Playing both sides of the fence?
- Overseas adoption racket: How children are sneaked out by the hundreds
- Uttar Pradesh child adoptions under court scanner
- 'Evil' adoption scandal
- 7 women arrested for selling babies
- A German in search of his Indian mother
- A Swedish woman’s search for her Indian mother uncovers another tale of baby snatched at birth
- Adoption fraud
- Adoption from Africa: Concern over 'dramatic rise'
- Americans arrested taking children out of Haiti
- Anger grows over adoption scam
Yesterday, 26 February 2008, Terre des Hommes Switzerland presented a new report Adoption: at what cost?
Terre des hommes – child relief (Tdh), in this most recent publication, presents a comparative study on the ethical responsibility of receiving countries of intercountry adoption. Focus has been given for many years on the practices of the countries of origin. They have been found to be too lax or too corrupt, and considered to be responsible for the downward slide in standards for intercountry adoption. In this publication, Terre des hommes – child relief (Tdh), under a mandate by Terre des Hommes International Federation (TDHIF), shows how the receiving countries also have a certain responsibility. With procedures and legislation which have little, if any, respect to the interests of the child, and policies which tend to respond to the demands of adopting couples or put pressure on the countries of origin in order to obtain children, the receiving countries do not respect the engagements they undertook by ratifying the Hague Convention on international adoption. It is the Hague Convention itself which aims to avoid these types of dysfunction. Terre des hommes – child relief presents the results of a comparative study on the practices and legislations in six European receiving countries: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Norway and Switzerland.
While this all sounds wise and compassionate and although Marlene Hoffstetter has written about child trafficking and illegal adoption in the 2004 paper International Adoption, The Global Baby Chace (we assume a misspelling for chase), Mrs Hoffstetter herself is responsible for the adoptions done by Terre des Homme Switzerland. That by itself places this report in a different light, especially since her agency works together with Missionarie della Carita (Missionary of Charity Sisters). The former is probably less known than its founder, the both famous and infamous Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa's orphanages in India have been a long standing source for international adoption and are known to have a shady track record. Why is it Terre des Homme Switzerland as of this day has been doing business with the Charity Sisters for twenty years, while at the same time publishes reports on child trafficking. Would the stipend of $500,000 from USAID have anything to do with that? Is it just business at both sides of the fence?
We attached a document that contains a detailed expose of the business of the Charity Sisters.