India asks adopted child back from The Netherlands

The Dutch TV programme Netwerk was yesterday full of the news that a mother in India wants her child back, as it was stolen from her in 1999. The child was adopted by a Dutch couple.

Children often are stolen for intercountry adoption, their records are falsified, children are declared dead at birth and instead...

Well, you can read it all in the book.

French Adoption Agency has difficulty in satisfying waiting families

The French set up a new French Adoption Agency (AFA) a year ago, to double the number of intercountry adoptions. This has not happened, instead the number of adoptions decreased. Mainly because sending countries more and more prefer national adoption, or close down because of corruption.

In an article of 15 May 2007, AFA defends itself.

"AFA also has to face 'competition' from other countries,
like Spain and Italy, without speaking about the United States,
very offensive, which accompany their adoption requests
with humanitarian aid.

Classical adoption is over, confirms Laure de Choiseul, the
countries ask now in parallel cooperation actions. It is
something that not had been envisaged when AFA was
created. Which therefore has no budget for that.
AFA envisages creating a foundation to receive private
funding. It is also considering, with local regions and the
ministry of Foreign Affairs, to link cooperation actions
to adoption."

So, now that sending countries prefer national adoption, the French consider linking aid to adoption: no adoptions - no aid. Indeed, like the US threatened Romania.

No doubt the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, will like this. After all, the humaniatrian ngo he set up is also France's biggest adoption agency: Médecins du Monde.

However, it would go against the spirit of the Hague Convention, that concluded in 2005:

75. [...]Furthermore, it was highlighted that international
co-operation is essential for national adoption and such
international aid programs must be clearly delineated
from intercountry adoption.

BREAKING NEWS

Mariela Neagu, my colleague in the EC Delegation in Bucharest, has been appointed Secretary of State for Child Protection.

She was for seven years the driving force behind the EC Programmes that supported the reform of the Romanian child protection.

A clearer commitment to the Rights of the Child could not be made by the Tariceanu government.

Congratulations Mariela!