August 28, 2009: Ina Hut conducted a follow-up interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, which was published today, expanding on the issues she has with the China adoption program. You can read an overview, and listen to the interview itself, here.
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Dutch television reported today that Ina Hut, Director of the largest adoption agency in the Netherlands, resigned as a result of pressure from the Dutch government to keep quiet about the Chinese Adoption scandals. (The video segment can be viewed here).
Ina Hut, the director of Wereldkinderen, says that the Central Authority in the Netherlands forced her to stop any investigations regarding the Chinese Adoption scandals because it might hurt the relationship of China with the Netherlands. Due to the increasingly difficult relationship between Ms. Hut and the Dutch government, especially in keeping a transparent overview of the adoption process regarding Chinese Adoptions, she could not continue her work with "a clear conscience" she said in an interview on television this evening.
The trouble stems from the Gaoping Family Planning confiscations reported by Netwerk Television in the Netherlands early last year, as well as the 2005 Hunan Baby-Buying scandal. Following the issuance of a report by the Dutch Justice Ministry, Director Hut went to China to do her own independent investigation. Before she was able to issue a report, the Chinese government notified the Dutch Justice Ministry that further investigations would result in trade sanctions being placed against the Netherlands, specifically Dutch pork.
The official letter from the Chinese stated:
"In reference to the incident in Hunan," the CCAA wrote the Dutch Justice Minister in February 2008, "I would like to reaffirm that all of the children involved for inter-country adoption are all abandoned children, who were placed for adoption in accordance with the principle of 'children's interests as the priority' and the whole procedure was legal and in light of the spirits [sic] of Hague Convention. The adoptions are protected by law and will not cause any problems for the adoptive families. It is known that these children are well cared for in the adoptive families and are doing fine. It is better not to pursue, expand or elaborate on this issue further and to keep secret for related families in order not to interrupt the bond established between the adoptive parents and the children and impose any unnecessary pressure on them."
The Dutch Justice Ministry responded by informing Ms. Hut at Wereldkinderen that she should stop any investigations into how Chinese children came into the orphanage for adoption or face the revoking of her license to participate in foreign adoptions.
Related Articles: United Adoptees International (http://uai-news.blogspot.com/)
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19 comments:
I know that the CCAA's comments have been translated from Chinese, to Dutch, to English, but if "keep secret" is a true translation, it hardly leaves one feeling confident in the provenance of any child adopted from China.
Actually, the letter was composed by the CCAA in English. The words are theirs, not a translator's.
Brian
Ina Hut truly needs to be recognized for taking the most ethical route. The very sad reality however is that those with high morals and better values leaving this program actually makes the situation that much scarier. The vultures will move into the spots of those who actually cared.
Any government that places the childs best interests behind that of elbow rubbing is pathetic! Shame on the Dutch government on how this issue was dealt with.
This gets more disturbing every day. I only hope that one day all adoptions will truly be in the best interest of the child and the first parents - if that is even possible in the world we live in.
With the one-two child policy in China and the reputation of human rights violations one can not be surprised that when families go over their child quota there would be a group in each area to enforce and punish.
Some birth families will abandon before chance being caught and others will try and get away with it. Many will be successful and many will get caught and have their child taken. I have no doubt that the suffering by Chinese families is great and the loss either way of a loved child is unthinkable.
Whoever has access to communicate in mandarin on these blogs in China should let the Chinese people know that their children are loved and cared for in adoptive homes overseas and have not for the most part as we know been sold to the child sex trade which has become a worldwide epidemic.
Anonymous, for you it may be some odd sense of peace that the children (for the most part) end up in good homes but would you feel so great if your child was snatched and sold abroad in a loving home? Would you find peace if your child was taken and 'legally' sold to a family if they sent you a nice note on a blog?
Seriously WTF is wrong with the adoption community that we still find ridiculous justifications for the crimes committed!?
International adoptions of U.S. children still happen. These children go to "loving" homes abroad. What happens when someone places an order for a healthy Chinese child and a corrupt U.S. SW finds a reason to take yours? Will you still justify the crimes then or will you use your Western privilege and money to get your child back?
This market needs to stop and the only way this will happen is if we stop making excuses and start taking serious action.
We are destined to have some angry Chinese adoptees in the future and all of them will have good reason to be.
I never justified the crime at all.
It's a violation of human rights.
The Chinese people will never find peace nor would I.
There are no excuses being made here. Just a simple suggestion of some form of communication.
Going up against a large communist party for change means petitioning our governmnet for help.
Angry adoptees? Yes, not with us or birth parents but with their homelands government. We need to let our children know all the facts at an age appropriate time.
Being critical of one another is no solution!
"Going up against a large communist party for change means petitioning our governmnet for help."
Well then if that is what it takes then that is what we should be doing. Instead we have the adoption community signing petitions to make adoptions easier and to allow for less red tape. The FACE act and other recent petitions are a perfect example of the lobbying efforts that coerce governments to lobby for more children and easier adoptions.
Government reps that are eager for votes will promise the world to those willing to support and vote for them. Instead of pushing governments to get more children, why not push them to do more regarding ethics?
I doubt that adoptees will only be angry with the Chinese government. No way. This is about those of us who handed out our money and refused to poke at the beast in fear of losing our chance at a child. We will of course be at the root of the anger.
The traffickers/agencies/government officials will be long gone and it will be us adoptive parents that will be there in the end for our kids. Of course many will be angry at us and they have every reason to be!
You can only keep the truth from them for so long. They will be one of the most connected generations and at this time in history when people in China are finally gaining a voice our children will learn the truth of these crimes.
For those in line still waiting for a healthy NSN infant AYAP please know that you are the problem right now. You are the reason this market continues. Take away the demand and the orphanages will become empty.
We do have the power for change but we fail to use it.
One could best describe this as indefinable remorse.
70,000+ children have been IA from China in the last 17 years. There are not 70,000 stories resulting from human perfidy, but we must never refuse to accept that this human corruption exists at some level – at what level do we force a shutdown of the program and leave the 70,000 in doubt? There are 70,000+ children out there with good lives and opportunities as result of IA, as well as a general betterment in the lives of the children left in the SWI.
I applaud the efforts of Brian, Ina Hut, and others to show the injustices and believe that at some level behind the scenes, it is noticed and I believe that some form of scrutiny will be enforced by the CCAA.
Just how many outraged adoptive parents out there, who rage against those waiting to adopt from China now, how many will do all that they can to try to locate their child's birth family in order to determine that they were not stolen? My guess is none.
Actually, I am working with several families to locate birth families, and am actively searching for the birth families of my own children. I think you underestimate many adoptive parents seeking the truth about their children.
Brian
Yes, anonymous 4:46(most likely a PAP)is way off. Many adoptive parents work endlessly trying to locate our childrens families in China. IMO the biggest crime of this particular international adoption program was the complete removal/theft of identity and information about our children. They deserve much more than what they have. It is every humans basic "right" to know our origins and to know our true ethnicity and to have the information about our families in order to properly process our own identity.
We were foolish to believe that most children did not have the connections to this info. The whole anonymous abandonment notion was part of the many myths created to allow for this program to continue.
The recent reports of child stealing by family planning shows us how much was known about our children. Orphanages actually using the address of the family as the finding locations! Imagine having your child stolen by corrupt officials and thinking they are still in China only to have them later show up in the arms of a Western family who is there taking photos for a life book of whatever?! It is all just plain madness and yes many of us are searching and also finding. Many of us did not adopt and set out to create more victims and when we chose to search we understood that trafficking could be what we may find but when we do, believe this, many of us will not turn our backs on our children's families in China.
Those who are waiting and thinking life will be peachy when you get your child may be surprised how much you care once you fall in love with the child (not just the notion or the picture of the child!)
Well said, anonymous 6:56. You took the words right out of my mouth, but stated it much, much better.
The adoption community can use their numbers to voice their distaste over this corruption. But in the end it is up to the government of China to stop it. Those children would be confiscated no matter if they are adopted out to foreigners or not. But it is not lawful for them to be taken at all. Those taking the children in the first place need to be punished for kidnapping. The poor have no rights in this world.
Anonymous: You are of course correct. But I do find it interesting that every story I have seen involving confiscation, etc., has been in the area of an IA orphanage. Since only 25% of China's shortchanges participate in IA, one would expect more stories to come from non-IA areas. Thus I believe the IA program creates the demand that allows these abuses to be perpetrated.
Brian
Any preliminry word on the number of children adopted in th IA program this year as compared to recent years.
Yes, the analysis will be published this week.
Brian
Anonymous 4:46, as already stated, many a-parents who adopted from China and other countries are looking and some have already been reunited. If you are interested in becoming a member of one of these groups, look into the following:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BirthParentContact/summary
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChinaBirthFamilySearch/summary
Anonymous at 6:45 on 8/19
"For those in line still waiting for a healthy NSN infant AYAP please know that you are the problem right now. You are the reason this market continues."
We started this process to help a child. We started this process to make a difference. We started this process with the understanding that children were being left all over the place, and badly in need of families to love them.
How dare you say that WE are the problem.
I assure you, if everyone "pulled out" there would still be orphans the world over in need of families - and many many many of them, perfectly healthy. What should we do then? Ignore the orphans of the world to teach a communist government a lesson?
We've adopted from other countries as well, and have seen firsthand the dire need for families willing to share their life and their home - and yes, with healthy young children.
Shame on you.
What a horrible thing to say to families waiting and trying to make a difference in the life of a child.
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