Controversy simmered in Poulsbo, Washington, a US town founded by Norwegian immigrants in the late 1800s, after this year's Miss Viking turned out to be untraditional.
Jasmine Campbell, 17, won the honor on the strength of a combination of talent and a successful audition, but her blend of African and Latin American blood caused some temperatures to rise.
The pageant organizers decided to go public after receiving a series of offensive, racist e-mails in reaction to Campbell's appointment, including sentiments like 'How dare you put an African American in there?'. The incident attracted attention after it was publicized by the Seattle Times....
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Adopt villages, not pet children
By Bashir Goth- posted Tuesday, 14 November 2006
The current celebrity craze for child adoption took me down memory lane. I happened to be in hospital in Hargeisa, today’s Somaliland, at a very young age for injuries I sustained after an air raid on our border village.
Being very young, about seven-years-old, and due to the lack of a vacant bed in the male wards, I was admitted to the female ward. One day, an American woman, a Peace Corps teacher, visited me. She was walking outside and she saw me from the window. She stopped and looked at me for a while. Then she entered the ward and asked permission from the staff nurse to talk to me. She sat next to me on the bed, held my right hand in both her hands and looked at me with eyes full of kindness, motherhood and inquisitiveness....
United States Implementing Intercountry Adoption Standards
14 November 2006
Thousands of children in need of families will benefit, U.S. officials say
By Jane MorseWashington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The United States is in the final stages of implementing new, federal-level standards and protections that greatly will benefit thousands of children from around the world in need of permanent families.
The implementation of these standards and the anticipated U.S. ratification of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions was discussed at a November 14 hearing before the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.
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Thousands of children in need of families will benefit, U.S. officials say
By Jane MorseWashington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The United States is in the final stages of implementing new, federal-level standards and protections that greatly will benefit thousands of children from around the world in need of permanent families.
The implementation of these standards and the anticipated U.S. ratification of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions was discussed at a November 14 hearing before the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.
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Man Convicted Of Molesting His 3 Ukraine Adoptees
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) ― A Bakersfield motel owner is facing the possibility of life in prison after being convicted of molesting three boys he had adopted from Ukraine.
John Krueger was convicted yesterday on five counts of lewd or lascivious acts on children who ranged from the ages of seven to eleven....
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John Krueger was convicted yesterday on five counts of lewd or lascivious acts on children who ranged from the ages of seven to eleven....
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Foreign adoptions by Americans decline sharply
China tightens rules, other factors cited for change
Saturday, January 6, 2007 7:46 PM CST
By David CraryAP National Writer
NEW YORK - After tripling over the past 15 years, the number of foreign children adopted by Americans dropped sharply in 2006, the result of multiple factors which have jolted adoption advocates and prompted many would-be adoptive parents to reconsider their options.
The consequences could be profound for the ever-growing numbers of Americans interested in adopting abroad. Already, some have had their hopes quashed by tightened eligibility rules in China; adoptions from Africa, where millions of children have been orphaned by AIDS and wars, could increase if those from China and Eastern Europe continue to decrease....
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Saturday, January 6, 2007 7:46 PM CST
By David CraryAP National Writer
NEW YORK - After tripling over the past 15 years, the number of foreign children adopted by Americans dropped sharply in 2006, the result of multiple factors which have jolted adoption advocates and prompted many would-be adoptive parents to reconsider their options.
The consequences could be profound for the ever-growing numbers of Americans interested in adopting abroad. Already, some have had their hopes quashed by tightened eligibility rules in China; adoptions from Africa, where millions of children have been orphaned by AIDS and wars, could increase if those from China and Eastern Europe continue to decrease....
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Duckett Investigators Talk To Experts In Korean Adoptions
Case Once Again Makes National Headlines
POSTED: 7:28 pm EST January 30, 2007
OCALA, Fla. -- WESH 2's interview with the lead investigator in the case of a missing Lake County toddler is sparking new information.
WESH 2 anchor Wendy Chioji interviewed Maj. Chris Blair of the Marion County Sheriff's Office on Monday, and detectives said they are still following up on phone calls and tips that continue to come in.
The case of Trenton Duckett, who was reported missing from his mother's Leesburg apartment on Aug. 27, has once again gained national attention....
http://www.wesh.com/news/10882826/detail.html
Previous Stories:
January 29, 2007: Lead Investigator: 'We Think Trenton Is Alive'
January 25, 2007: Duckett's Former Co-Worker Provides Clues About Korea
January 24, 2007: Trenton Duckett's Father Gives New Items To Detectives
January 24, 2007: Duckett Search Takes Investigators to Death Row
January 16, 2007: Team Trenton Receives Gift From Website Bloggers
January 14, 2007: Duckett's Autopsy Reports Confirm Suicide
November 30, 2006: Police: Trenton Duckett's Mom May Have Handed Him Off
November 21, 2006: Missing Boy's Family Sues CNN, Nancy Grace, Boy's Father
November 17, 2006: Police Consider Second Wendy's Witness In Duckett Case
November 16, 2006: New Tip Helps Police Fill In Timeline In Duckett Case
November 15, 2006: Police Think Trenton Duckett Is Alive
Adoption rules shouldn’t be enacted early
by Gabbie Wade
Thursday, January 18, 2007
As more and more Americans are looking abroad to adopt, it is getting increasingly difficult to find a child. In 2005 alone, Americans adopted 7,906 children from China. Today, China’s adoption agencies receive more applications from foreigners than they have children up for adoption. Due to this recent jump in application numbers, Chinese officials decided to create new rules barring certain individuals from adopting.
Although the new regulations have not been formally announced yet, it is reported that they will prohibit people who are single, obese, older than 50, or fail to meet certain standards in financial, physical or psychological health from adopting. These new rules may change before taking effect on May 1, 2007....
Transracial Adoption of Black Children: An Economic Analysis
“The anti-discrimination law governing placement of children in foster care and adoption was intended to speed the adoption of Black children who could not be reunited with their families of origin. Only recently have two states been fined for violating this decade-old law. Based on our analysis of administrative data collected by the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we conclude that more vigorous enforcement of the anti-discrimination law in adoption could result in significant gains to Black children. We find that Black children spend more time as legal orphans than children of other races and that transracial placement speeds their adoptions.”....
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Albania's Roma call for end to child trafficking
20. 11. 2006
Roma in Albania called on the authorities in Tirana and the international institutions to take all necessary measures to put an end to trafficking in children in Albania. Albania's Roma Organization head Istref Pelumbi said trafficking in human beings, especially in children, is the bitter aftermath of transition in Albania.
Reports say more than 5.000 children, mostly Roma children, are victims of child trafficking ring in Albania....
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Roma in Albania called on the authorities in Tirana and the international institutions to take all necessary measures to put an end to trafficking in children in Albania. Albania's Roma Organization head Istref Pelumbi said trafficking in human beings, especially in children, is the bitter aftermath of transition in Albania.
Reports say more than 5.000 children, mostly Roma children, are victims of child trafficking ring in Albania....
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Baby Trafficking Is Thriving in Greece
18. 12. 2006
Athens - An increasing number of people unable to adopt children through official channels are resorting to other methods in Greece, where private adoptions are unregulated and a traffic in babies is thriving, according to legal experts and the police.
Most of the babies for sale in Greece are brought here by impoverished women from Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, these experts say.
In the most recent case to come to light, a 16-year-old Roma girl from Romania is under arrest after complaining to the police that she had been cheated out of €14,000, or ,000, promised to her by a British woman who allegedly abducted the infant in Athens during negotiations over the price last week.
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Athens - An increasing number of people unable to adopt children through official channels are resorting to other methods in Greece, where private adoptions are unregulated and a traffic in babies is thriving, according to legal experts and the police.
Most of the babies for sale in Greece are brought here by impoverished women from Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, these experts say.
In the most recent case to come to light, a 16-year-old Roma girl from Romania is under arrest after complaining to the police that she had been cheated out of €14,000, or ,000, promised to her by a British woman who allegedly abducted the infant in Athens during negotiations over the price last week.
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56 on Trial over Baby Trafficking Network
23. 1. 2007
France - Almost 60 people went on trial today accused of being part of a network that brought pregnant women from Bulgaria to France - and sold their babies to childless couples. The trial in Bobigny, north of Paris, centres on 22 babies who were sold between 2003 and 2005, mostly to couples within France's Roma, or Gypsy, communities, for between £2000 and £3500....
83-year-old Man Tells of Buying Infant
24. 1. 2007
Paris - An 83-year-old man described buying a baby girl named Cinderella for his granddaughter in testimony on Wednesday in an infant trafficking trial in France. The grandfather is one of 56 people on trial in the case, which centers on 22 babies who were sold between 2003 and 2005, mostly to couples within France's Roma, or Gypsy, communities, for between ,900 and ,100, prosecutors say. Most of those on trial are Bulgarians.
The grandfather -- referred to only by his first name, Jean -- said he bought the baby in October, 2002, from a foreign Roma couple that passed by his house with the infant in their arms. He said he paid them ,850 for the baby girl, called Cendrillon, French for Cinderella.
Jean, a French Roma, said he bought the infant for his granddaughter -- who could not have children because she and her husband are related. The couple registered the baby as their own, saying she had been born in their caravan....
Adoptive Parents in France Defend System of Buying Babies
22. 1. 2007
Bobigny, France - The first adoptive parents caught in a Bulgarian baby - trafficking network sought Monday to defend a clandestine system in which they had haggled over the price of newborns and paid for them in cash. More than 50 Bulgarians and French adoptive parents went on trial in a suburban court northeast of Paris for suspected roles in a secret network dating from 2002.
The system operated by word of mouth to reach desperate couples in France's Roma, or Gypsy, communities, who negotiated prices from €3,000 to €7,000, or about ,900 to ,100, for 22 babies, with boys commanding top prices. "You will tell your child one day about the birth?" the presiding judge asked the first couple who appeared before the tribunal in the 10-day trial. "And you will explain to the child that he was purchased?" ....
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Bobigny, France - The first adoptive parents caught in a Bulgarian baby - trafficking network sought Monday to defend a clandestine system in which they had haggled over the price of newborns and paid for them in cash. More than 50 Bulgarians and French adoptive parents went on trial in a suburban court northeast of Paris for suspected roles in a secret network dating from 2002.
The system operated by word of mouth to reach desperate couples in France's Roma, or Gypsy, communities, who negotiated prices from €3,000 to €7,000, or about ,900 to ,100, for 22 babies, with boys commanding top prices. "You will tell your child one day about the birth?" the presiding judge asked the first couple who appeared before the tribunal in the 10-day trial. "And you will explain to the child that he was purchased?" ....
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Charges Filed against parents after son received burns
Feb 3, 2007 09:49 PM
By Anthony Ponce
News 8 @ 6:00
INDIANAPOLIS - A seven-year-old boy is in the Riley Hospital burn unitafter allegedly being abused by his adoptive parents. Court documentssay the boy's adoptive mother put him in scalding hot bathwater aspunishment for wetting his bed. For two weeks the burns went untreated,until authorities found out about it earlier this week.
Police arrested 61-year-old Bessie Saffold and her husband, 59-year-oldMechelle after child protective services called Bessie in for aninterview.
"Child protective services workers became concerned when four of thechildren were taken out of the home previously," said Helen Marchal ofthe Marion County Prosecutor's Office....
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By Anthony Ponce
News 8 @ 6:00
INDIANAPOLIS - A seven-year-old boy is in the Riley Hospital burn unitafter allegedly being abused by his adoptive parents. Court documentssay the boy's adoptive mother put him in scalding hot bathwater aspunishment for wetting his bed. For two weeks the burns went untreated,until authorities found out about it earlier this week.
Police arrested 61-year-old Bessie Saffold and her husband, 59-year-oldMechelle after child protective services called Bessie in for aninterview.
"Child protective services workers became concerned when four of thechildren were taken out of the home previously," said Helen Marchal ofthe Marion County Prosecutor's Office....
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Guatemala: U.S. Adoptions to Go Through
By MARC LACEY
Published: December 12, 2007
Lawmakers endorsed an overhaul of the country’s adoption system, ending what critics called a largely unregulated business in which poor mothers were paid to turn over their children to American couples. The new law, pushed by the United States government, allows thousands of pending adoptions, most to Americans, to proceed. Guatemala sends more adopted children to the United States than any other country except China; this year it has sent 4,700. The new law also creates a government authority to handle future adoptions, bringing Guatemala in line with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption and wresting the system away from lawyers who charge as much as $30,000 per child.
DNA tests confirm first stolen baby in troubled Guatemalan adoption system
DNA tests for the first time have confirmed that a baby was stolen from her mother and adopted for profit in Guatemala.
The baby, Esther Zulamita, was taken by armed men in 2007 at her family's shoe shop. Her mother, Ana Escobar, has spent the last year searching for the child.
The apparent confirmation of an actual case of "baby theft" raises doubts about a law passed in December by Guatemalan legislators to overhaul the nation's poorly regulated adoption system, "in which poor mothers were paid to turn over their children to American couples," as the New York Times reported last year....
Babies are a steal in steel city
Jajati Karan / CNN-IBN
Published on Tue, Jun 20, 2006 at 20:10
Rourkela (Orissa): The adoption racket is now a nationwide phenomenon — from cities to remote villages there is big money to be made.
CNN-IBN's Special Investigation Team travelled to Rourkela, Orissa's steel city, to find out how the steel city has become a den for child trafficking.
Tribal children brought from in and around Sundergarh district are sold in the name of adoption at illegal adoption centres which have mushroomed in the city over the past few years....
Chennai lady waits for kidnapped son
Rohini Mohan
CNN-IBN
Posted Friday , June 30, 2006 at 19:48
Chennai: Nagarani is a resident of Chennai. Her two-year-old son Sathish was kidnapped seven years ago.
Last year, the police told Nagarani that Sathish had been adopted by a couple from the Netherlands and is now called Anbu.
Nagarani has gone to court, demanding that her son be brought back to her. "The police told me that the court has to take a decision. I don't care what the court decides, I've waited for seven years and I want to see my son," she says....
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CNN-IBN
Posted Friday , June 30, 2006 at 19:48
Chennai: Nagarani is a resident of Chennai. Her two-year-old son Sathish was kidnapped seven years ago.
Last year, the police told Nagarani that Sathish had been adopted by a couple from the Netherlands and is now called Anbu.
Nagarani has gone to court, demanding that her son be brought back to her. "The police told me that the court has to take a decision. I don't care what the court decides, I've waited for seven years and I want to see my son," she says....
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Broken Roots
BROKEN ROOTS is the story of a Korean adoptee lost between two cultures and desperately struggling to belong. David is no ordinary adoptee. Raised by Caucasian parents and burdened with severe medical problems, he embarks onan unforgettable journey to Korea -- an exotic land he had long forgotten.
It is a compelling and emotional story of hope, family and self-discovery as David uncovers his mysterious past and finds his Korean roots. Two-year old Jong Hoon left Korea to join his new Canadian family in Ottawaas David Ricketts. Teresa and Ray had such high hopes for their beautiful and bright adopted Korean son. When he turned 8, David was diagnosed with Tourettes. A few years later, the doctors said he also had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Bi-Polar Disorder.
David's parents watched in horror as their happy, energetic child became depressed, angry, and self-destructive. Struggling with her third bout of cancer, Teresa had to send David away to a group home. There he got into even more trouble - getting kicked out of several homes, ending up on the streets and in trouble with the law. Desperate for answers, Ray and Teresa tracked down David's birth father in the hope that reconnecting with his Korean roots might take away some of David's anger....
Adopted child recounts story of abuse
BY PREM NEPALI
POKHARA, March 12 -
As an international conference on adoption is underway in the capital, an 11-year old girl has come forward to tell the world a story of sexual exploitation and torture at the home of her adoptive parents.
The story of the girl came to light as the girl declined to return to the home of her adopter Ganga Acharya and began to stay at the school even after school. The Acharya family had adopted the minor, who hails from Ashrang-3, Gorkha district, two years ago.
Taken by surprise, her teachers and friends had asked what was troubling her. She then recounted her story of sexual abuse by members of her adoptive family, before the teachers....
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POKHARA, March 12 -
As an international conference on adoption is underway in the capital, an 11-year old girl has come forward to tell the world a story of sexual exploitation and torture at the home of her adoptive parents.
The story of the girl came to light as the girl declined to return to the home of her adopter Ganga Acharya and began to stay at the school even after school. The Acharya family had adopted the minor, who hails from Ashrang-3, Gorkha district, two years ago.
Taken by surprise, her teachers and friends had asked what was troubling her. She then recounted her story of sexual abuse by members of her adoptive family, before the teachers....
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Orphanages in 'children for sale' racket
By Thomas Bell in KathmanduLast Updated: 1:49AM GMT 10 Mar 2007
Dishonest agents and orphanages in Nepal are running a multi-million-pound international adoption racket, frequently sending children abroad without their birth parents' consent.
An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has uncovered the extent of the malpractice as Kathmandu prepares to host an international adoption conference this weekend, aimed at attracting foreign adoptive parents and lobbying for deregulation.
Posing as a British couple seeking to adopt, reporters found one agent who demanded cash advances in an attempt to, in effect, sell us a Nepali baby....
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Dishonest agents and orphanages in Nepal are running a multi-million-pound international adoption racket, frequently sending children abroad without their birth parents' consent.
An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has uncovered the extent of the malpractice as Kathmandu prepares to host an international adoption conference this weekend, aimed at attracting foreign adoptive parents and lobbying for deregulation.
Posing as a British couple seeking to adopt, reporters found one agent who demanded cash advances in an attempt to, in effect, sell us a Nepali baby....
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Half of Nepal's 500 orphanages are involved in the illegal "sale" of children to foreign couples
Half of Nepal's 500 orphanages are involved in the illegal "sale" of children to foreign couples.
While there are many legitimate adoptions of Nepalese children each year, a Daily Telegraph investigation revealed on Saturday that corrupt middle-men and well-connected officials have been exploiting foreign couples, orphanages and the local parents who give up their children because they cannot afford to raise them.
In one case, a father handed his son to an orphanage to find six months later that the boy was living in Spain with an adoptive family without his consent. Urmila Aryal, the minister for social welfare, acknowledged the scale of the scandal she called the "children trade". She said there is "a big nexus of people involved in the sale of children" and that children who have parents are frequently "sold for adoption as orphans"....
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While there are many legitimate adoptions of Nepalese children each year, a Daily Telegraph investigation revealed on Saturday that corrupt middle-men and well-connected officials have been exploiting foreign couples, orphanages and the local parents who give up their children because they cannot afford to raise them.
In one case, a father handed his son to an orphanage to find six months later that the boy was living in Spain with an adoptive family without his consent. Urmila Aryal, the minister for social welfare, acknowledged the scale of the scandal she called the "children trade". She said there is "a big nexus of people involved in the sale of children" and that children who have parents are frequently "sold for adoption as orphans"....
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U.S. Pressuring Guatemala for Babies
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 09:29 Mecca time, 06:29 GMT
By Mariana Sanchez in Guatemala City
With Guatemala the second biggest provider of children adopted in the US, most of the children are born to poor women who are either paid to be pregnant or pressured into giving up their baby.
The US has now threatened to bar such adoptions, unless the Guatemalan government complies with an international agreement designed to protect potential adoptees.
Alejandra has just given up her daughter for adoption. She is 16 years old.
"My mother found a woman who asked me if I was sure I wanted to do that. She said I would not get into trouble and the baby would be fine," she said....
Samoa police probe adoption terms
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Samoa police probe adoption terms
Posted at 04:42 on 23 March, 2007 UTC
Police in Samoa are interviewing families of babies adopted by the US-based adoption agency, Focus on Children, to determine if the birth parents were misled by its representatives.
The Assistant Police Commissioner, Papali’i Lio Ta’eu Masepa’u, has told Le Samoa Newspaper that the adoption process is legal and is not part of their investigation.
Their probe is to determine if the birth parents were led to believe that they will be able to see their children again when they turn eighteen....
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Samoa police probe adoption terms
Posted at 04:42 on 23 March, 2007 UTC
Police in Samoa are interviewing families of babies adopted by the US-based adoption agency, Focus on Children, to determine if the birth parents were misled by its representatives.
The Assistant Police Commissioner, Papali’i Lio Ta’eu Masepa’u, has told Le Samoa Newspaper that the adoption process is legal and is not part of their investigation.
Their probe is to determine if the birth parents were led to believe that they will be able to see their children again when they turn eighteen....
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Mamma Mia! Twins are reunited 12,000 miles from home
From Jacqui Goddard in Miami
August 22, 2006
WHEN Holly and Douglas Funk decided to adopt a baby two years ago they bought two of everything in the hope that they might find twins. There were two pushchairs, two cots, even two toy lambs that sang lullabies.
But after travelling 12,000 miles to an orphanage in China, they brought home one baby after falling in love with a lone little girl whom they named Mia. She had been found on the pavement outside a textile factory in Yangzhou, eastern Jiangsu province, in June 2003, abandoned by her parents amid the bustle of cars and street vendors within hours of being born....
Spanish twins separated at birth by mistake are united by chance
Thomas Catan in Madrid
May 28, 2008
They were unaware of each other's existence for nearly 30 years, until their uncanny likeness caused a misunderstanding at a clothes shop that led to their reunion.
Now one of the identical twins - separated at birth 35 years ago after a mix-up at the hospital where they were born - is suing the Spanish health authority for a mistake that led to her growing up in the wrong family.
The woman is seeking €3 million (£2.4 million) in damages for the error, which came to light after she was spotted in a shopping centre by a friend of her twin sister. “In just one day, my world fell apart,” she said of the chance reunion. “I wish it had never happened.” ....
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May 28, 2008
They were unaware of each other's existence for nearly 30 years, until their uncanny likeness caused a misunderstanding at a clothes shop that led to their reunion.
Now one of the identical twins - separated at birth 35 years ago after a mix-up at the hospital where they were born - is suing the Spanish health authority for a mistake that led to her growing up in the wrong family.
The woman is seeking €3 million (£2.4 million) in damages for the error, which came to light after she was spotted in a shopping centre by a friend of her twin sister. “In just one day, my world fell apart,” she said of the chance reunion. “I wish it had never happened.” ....
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Web making the world smaller for adoptees
Archive for Sunday, September 03, 2006
By Russell Working
The Funk family went to China two years ago to adopt a baby girl who had been abandoned on a sidewalk near a textile factory. They named her Mia.
Last year, the Ramirezes went to China to adopt a girl who had been abandoned on the same spot a week later. As it happened, they also named her Mia.
The Funks live in Lyons, a suburb of Chicago. The Ramirezes live near Miami.
In May, Diana Ramirez wrote about her daughter’s upcoming birthday on an Internet site for parents who had adopted from the orphanage in Yangzhou.
Holly Funk saw it and wrote back, “Diana, I have a Mia as well and she is almost 3.”
A flurry of e-mails followed. Then DNA testing provided evidence of what the families had come to suspect: The girls were fraternal twins, separated hours after their birth....
Long trial looms likely in alleged adoption scheme
Long trial looms likely in alleged adoption scheme
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Launched: 04/03/2007 01:26:25 AM MDT
Federal prosecutors say it will take two months to try a private Utah agency for alleged adoption and immigration fraud. The agency, Focus on Children, is accused of duping birth parents in Samoa into placing their children for adoption.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Pead said Monday that the government spent about eight months investigating Focus on Children and gathering evidence. The case involves approximately 80 children from Samoa, 40 to 45 birth families and 60 adoptive families, he told Magistrate David Nuffer....
Stolen children adopted in Australia
Stolen children adopted in Australia: report
23 August 2008 06:23 FOCUS News Agency
Sydney.
The Australian government is investigating a media report that 13 Indian children may have been stolen from their parents as part of a child-trafficking network and brought to Australia for adoption.
Time magazine reported on Saturday that an Indian-based adoption agency renamed children and fabricated their histories, complete with photographs of fake mothers offering them for adoption.It said it had seen adoption agency documents for 13 such children...
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23 August 2008 06:23 FOCUS News Agency
Sydney.
The Australian government is investigating a media report that 13 Indian children may have been stolen from their parents as part of a child-trafficking network and brought to Australia for adoption.
Time magazine reported on Saturday that an Indian-based adoption agency renamed children and fabricated their histories, complete with photographs of fake mothers offering them for adoption.It said it had seen adoption agency documents for 13 such children...
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Navsari adoption racket still out of police probe range
Soumik Dey
Surat, April 3: While both Navsari police and the Social Defence Department agree that Ayappa Bal Asha Trust gave away newborns to various agencies, including adoption centres, in an ‘unauthorised manner’, they do not see eye to eye when it comes to the focus of investigation.
The Social Defence Department says police is not investigating the centre even though the department had registered a complaint and specifically asked for such a probe.
Police officials say their priority right now is to trace the 63 children whose names figure in the register seized from the centre. The SDD is now independently probing the possibility of an adoption racket being run from the centre. “We are investigating on our own and will forward any details we come across to the police,’’ says Deputy Director of Social Defence, Aruna Dave. So far, the SDD has traced 26 newborns, five boys and 21 girls, of the 63 mentioned in the seized register.
According to the SDD, the newborns were sent out for adoption to various organisations in an ‘unauthorised manner’....
Man charged with molesting adopted children
April 05, 2007 12:17 am -
by D. E. Smoot, Phoenix Staff Writer
A Porter man who allegedly admitted he sexually molested four adopted daughters faces charges in Wagoner County District Court for raping two of them.
Eugene Richard Putnam, 54, also faces four counts of child abuse, one count of child neglect and one count of committing a lewd act with a child. Putnam was in court Wednesday when Associate District Judge Darrell G. Shepherd set an April 18 preliminary hearing date.
Putnam’s charges were filed in March following a multijurisdictional investigation of the girls’ allegations of molestation and abuse. According to court documents, the alleged rapes reportedly occurred in 2000 and 2001, when the girls would have been 9 and 12 years old....
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by D. E. Smoot, Phoenix Staff Writer
A Porter man who allegedly admitted he sexually molested four adopted daughters faces charges in Wagoner County District Court for raping two of them.
Eugene Richard Putnam, 54, also faces four counts of child abuse, one count of child neglect and one count of committing a lewd act with a child. Putnam was in court Wednesday when Associate District Judge Darrell G. Shepherd set an April 18 preliminary hearing date.
Putnam’s charges were filed in March following a multijurisdictional investigation of the girls’ allegations of molestation and abuse. According to court documents, the alleged rapes reportedly occurred in 2000 and 2001, when the girls would have been 9 and 12 years old....
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Molester sentenced to 75 years
Local hotel owner abused adopted sons, another boy
BY SHELLIE BRANCO, Californian staff writer
Wednesday, Apr 4 2007 10:20 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Apr 4 2007 10:23 PM
A local hotel owner found guilty of child molestation was sentenced Wednesday to 75 years to life in prison.
The case of John Krueger, who was convicted of molesting children adopted from Ukraine, led to that government's recent ban on unmarried foreigners adopting Ukrainian children, said Deputy District Attorney John Lua.
Attempts to reach the Ukrainian consulate in San Francisco were unsuccessful.
Krueger, who ran Quality Inn at 1011 Oak St.,must serve 85 percent of his 75-year sentence before he will be eligible for parole. He was denied probation on all counts, Lua said....
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BY SHELLIE BRANCO, Californian staff writer
Wednesday, Apr 4 2007 10:20 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Apr 4 2007 10:23 PM
A local hotel owner found guilty of child molestation was sentenced Wednesday to 75 years to life in prison.
The case of John Krueger, who was convicted of molesting children adopted from Ukraine, led to that government's recent ban on unmarried foreigners adopting Ukrainian children, said Deputy District Attorney John Lua.
Attempts to reach the Ukrainian consulate in San Francisco were unsuccessful.
Krueger, who ran Quality Inn at 1011 Oak St.,must serve 85 percent of his 75-year sentence before he will be eligible for parole. He was denied probation on all counts, Lua said....
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John Krueger is accused of molesting four adopted boys from Ukraine
18 April 2006 10:23
Police have found another alleged victim of a man charged with molesting several boys he adopted from an orphanage in the Ukraine, officers said, Mercury News reported.
John Krueger, 53, is charged with molesting four boys, ages 7 to 11. He adopted three and another was adopted by an acquaintance, Bakersfield police said....
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Police have found another alleged victim of a man charged with molesting several boys he adopted from an orphanage in the Ukraine, officers said, Mercury News reported.
John Krueger, 53, is charged with molesting four boys, ages 7 to 11. He adopted three and another was adopted by an acquaintance, Bakersfield police said....
for remaining article
The siblings they left behind
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
Ruslan Pettyjohn lives in a home with a pool, plays on a soccer team, goes bike-riding with friends and has two doting parents. He seems to have everything a 13-year-old American boy would want. Except he doesn't have his big sister, Olga.
When Ruslan was adopted from Russia nearly four years ago, she was left behind in their village, sweeping floors and living in a condemned building with broken windows and no running water. She looked after him for years in the orphanage after their birth mother died. To give him a better life, she signed off on his adoption.
As international adoptions have soared, American parents are dealing with an unintended consequence: siblings torn apart. More parents are searching for their children's biological relatives, hoping to help them reconnect with their roots. Some want to adopt the kin; others just want to visit....
for remaining article
Ruslan Pettyjohn lives in a home with a pool, plays on a soccer team, goes bike-riding with friends and has two doting parents. He seems to have everything a 13-year-old American boy would want. Except he doesn't have his big sister, Olga.
When Ruslan was adopted from Russia nearly four years ago, she was left behind in their village, sweeping floors and living in a condemned building with broken windows and no running water. She looked after him for years in the orphanage after their birth mother died. To give him a better life, she signed off on his adoption.
As international adoptions have soared, American parents are dealing with an unintended consequence: siblings torn apart. More parents are searching for their children's biological relatives, hoping to help them reconnect with their roots. Some want to adopt the kin; others just want to visit....
for remaining article
Russia halts work of foreign adoption agencies
Russia halts work of foreign adoption agencies
Authorities cite technical reasons, say suspension will last a few months
updated 6:21 p.m. PT, Thurs., April. 12, 2007
MOSCOW - Authorities said Thursday they have halted the work of all foreign adoption agencies in Russia for several months, virtually shutting down the placement of children from one of the most important countries for U.S. families seeking to adopt.
The move follows new restrictive rules imposed by China on Americans trying to adopt and U.S. warnings against adopting from Guatemala. The two countries account for the highest number of children coming to the United States.
The licensing delay in Russia is due to a law that took effect last year that imposed strict new rules on non-governmental organizations, including more complicated registration procedures. The rules were imposed after Russian officials complained that Western-funded groups were meddling in politics across the former Soviet Union....
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Authorities cite technical reasons, say suspension will last a few months
updated 6:21 p.m. PT, Thurs., April. 12, 2007
MOSCOW - Authorities said Thursday they have halted the work of all foreign adoption agencies in Russia for several months, virtually shutting down the placement of children from one of the most important countries for U.S. families seeking to adopt.
The move follows new restrictive rules imposed by China on Americans trying to adopt and U.S. warnings against adopting from Guatemala. The two countries account for the highest number of children coming to the United States.
The licensing delay in Russia is due to a law that took effect last year that imposed strict new rules on non-governmental organizations, including more complicated registration procedures. The rules were imposed after Russian officials complained that Western-funded groups were meddling in politics across the former Soviet Union....
for remaining article
Pair admit causing adopted son's 2000 death
Hunterdon couple plead guilty to reckless manslaughter to avoid a retrial
Friday, April 13, 2007
BY RALPH R. ORTEGA, CLAIRE HEININGER AND JOE TYRRELL STAR-LEDGER STAFF
A Hunterdon County couple admitted for the first time yesterday that they caused the hypothermia death of their 7-year-old adopted Russian son more than six years ago.
Robert and Brenda Matthey stood before Superior Court Judge Roger Mahon in Flemington and pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree reckless manslaughter in the death of Viktor Alexander Matthey.
The Mattheys are both serving 10-year prison terms after being convicted in May 2004 of child abuse for mistreating Viktor before his death....
for remaining article
July 12, 2005» Mattheys seek change of venue Robert and Brenda Matthey have asked that their retrial on manslaughter charges be moved out of Hunterdon County.
The VerdictMay 20, 2004» Mattheys convicted Robert and Brenda Matthey were convicted yesterday of abusing their 7-year-old adopted Russian son.
An emotional week leaves jury drained They started with a prayer; they ended with a split verdict.
Russians express sadness, satisfactionFrom half a world away, Russians react to the couple's conviction.
Quotes from the courtroom
Friday, April 13, 2007
BY RALPH R. ORTEGA, CLAIRE HEININGER AND JOE TYRRELL STAR-LEDGER STAFF
A Hunterdon County couple admitted for the first time yesterday that they caused the hypothermia death of their 7-year-old adopted Russian son more than six years ago.
Robert and Brenda Matthey stood before Superior Court Judge Roger Mahon in Flemington and pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree reckless manslaughter in the death of Viktor Alexander Matthey.
The Mattheys are both serving 10-year prison terms after being convicted in May 2004 of child abuse for mistreating Viktor before his death....
for remaining article
July 12, 2005» Mattheys seek change of venue Robert and Brenda Matthey have asked that their retrial on manslaughter charges be moved out of Hunterdon County.
The VerdictMay 20, 2004» Mattheys convicted Robert and Brenda Matthey were convicted yesterday of abusing their 7-year-old adopted Russian son.
An emotional week leaves jury drained They started with a prayer; they ended with a split verdict.
Russians express sadness, satisfactionFrom half a world away, Russians react to the couple's conviction.
Quotes from the courtroom
Big Business In Babies: Adoption,The Child Commodities Market
Big Business In Babies: Adoption,The Child Commodities Market
By Mirah Riben
25 April, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Adoption was once a process by which the community took responsibility for orphans. Increased access to birth control pills and legal abortion, and a lessening of the stigma of single parenting, coupled with an increase in infertility resulted in a demand for babies that outstrips the “supply.” And where there is demand – be it for diamonds, drugs, sex, or babies – corruption follows.
Adoption is racist. The scarcity of “white American-born babies” has led to an increase in international adoptions, fracturing family ties and heritage in what some are calling cultural genocide. Madonna was criticized. Angelina confounds. Westerners, however, continue to believe that adoption “rescues” orphans; though saving children from poverty, one at a time, does nothing to ameliorate the conditions that continue to produce them. And, many so-called orphans are in fact stolen, kidnapped, or their parents were coerced to relinquish them under false pretenses to be sold on the black and gray adoption markets with prices set by age, alleged health, skin color, gender and nationality....
for remaining essay
By Mirah Riben
25 April, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Adoption was once a process by which the community took responsibility for orphans. Increased access to birth control pills and legal abortion, and a lessening of the stigma of single parenting, coupled with an increase in infertility resulted in a demand for babies that outstrips the “supply.” And where there is demand – be it for diamonds, drugs, sex, or babies – corruption follows.
Adoption is racist. The scarcity of “white American-born babies” has led to an increase in international adoptions, fracturing family ties and heritage in what some are calling cultural genocide. Madonna was criticized. Angelina confounds. Westerners, however, continue to believe that adoption “rescues” orphans; though saving children from poverty, one at a time, does nothing to ameliorate the conditions that continue to produce them. And, many so-called orphans are in fact stolen, kidnapped, or their parents were coerced to relinquish them under false pretenses to be sold on the black and gray adoption markets with prices set by age, alleged health, skin color, gender and nationality....
for remaining essay
The Case for Joon Hyun Kim
International Examiner: The Journal of the Northwest Asian Pacific American Communities
The Case for Joon Hyun Kim
Category/Issue: News, Volume 34 No. 09
BY KEVIN MINH ALLEN Examiner Contributor
The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 took effect in early 2001 with much fanfare coming from the adoption community because it automatically confers U.S. citizenship on adopted children once their adoptions are legally finalized. In spite of this, transnational adoptees who were adopted before this law took effect, and had not become naturalized citizens, represent some of the most vulnerable immigrants in the United States. Unbeknownst to them, and most likely their adoptive parents, their immigration status is tenuous, even though they grew up believing they were fully recognized members of American society. Kevin Minh Allen reports on the story of Joon Hyun Kim.
He is not the first adult adoptee with a criminal record that the government wants to deport back to his birth country. But, Kim’s case once again illustrates the fateful convergence of decisions made and not made by adoptive parents and adoptees, who are eventually left to confront the issues of ethnicity and nationality by themselves and without much guidance.
As soon as I saw Kim, his body language spoke volumes. It told a story of stoic resignation in the face of bureaucratic machinations and acceptance of the fact that his freedom lies in other people’s hands. He’s also had a lot of time to think about how his life could have turned out if childhood circumstances had been different, but that also he has to atone for the mistakes he has made as a young adult.
However, the biggest mistake that he will have to live down for the rest of his life was not of his own doing: his adoptive parents forgot their responsibility to have Kim made a naturalized U.S. citizen. This process should have been second nature to his adoptive parents, seeing that his mother worked for Holt International, a well-known and respected Northwest adoption agency....
6 of caged children adopted from other countries
Article published Thursday, September 15, 2005
6 of caged children adopted from other counties
By STEVE MURPHY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
At least six of the 11 adopted special-needs children removed last week from a Huron County home where they were kept in wooden cages were placed there by children services agencies from other Ohio counties, officials said yesterday.
The adoptions by Michael and Sharen Gravelle of Clarksfield Township included three children from Stark County Children Services in December, 2000; two from the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services in April, 1999, and a boy from a private agency through the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services in late 2001.
Officials from all three agencies said the Gravelles, in each instance, went through a rigorous adoption process that included background checks, inspections of their home on St. John Road, and visits by county staff members or private agency employees to observe how the couple interacted with the children they wanted to adopt....
click here for article
6 of caged children adopted from other counties
By STEVE MURPHY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
At least six of the 11 adopted special-needs children removed last week from a Huron County home where they were kept in wooden cages were placed there by children services agencies from other Ohio counties, officials said yesterday.
The adoptions by Michael and Sharen Gravelle of Clarksfield Township included three children from Stark County Children Services in December, 2000; two from the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services in April, 1999, and a boy from a private agency through the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services in late 2001.
Officials from all three agencies said the Gravelles, in each instance, went through a rigorous adoption process that included background checks, inspections of their home on St. John Road, and visits by county staff members or private agency employees to observe how the couple interacted with the children they wanted to adopt....
click here for article
Woman convicted of killing adopted daughter returned to U.S.
07/20/2005
Associated Press
An El Paso woman who fled to Mexico during the 2000 murder trial but was still convicted in the death of her adopted 21-month-old daughter has been returned to the United States, authorities said.
Mexican authorities returned Martha Yannette Melendez, 29, late Tuesday. She had been held in Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, on a "provisional arrest warrant" since U.S. authorities found her in November....
click here for article
Associated Press
An El Paso woman who fled to Mexico during the 2000 murder trial but was still convicted in the death of her adopted 21-month-old daughter has been returned to the United States, authorities said.
Mexican authorities returned Martha Yannette Melendez, 29, late Tuesday. She had been held in Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, on a "provisional arrest warrant" since U.S. authorities found her in November....
click here for article
Correction: Profiting from adoption could be punishable by law
20/ 07/ 2005
Peggy Sue Hilt has been charged with manslaughter in the death of her adopted Russian daughter. Hilt’s court hearing is scheduled for August
MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office intends to press criminal charges against intermediaries profiting from adoption, according to Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky.
Numerous law infractions have been discovered involving the adoption of Russian children after the prosecutor general’s investigation. According to Fridinsky, since the early nineties, the number of children adopted by Russians fell from 14,000 to 7,000 per year, while the number adopted by foreign nationals rose nearly seven times, from 1,400 to 9,000.
In the last five years in Russia, more than 1000 children have been killed, of which only one was killed by an adoptive parent.....
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Peggy Sue Hilt has been charged with manslaughter in the death of her adopted Russian daughter. Hilt’s court hearing is scheduled for August
MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office intends to press criminal charges against intermediaries profiting from adoption, according to Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky.
Numerous law infractions have been discovered involving the adoption of Russian children after the prosecutor general’s investigation. According to Fridinsky, since the early nineties, the number of children adopted by Russians fell from 14,000 to 7,000 per year, while the number adopted by foreign nationals rose nearly seven times, from 1,400 to 9,000.
In the last five years in Russia, more than 1000 children have been killed, of which only one was killed by an adoptive parent.....
for remaining article
Law beefs up adoption rules
Measure spurred by the contested adoption of a
Chicago girl gives state more oversight, lessens profit
motive
By Jamie Francisco
Tribune staff reporter
August 15, 2005
Seated beside Baby Tamia, the 11-month-old girl who was returned to her family from Utah after a bitterly contested adoption, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Sunday that strengthens state authority over private adoption agencies and prevents them from profiteering from placing babies with families.
Blagojevich signed the Adoption Reform Act before the congregation at Sweet Holy Spirit Full Gospel Baptist Church, 8621 S. South Chicago Ave., where Tamia was baptized on Easter. She was returned to her mother, Carmen McDonald, and grandmother Maria McDonald in March after they filed suit alleging that the Utah-based agency A Cherished Child pressured Carmen to relinquish her daughter when she was dealing with as she suffered from postpartum depression....
click here for remaining article
Chicago girl gives state more oversight, lessens profit
motive
By Jamie Francisco
Tribune staff reporter
August 15, 2005
Seated beside Baby Tamia, the 11-month-old girl who was returned to her family from Utah after a bitterly contested adoption, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Sunday that strengthens state authority over private adoption agencies and prevents them from profiteering from placing babies with families.
Blagojevich signed the Adoption Reform Act before the congregation at Sweet Holy Spirit Full Gospel Baptist Church, 8621 S. South Chicago Ave., where Tamia was baptized on Easter. She was returned to her mother, Carmen McDonald, and grandmother Maria McDonald in March after they filed suit alleging that the Utah-based agency A Cherished Child pressured Carmen to relinquish her daughter when she was dealing with as she suffered from postpartum depression....
click here for remaining article
Convicted rapist was foster parent
WATERTOWN, N.Y. - Authorities are investigating how a convicted rapist was allowed to serve as a foster parent to as many as 50 children before his past was discovered....
...But Nicholas Chaney told WWNY-TV in Watertown Tuesday that he may have cared for as many as 50 foster children since late 2001 and even adopted a child while living in upstate New York. Chaney said he listed his felony sex crime conviction on his foster parent application form when he signed up in November 2001.
According to authorities in Oregon and Washington state, Chaney was convicted in 1989 of two counts of third-degree rape. Chaney told the television station he had been convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old girl.... click here for article
...But Nicholas Chaney told WWNY-TV in Watertown Tuesday that he may have cared for as many as 50 foster children since late 2001 and even adopted a child while living in upstate New York. Chaney said he listed his felony sex crime conviction on his foster parent application form when he signed up in November 2001.
According to authorities in Oregon and Washington state, Chaney was convicted in 1989 of two counts of third-degree rape. Chaney told the television station he had been convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old girl.... click here for article
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