ROMANIA  -  FOR EXPORT ONLY

MEDIA

By Jolande van der Graaf

 

BROKEN BY "ADOPTION MAFFIA"

Intro:

The scandal surrounding fifty illegally adopted Indian children is just the top of the iceberg. Just over the last months similar practices become known in Sri Lanka and in Nepal where hundreds of children were for big money channelled to Western (probably also Dutch) adoptive parents, paedophile networks and possibly even to criminals in the disgusting traffic in organs.

 

Roelie Post, Dutch civil servant at the European Commission, had in Brussels for many years the infamous dossier "Romanian children" in her care. She saw how the hurt country of the late communist dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu bravely recovered , but ran into the powerful, international lobby of Western businessmen, politicians and even government officials who want to maintain the foreign adoptions stream and at best see it grow. Her resistance got her into trouble: our compatriot was threatened and set aside. Today exclusively in De Telegraaf the shocking story of the Dutch children whistle blower….

De Telegraaf, 2 June 2007

De Volkskrant, 6 June 2007

INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION IS CHILD TRAFFICKING

 

Interview with our reporter Margreet Vermeulen

 

”It is a heavy message. But intercountry adoption is legalised child trafficking. A white child is more expensive than a black child. African children are guaranteed AIDS-free. If that is not traffick? On top of that, many adopted children are not orphans. They are here because the agreed quota must be met.”

read the article (Dutch)

BABIES FOR SALE

 

Intro:

Margreet Vermeulen

 

Intercountry adoption is surrounded by scandals. This month three incidents made it to the media.

These are not isolated cases. Children are commodities.

       

Kangaroo mothers they are called in Guatemala. Women who give birth to children for export. They receive 600 = 1.600 dollar per child. The adoption parents, mostly from North America, pay circa 30 thousand dollar. The difference goes into pockets of notaries, baby brokers, children homes, lawyers and fattening-houses, where the pregnancy and birth are accompanied.

 

These are practices that the Guatemala authorities now openly admit en try to fight. From every hundred Guatemala born babies, one now grows up in an American adoptive family.

 

Yearly at least 40 thousand children fly around the globe for so-called intercountry adoption. The British adoption expert Peter Selman speaks about 'the silent migration'. A decrease is not to be expected on short term, because in the rich industrialised world there is more and more demand for adoptable babies from abroad. After all, the fertility in the richer West is going down and at the same time there is hardly an offer of adoptable children at home due to, inter alia, liberal legislation for abortion.

 

De Volkskrant, 2 July 2007

Haagens op de Middag , 11 June 2007

EenVandaag, 19 June 2007

ADOPTION STOP IN SIGHT?

 

Adoption is going down. Within five to ten years adoption of healthy children will belong to the past. This says Ina Hut, director of the biggest adoption organisation (Wereldkinderen). Hut made this statement during a congress and as reaction to recent adoption scandals in the Netherlands and Denmark. The fact that adoption needs a critical evaluation is known for longer inside or outside the adoption world, but a complete stop?  EénVandaag speaks about this with Hut, but also with adoption expert Roelie Post.

Watch the programme (Dutch)

listen to the programme (Dutch)

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 11 June 2007

International Adoption equals Child Trafficking

BNR Juridische Zaken, 12 June 2007

visit the webpage (English)

listen to the programme (Dutch)

read the article (Dutch)

Radio Romania, 5 July 2007

listen to the programme (Romanian)

By Claudia Marcu
Romania—For Export Only: the perfect didactic material.

 

 

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 8 July 2007

Interview with Ina Hut, director Wereldkinderen, professor David Smolin and Roelie Post

listen to the programme (English)

NOVA (Dutch TV), 2 August 2007

ADOPTION or CHILD TRAFFICKING

watch the programme (Dutch)

Roelie Post talks about International Adoption
By Ashleigh Elson

So, what rights do children caught up in crisis situations have? We asked Roelie Post. Post worked for the European Commission on the reform of Romania's child protection for many years and is the author of Romania: For Export Only.

Post wasn't surprised to hear about the Zoe's Ark situation and compared it with the international adoptions that happened during the tsunami crisis in 2005. She says children should be helped in their own country."

Many people believe that Zoe's Ark has the best of intentions, but Post says she's heard this argument before:
"NGOs create this wrong image of children in poor countries, saying that they are abandoned orphans and that they need to be rescued. Most of the children - including in Darfur - have at least one parent, have extended family, and are part of a community. They are not orphans, they are not abandoned and therefore they should not be rescued."
According to Post, there aren't actually many true orphans. In cases where war and HIV/AIDS have left children without parents, the children are usually looked after by relatives and by their community.

"This is where the support should go - to helping local communities look after the real orphans. And not what a lot of NGOs are doing, setting up orphanages and taking children out of their communities and villages. That makes children vulnerable, it isn't a good way to live. And from there often comes the suggestion that children would be better off in another country in a nice family. But experience worldwide has shown - and the international community has always agreed - that children are best off in their own surroundings."

Post says, based on her experience in Romania with people who were involved with international adoption, she's not optimistic that the Zoe's Ark people are as naive as they might seem.

"One must not forget that there is an enormous demand for children in the western world by people who want to adopt. And this market is demand-driven… One should really wonder if this is the right way to go and how far people are innocent."

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 2 November 2007

listen to the programme (English)

PART OF CHILD SMUGGLERS FREE AGAIN

The bizarre child smuggling case in Tchad that keeps France in grip is not the first and will not be the last adoption scandal in France. That is what Roelie Post says, who on behalf of the European Commission researched adoption practices in Romania. According to Post the problem is that the French government strongly promotes adoption, while the offer of children from abroad is decreasing.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 5 November 2007

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KRO REPORTER (Dutch TV) - 21 October 2007

THE ADOPTION MARKET

Watch the programme (Dutch)