exposing the dark side of adoption
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A report published in the Times of Malta last month stated that three children adopted from outside the European Union were under state care as their parents wanted to ‘return’ them because the children had allegedly exhibited behavioural issues.

Written by: Akchayaa Rajkumar
Edited by: Vidya Sigamany

Child rights activists in India are raising concerns about the three children who were adopted by a Maltese couple and later abandoned as the adoptive parents “no longer wished to care for them.” While there were questions about the nationality of the children initially, a Maltese publication quoted Malta’s Family and Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon on January 21 confirming that the three children were from India.

It all started when the Times of Malta published a report on January 2 stating that three children adopted from outside the European Union (EU) were under state care as their parents wanted to ‘return’ them because the children had allegedly exhibited behavioural issues. Initially, it was believed that the children were adopted through a private Maltese agency named Agenzija Tama. The adoption agency is one of the two agencies listed on the Indian government’s Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) for adoptions in Malta. While Agenzija Tama does not have an official website, it has a Facebook page that is filled with posts congratulating couples on adoptions. It is to be noted that most of the adoptions mentioned on the Facebook page were from India, barring one from Vietnam and a few from Nepal.

Arun Dohle, Director of Against Child Trafficking (ACT), said that a post on Agenzija Tama’s Facebook page dated February 10, 2022 said that three siblings were adopted from India. Speaking to TNM, Arun said, “We don’t know anything about the children or how they are doing. We are not allowed to have any information about adoption cases because of confidentiality, and that makes this all the more concerning.”

Des victimes nées en Roumanie du groupe Racines&dignité ont été écoutés le 10 février 2023 par des représentants des inspections générales des affaires sociales, de la justice et des affaires étrangères chargés d’une mission interministérielle relative aux pratiques illicites en matière d’adoption internationale.Des propositions ont été faites, les victimes espèrent qu'elles seront appliquées.

Le 5 octobre 2022 le groupe Racines & dignité a déposé plusieurs plaintes auprès de la procureure de la République afin de demander l'ouverture d’une enquête judiciaire concernant les principaux acteurs ayant participé à l’exode forcé de milliers d’enfants roumains entre les années 70 et 2005, et ce sans le consentement de leurs familles biologiques. Après une confirmation d’enregistrement des plaintes par le parquet de Paris, nous n’avons, à ce jour, pas d’information complémentaire quant à l’avancement du dossier.

Le 10 février 2023, des représentants de Racines & Dignité ont été entendus par des représentants des inspections générales des affaires sociales, de la justice et des affaires étrangères chargés d’une mission interministérielle relative aux pratiques illicites en matière d’adoption internationale. Cette commission a vu le jour en novembre 2022.

Quatre adoptés présents et membres du groupe Racines & dignité ont raconté leurs histoires d’adoption, ainsi que d’autres histoires recueillies, et ont bien insisté sur le fait que la majorité des mamans biologiques n’ont pas donné leur accord de façon volontaire permettant l’adoption de leur enfant. Un large réseau d’avocats et d’agences d’adoption impliquées demandait des sommes d’argent importantes aux futurs parents adoptifs. Ils ajoutent que les conditions de vie de ces enfants, une fois adoptés, étaient bien loin d’être rose, car il y a de plus en plus de témoignages d’enfants adoptés qui mettent en lumière les abus parfois physiques, mentaux ou sexuels qu’ils ont subi dans leur nouvelle famille, et que face à ces violences il n’y a jamais eu de suivi adapté. Ces enfants adoptés, pour la plupart devenus maintenant adultes, se sentent souvent seuls, incompris et ont beaucoup de mal à s’insérer socialement et professionnellement.

L’adoption internationale navigant dans une zone grise et/ou illégale avant 1990, a été légalisée après juin 1990. Anticipant l’entrée en vigueur de la Convention de la Haye, la Roumanie s’est vue contrainte à adopter une loi dite d’abandon, qui rendait adoptables les enfants placés sous la protection de l'enfance. Ce fût le début d’un véritable marché de l’enfant où les parents étrangers en mal d’enfant n’avaient qu’à se servir. C’est près de 30 000 enfants roumains qui ont ainsi quitté leur sol d’origine et dont les familles biologiques sont encore pour la plupart traumatisées d’avoir perdu leur enfant. Heureusement, cette situation devait se terminer en 2005, condition posée par l’UE à l’adhésion de la Roumanie. 

By Barry Lowin

Jeff Davis Parish, LA (KPLC) - Brogan Duhon’s tragic death stunned the SWLA community, especially the neighborhood where his family lived.

The 12-year-old’s parents are facing charges of second-degree murder after he died of malnutrition, weighing only 28 pounds.

Some neighbors of the Duhons never saw Brogan Nash Duhon, and those who did had no idea how old he really was.

“After he died we found out from other people he was 12,” said one neighbor.

Kochi: A Anil Kumar, the administrative assistant at the Ernakulam

Medical College Hospital, who allegedly forged a birth certificate to facilitate the illegal adoption of a newborn, was nabbed by the police on Friday.

Anil, who had gone into hiding, was taken into custody from his hideout in Madurai.

The police have filed forgery and fraud cases against Anil and A N Rahana, a temporary staff of the Kalamassery Municipality.

Later in the day, Anil told police that he recived money to forge the birth certificate. He said he got money multiple account, Manorama News reported. He told reporters that he would explain many things after he secures bail.

The 50-year-old nurse, her husband and son have been arrested by the Delhi Police.

FPJ Web Desk

A seven-year-old girl was allegedly burned with tongs and beaten up by her adoptive mother and son in Delhi's RK Puram on Wednesday, according to police.

The 50-year-old nurse, her husband and son have been arrested by the Delhi Police.

According to police, the girl's biological parents are relatives of the accused.

The accused relative, who was absconding for the last few days, was working as a nurse at a Safdarjung Hospital.

Delhi Police on Thursday night arrested a 50-year-old woman from the national capital's RK Puram area for allegedly assaulting and branding a seven-year-old girl she had adopted. The woman's son was arrested the previous day and both have been sent to judicial custody, police told reporters.

The adoptive mother had absconding for the last few days, news agency ANI said. She was a nurse at the city's Safdarjung Hospital, police told ANI.

The incident came to light after the RK Puram Police Station received information on February 9 regarding a minor being physically abused in the area. According to reports, the girl's schoolteacher had seen some marks on her body and called the police.

The girl was found with scars and burn injuries on her body, as per a senior official. According to reports, the girl alleged that she was beaten up every day.

By KPLC Digital Team

Jeff Davis Parish, LA (KPLC) - The parents of a child who died in October 2022 have been arrested on murder charges in connection with his death.

“I mean, it’s a horrendous crime that went on for years, and I think we all failed that kid,” Jeff Davis Sheriff Ivy Woods said.

Chief Deputy Chris Ivey, with the Jeff Davis Sheriff’s Office, said in a news release that an autopsy was performed on Oct. 24, 2022, after 12-year-old Brogan Duhon died at a children’s hospital in Baton Rouge. The report, turned over to the Jeff Davis coroner on Jan. 10, 2023, indicated the cause of death as complications from malnutrition, and the manner of death deemed a homicide, Ivey said.

Both parents, Jennifer Ann Duhon, 40, and Adam Duhon, 40, were arrested Feb. 16, 2023, on charges of second-degree murder.

Ankeny police say a couple locked their adopted child in their room, refused to give them food, and left them out in the cold.

Matthew and Sarah Stephens are both charged with child endangerment and neglect.

According to a criminal complaint, the allegations span four years.

Investigators said the couple regularly forced the now-13-year-old to go without dinner and would make them stand outside for hours. Documents state they would watch the child through a hidden camera, and put alarms on the door to keep them from leaving. The two are also accused of withholding proper hygiene and clean clothes, forcing the child to ask for showers at school.

Documents show Sarah Stephens abandoned the teen at a hospital in November.

by: Dan Hendrickson

ANKENY, IOWA — An Ankeny couple are charged with Child Endangerment and Neglect of a Dependent Person for allegedly abusing their 13-year-old adopted child at their home, then abandoning them at a Des Moines hospital. Matthew Stephens, 47, and Sarah Stephens, 46, were arrested on Wednesday. They are both now free on bond.

According to court documents, the couple ‘knowingly and willingly’ abused their adopted 13-year-old-child – while other adopted siblings in the home weren’t similarly treated.

Among the accusations in the report:

  • the Stephens deprived the victim of food, clothing and shelter
  • punished child by not allowing them to eat, causing significant weight loss
  • child made to stand outside for hours as punishment (sometimes in the cold)
  • child was watched through a hidden camera in their room
  • an alarm was placed on the child’s room
  • the child wasn’t allowed to change clothes or maintain hygiene

The four Croatian couples are accused of trying to traffic four infants from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Eight Croatians facing child trafficking charges in Zambia were granted bail on Tuesday following their rearrest last week while trying to leave the Southern African nation.

The charges allege that on December 7 last year, the four couples acted together with a Zambian immigration official to try to traffic four children from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The group said they legally adopted the children aged between one and three years old but Zambian authorities have accused them of trafficking the minors.

The prosecution had opposed the bail application, arguing that the eight were flight risks.