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The Uncomfortable Place of Inter-Country Adoption in the Human Rights Arena
ICA is largely the response to a demand for children in developed countries rather than to absence of care in the countries of origin. Taking children away does not lead to any improvement of the protection of children in those countries but rather the contrary. (Chou and Browne, 2008) Inter-country adoption (ICA) occupies a very marginal place within the UNCRC. …
Adoptionland: Brutal essays by adult adoptees expose the truth of intercountry adoption
With news that Vietnam is once again going to allow their children to be adopted out of country, reading a collection of essays by people who were uprooted and transplanted into new cultures is ice water on all those squishy ideals of what intercountry (or international adoption) does. The writers whose essays come together in Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists …
Meet Me on the Bridge
Filmed and directed by Changfu Chang. “My little girl was born in 1995, on July 24th, in the morning, in Suzhou. Because of poverty and other problems, we had no choice but to abandon our little girl on the street. If you have sympathy for us parents, please let us meet on the Broken Bridge in Hangzhou in 10 or …
Adoption: South Koreans Makes Them and Americans Buys Them
View PostBLUE BAYOU Produced and Directed by Justin Chon
View PostAdoption Trafficking Presentation
View PostThe Lost Children of Cold War Greece
With English Subtitles Watch this important documentary that explores a subject considered taboo until now: the adoptions of over 3,000 Greek children to the US and another 600 to the Netherlands in the 1950s and 1960s. “Nobody paid attention to the facts. The only important thing was that the children would go to America quickly and without much paperwork. That …
The Truth About Our ‘Abandonment’ By Kara Bos
The Korean Nationality Act Article 12 states: “Any national of the Republic of Korea who falls under one of the following subparagraphs shall lose his or her nationality (1948-presently Art. 15) -2. A person who has been adopted by an alien and has acquired the parent’s nationality…” I was adopted in 1984 from South Korea, and according to this Nationality …
Al Jazeera: Canada’s Dark Secret
Al Jazeera | Canada’s Dark Secret | Featured Documentary “In 1996, the last residential school in Canada was closed down, bringing to light horrifying stories about the methods used to sever indigenous children from the influence of their families and to assimilate them into the dominant “Canadian” culture. Over more than a century, tens of thousands of families have torn …
A Chilean Adoptee intends to initiate the legal process after scandal
Now the criticism is growing among adoptees from Chile. Tommy Leite is one of those who sees himself as a victim of human trafficking after SVT’s and Chilean journalists’ review. He demands that those responsible be held accountable and now plans to initiate a legal process. We meet Tommy Leite at his adoptive parents’ home in an apartment in central …
Adoption Scandal in Indonesia – Baby Trade Closed
View PostChina Adoption Trafficking: Mother Reunites with Missing Son After 32-year Search
“So if you ever have any doubts about your birth, that you were kidnapped or adopted, then you should come forward to look for your birth parents. If you don’t, then it’s very difficult for your parents to find you.” Chinese Mother, searching for her son missing for 32 years. 10:50 7:41 “To me, my biggest regret has been losing …
FBI Begins Investigation into Girls Home.
View PostUnderstanding the Complexities of Adoption
Mae was trafficked from Haiti by white adoptive parents who purchased a birth certificate of a deceased child. That birth certificate became her identity. Her earliest memory of Haiti was going to a vodoo ceremony when her new parents returned to complete the adoption. She also remembers falling off the bunk bed in her new home in Haiti, hitting her head, and her adoptive father using a “butterfly” …
East African Nations To Ban Foreigners From Adopting African Children
By: Divta Asiimwe AFRICANGLOBE – Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, who are currently sitting in Kampala, want EAC partner states to abolish international child adoption to stop the likelihood of children falling into the hands of traffickers. EALA on August 19 passed a general-purpose report on the rights of the child, which wants EAC partner states — Uganda, …
Fusion: AdoptionTrafficking
Roelie Post interviewed here: The Traffickers, The Dark Side of Adoption, available on Netflix here. FUSION PRESENTS: The Trafficker Click on the link below for the episode preview: The Dark Side of Adoption Inside the underworld of international adoption Who’s really profiting from international adoptions? Is this adoption agency selling children? In many developing countries the concept of adoption is a …
Child Trafficking and Adoption in Haiti
Earthquake in Haiti: The Pornography of Poverty and the Politics of Development by JULIAN VIGO UNICEF estimates that approximately 300,000 Haitian children are restavèk (child slaves) and that 3,000 children are trafficked out of Haiti each year. However, these figures are widely considered conservative both because there are no serious studies to date on this subject and because the very …
Kara Bos’ Journey to Find her Mother
The reunion after such a long time, only lasted 8 minutes. “So he left and I just broke down because that was really my last chance of knowing anything…because I worked so hard to get to this meeting with him.” Kara Bos. After 6 months, her father passed away at the age of 87 years old. “Although it is only …
For the Creation of a Committee Investigating the Illicit Intercountry Adoptions Since ’70s
Collective for the Recognition of Illicit Adoptions in France launched this petition addressed to the National Assembly and to 3 others (National Assembly representatives, French Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs). CHANGE.ORG Petition is Here. Many of us have been asking, for a few years now, for an investigation into the illegal practices of intercountry adoption in France. As of today, …
10 Reasons Why You Should NOT Adopt Overseas in 2022
View PostWhen 6700 children were adopted from India to Sweden, irregularities may have occurred
Swedish authorities failed to ensure compliance with rules. Now an independent investigation and government grants are required for adopted people who want to search for their roots. Due to recent reporting in international and Swedish media such as Sweden’s Television concerning unethical adoptions from Chile and Sri Lanka to Sweden, we set aside from India the question: What is happening now? Over the …
She’ll get US citizenship 60 years after being adopted, but thousands more must still wait
In January, after 13 months in limbo, Ella Purkiss was finally granted survivor benefits from her deceased husband. She says if it had taken even one month longer she would have been evicted from her trailer home in Pahrump, Nevada. Next Friday, after 60 years of living in the US, she will finally be granted American citizenship. Purkiss, 62, was …
Baby Trafficking
When my sister and I were sent to the United States from South Korea in 1972, the pioneering adoption agency gave our adoptive parents a document called “Certificate of Orphanhood”. This piece of paper gave the impression that we were orphans. Because this document implied that we had no Korean family, we wore whole new identities without question and never …
Saving the World’s “Orphans”
In the years leading up to its accession to the EU, Romania was forced to reform its child rights policy. It was one of the many conditions for its future EU membership. From 1999 to 2006, a brave woman called Roelie Post, a public servant at the European Commission, worked tirelessly on the Romanian case files. As her understanding and …
Story of Tingert
Contributor – Rebecca Hailemeskel The 36-year-old, Tingert, was born in Wonji Shoa. She is a healthy-looking young woman and is an Orthodox Christian. Her mother and father came to Wonji Shoa to look for a job. They got employed for a blue-collar work in Wonji sugar factory and stayed in Wonji Shoa. She was raised in a big family that …
Magdalene Laundries: 20 years since the last laundry closed in Ireland, five survivors tell their heartbreaking stories
THIS weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the closure of the last Magdalene Laundry in Ireland. On September 25 1996, Ireland’s final laundry, which was located on Sean MacDermott Street in Dublin and run by the Sisters of Our Lady, closed its doors for good. While it’s not known for definite, it’s estimated that 10,000 women were institutionalised in laundries since the foundation of …
When I Met my Twin and Biological Family in Korea after Separation since Birth
My Adoption Story This video shows when I learned of my adoption story. I am a Korean adoptee who was separated since birth from my family. I grew up in the U.S. and met my twin and biological family for the first time last May of 2015. Now, after a year, I am living in Korea in hopes of reuniting …
Child Trafficking and Adoption in Haiti
Earthquake in Haiti: The Pornography of Poverty and the Politics of Development by JULIAN VIGO UNICEF estimates that approximately 300,000 Haitian children are restavèk (child slaves) and that 3,000 children are trafficked out of Haiti each year. However, these figures are widely considered conservative both because there are no serious studies to date on this subject and because the very …
The Trouble with International Adoption
by Goorish Wibneh Imagine one of the millions of children orphaned by AIDS finding a loving home with a well-to-do Seattle couple who desperately want to become parents. But the real picture isn’t always so pretty. Corruption and fraud mean waiting orphans may never get the chance to have a second family. Meanwhile, other children whose parents are still alive, but too poor to care for …
Korean American adoptees furious at light sentence for toddler killer
DAMASCUS, MD (WUSA9) — – Advocates for children adopted from South Korea are furious about the light sentence handed on Tuesday to a Marine Corps vet who killed his 3-year-old adopted son. Madoc Hyunsu O’Callaghan was buried here in an all but unmarked grave. Adult adoptees from South Korea want to know how it’s possible that the dad who admitted hurling the …
India/Denmark Adoption Trafficking
A lot went wrong in the adoptions of the 70s and 80s. At the time, adoptive children from both India, Bangladesh, and China were brought to the Netherlands without the knowledge of their parents. The children’s papers were also tampered with. It has, therefore, become very complicated for them to find their biological family. But what was the role and …
The Crisis of Adoption Trafficking in Ethiopia
My husband and I began our second Ethiopian adoption back in 2008. We had brought home our beautiful son in 2006. We wanted children so badly and fell in love with the country, the people, and of course our son. We knew our daughter was also ‘waiting’ for us there. Our story causes us heartbreak not only because of what happened to our child and her family but how selfish and naïve we were in hindsight, we genuinely didn’t know—we hadn’t found the forums.
Long Lost Family (UK) Season 7, Episode 6
View PostIndia/Denmark Adoption Trafficking
A lot went wrong in the adoptions of the 70s and 80s. At the time, adoptive children from both India, Bangladesh, and China were brought to the Netherlands without the knowledge of their parents. The children’s papers were also tampered with. It has, therefore, become very complicated for them to find their biological family. But what was the role and …
History Forced Adoptions, Monica Lennon
Marion McMillan finally getting her experiences heard at the Parliament. Her story deserves to be acknowledged and her personal account can be read in detail in Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists. Marion McMillan’s (Scotland) chapter is titled, “On Behalf of Scottish Mothers.” page 119, Part 3: “Abandoned”
Private Adoption Industry Reaps Profits
A web of consultants, facilitators, and other middlemen have made private adoption a lucrative business. But the profit motives can leave mothers feeling coerced, and, nationwide, a lack of regulation creates opportunities for exploitation. In partnership with TIME, this Newsy report shows the murky world of the private adoption industry. This story was reported and published by Newsy.
For the Creation of a Committee Investigating the Illicit Intercountry Adoptions Since ’70s
Collective for the Recognition of Illicit Adoptions in France launched this petition addressed to the National Assembly and to 3 others (National Assembly representatives, French Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs). CHANGE.ORG Petition is Here. Many of us have been asking, for a few years now, for an investigation into the illegal practices of intercountry adoption in France. As of today, …
Fusion Investigates International Adoption
Fusion, The Traffickers “I didn’t know I was going to go to a new place. When I went to the orphanage I thought I just stay there to do some something, but then I noticed I was never coming back.” Adopted Child “One thing is clear about international adoption is that nothing is straight forward, nothing is as it seems. …
She’ll get US citizenship 60 years after being adopted, but thousands more must still wait
In January, after 13 months in limbo, Ella Purkiss was finally granted survivor benefits from her deceased husband. She says if it had taken even one month longer she would have been evicted from her trailer home in Pahrump, Nevada. Next Friday, after 60 years of living in the US, she will finally be granted American citizenship. Purkiss, 62, was …
We Do Not Appreciate You Taking Our Children!
View PostI’m looking for you MUM!!
Hi, my name is Rossella Carrara Hürlemann and I’m looking for my biological parents. I was born in Peru. Rossella was adopted 44 years ago and wants to find biological parents. She lives in Germany, has three daughters, and says that at six months she was given up for adoption to an Italian woman. She says that since she was …
The Netherlands will immediately suspend adoptions from abroad.
The Netherlands will immediately suspend adoptions from abroad. The outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Dekker announced this in response to the report of the Joustra Committee on the Dutch adoption culture and the role of the government. Ongoing adoption procedures will still be completed, after an additional test. The State will also no longer rely on prescription in adoptees’ proceedings. …
Mother Reunites With Her Daughter After 42 Years Of Searching for Her | The Oprah Winfrey Show | OWN
Linda was 15 years old when she was forced to place her baby girl for adoption. In 2010, genealogist Pam Slaton helped Linda find her daughter, Laura. It had been 42 years since Laura was born, and Laura flew more than 2,000 miles to meet the woman who gave her life. Here, witness the emotional mother-daughter reunion that brought Oprah …
Twin Brothers Stolen and Sold to the Black Market: Interviewed by Oprah
In the 1930s and ’40s, a woman named Georgia Tann, a ruthless baby thief, ran a black-market ring stealing over 5,000 children and selling them to the highest bidder. In 1991, Twin brothers James and Thomas White, opened up to Oprah about the horrific abuse and torment they suffered from the moment that Georgia Tann’s gang kidnapped them at age …
#SorryJungIn
Abusive Adoptive Parents: The Case of Jung In & Why BTS’s Jimin Apologized #정인아_미안해 #SorryJungin #Jimin Ever wondered what Korean adopted people are saying today about adoption? This is a powerful and important read for all. The adoptee voice is all too often silenced, and it can literally be life or death for some to be heard and seen.” – Claire, Amazon …
The Lost Children of Cold War Greece
With English Subtitles Watch this important documentary that explores a subject considered taboo until now: the adoptions of over 3,000 Greek children to the US and another 600 to the Netherlands in the 1950s and 1960s. “Nobody paid attention to the facts. The only important thing was that the children would go to America quickly and without much paperwork. That …



