsei, allow up to 10 absences is FOR DAYS LIKE THESE, whose importance outweighs your duty to go to class or work. This is about using those sick days so you can be part of a strategic intervention that will shape the RIGHTS of YOUR community. Your language skills or career won’t be ruined by missing one day of class or work; your friend can always lend you her notes…and you can just blame it on the swine flu.

TRACK 진실과 화해를 위한 해외입양인 모임

PayPal: truthreconcile@gmail.com
우리은행 1002-738-888382

http://www.adoptionjustice.com