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61

General Discussion / Re: Devotions

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on October 14, 2024, 11:20:06 AM »

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2024/02/26/fear-not-i-will-help-you?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_0OWEBAVFCyuEZw28pl-RO-oymUa1iOhzQo9w--BEkabQIWLdjO6ItZpuDeTfDMsesa5V-hiWJ-1_ggaDPMFdC7vqiEA&_hsmi=293529895&utm_content=293529895&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

Fear Not: I Will Help You
February 26, 2024
by Kori de Leon

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)

Have you ever found yourself, amid life’s challenges, feeling as though the weight of the world is pressing down upon you?

In today’s world, marked by uncertainties, unrest and persecution, it’s easy to become burdened by concerns. When you add your personal struggles financial pressures, the demands of parenthood, caregiving for aging loved ones, and health issues it often seems like there's no end in sight.  It’s precisely during these trying times that God steadies our hearts. He is a strong and loving Father who tells His children not to worry or anxiously look about but to call out to Him and wait with humble expectation for the help He provides.  When you were a child, maybe you witnessed your earthly parents’ desire for you to grow up confident and secure. But even so, parents often experience the frustration of being unable to provide the specific help their children need. This is where God distinguishes Himself remarkably and gloriously, as often repeated throughout Isaiah:  “... For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isaiah 46:9, ESV).

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you …” (Isaiah 41:10).

God assures us of His boundless capacity and joy in helping us! The above scriptures brim with divine “I wills,” and it’s truly remarkable to understand that God doesn’t want us to be consumed by fear. Instead, He urges us to shed the weighty cloak of fear and dread, much like discarding yesterday’s worn-out clothes.  But how do we do this?

When we look at the troubling things all around us in the world, how do we exchange fear for faith in our invisible Father?

God encourages us to meditate on the image of being held by His hand:  “... I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

When life gets chaotic and we’re teetering on the edge, let's picture God right there with us, a caring Father steadying His child as she navigates rough and uncertain terrain. Instead of giving in to despair or frantically searching for help, let’s remember the promise that God is present, ready to help and support us. Then we can pray, calling out to our Father and waiting with humble expectation for the help He’ll provide.  As we read Isaiah 41:10 and so many other parts of God’s Word, we uncover the countless beautiful ways in which God supports His people. Let’s walk together in the hope and comfort of God’s upholding love today.

62

General Discussion / Re: Devotions

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on October 13, 2024, 05:06:44 PM »

https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2024/02/22/what-we-fear-we-will-avoid?utm_campaign=Daily%20Devotions&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_WNoHIOop6WHrOhVe3lO6aKQdcHSoa23dqd_aOsWEgaO9KHa7l7ib4sLe4dsGXMPlg0V7Azfqmb2Mv3eZMcZEu5wUWyg&_hsmi=292312804&utm_content=292312804&utm_source=hs_email#disqus_thread

What We Fear, We Will Avoid
February 22, 2024
by Lysa TerKeurst

“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” Psalm 34:7 (NIV)

A few years ago, one of my back teeth started hurting. It wasn’t the first time that tooth had given me trouble, but quite honestly, I just didn’t want to deal with it.  I’d had not one, not two, but three crowns done on that same tooth. The first one broke. The second one broke. And though the third one seemed like it would finally work, the tooth started aching again. Ugh!  The dentist informed me the only thing to do was to have a root canal.  But fear overcame my heart, and I just couldn’t bring myself to schedule it.  So I dealt with the throbbing pain for a full year. I didn’t chew on that side of my mouth. I didn’t let cold drinks leak over to that side. And I took ibuprofen when the throbbing got the best of me.  Finally I’d had enough. The pain overrode the fear, and I made the dreaded appointment.  And you know what?

I survived! Actually, the fear of the root canal was so much worse than having the procedure done.  I think fear often plays out that way. Sometimes living in fear of what might be causes more stress and anxiety than actually facing what we fear.  Maybe you can relate. Is there something you’re avoiding because you’re afraid?

Psalm 34:7 reminds us, “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” (NIV). To fear the Lord means to honor Him and magnify Him in our hearts more than anyone or anything else. But when I focus on or magnify my lesser, anxious fears, they become all I can think about.

Instead, here are three things we can do to focus on God today:

    Cry out to Him with honest prayers. Verbalize to God what you’re afraid of and how paralyzing the fear is. Ask Him to help you discern if there is any truth to this fear.

    Open your Bible, and look for verses that show you what He wants you to do in that moment of fear. Write down truths, and then align your next thoughts and actions with His Word.

    Move forward. We may not always live fear-free, but we can choose not to let fears about tomorrow steal our joy for today.

Is there an everyday fear holding you back? Is it a fear of confronting an issue with a friend? Is it a fear of stepping out in obedience to God?

Is there fear surrounding a medical diagnosis you just received?

Oh friend, if I were with you right now, I would totally hold your hand. But better yet, God is with you. And when you know He is with you and His angels are encamped around you, you can face your fears.

63

Articles / Belgium will apologize for children kidnapped from African colonies

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on October 08, 2024, 02:09:41 PM »

https://telegrafi.com/en/Belgium-to-apologize-for-children-kidnapped-from-African-colonies/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFyDSVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWu7J_WUTQQGyNM6W-ucm5DbSs4NnrpEBlBlF6viGRpSfXtNxvbh4MbgVw_aem_L1oBvoY-AmSiESDjYXqrRQ

Belgium will apologize for children kidnapped from African colonies

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel will apologize for the kidnapping, forced detention, deportation and forced adoption of thousands of children born to mixed-race couples in Burundi, Congo and Rwanda.  The apology will be the first time that Belgium accepts any responsibility for what historians have said was a great damage that this country has caused to the Central African countries that it has colonized for eight decades, the Telegraph reports.  The New York Times reports that during a plenary session, which takes place this afternoon in the Belgian Parliament, the prime minister is expected to apologize to the three countries that became independent 60 years ago.  "White children born to parents of two different colors were always considered a threat to the establishment that had colonized them, prestige and dominance," said Assumani Budagwa, engineer and amateur historian born in a colonized family in the Congo, the experience of he experienced being kidnapped in his family.

Budagwa is the co-author of the parliamentary resolution, which worked with an anonymous kidnapper, about the wrongdoing that Belgium has done in the past with these children, as well as those who had developmental problems and were treated badly by the Roman Catholic Church.  The resolution calls for the Belgian government to open the archives of colonialism and provide administrative support to the hundreds of people in the Congo and Belgium who do not have a birth certificate, as well as those who want to know their family history. /Telegraph/

64

Articles / Delay and frustration in adoption law's first year

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on October 04, 2024, 04:11:20 PM »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3dx01v8x8o

Delay and frustration in adoption law's first year

At a glance

    More than 10,000 requests for adoptees' birth records have been submitted during the first year of a new Irish law

    The authorities struggled to meet demand and missed legal deadlines

    A total of 5,500 requests were made to use a new family tracing service

    More than half (53%) of tracing requests are yet to be allocated to staff

Eimear Flanagan
BBC News NI

Published 3 October 2023

An Irish law that gave adopted people the right to access their birth records has led to more than 10,000 applications during its first year of operation.  The Birth Information and Tracing Act, external was designed to end much of the secrecy embedded in Ireland's 70-year-old adoption system.  But for many adoptees waiting decades for answers about their early lives, the new procedures meant delays and frustration.  The legislation created a new family tracing service and throughout the year 5,500 requests to find relatives were submitted.  However, due to the complexity of some searches, 53% of tracing requests are yet to be allocated to staff.  "I am relying on a system that is working at a snail's pace," said Linda Southern, who is searching for her birth parents.

The 48-year-old Dubliner was adopted in 1975 at six weeks of age.  She spent her first 47 years not knowing her birth name nor the names of her mother and father.  That is because until 3 October 2022, Irish adoptees had no automatic right to see their own birth certificates, nor to know their biological parents' identities.  The new law was supposed to give adoptees access to birth records within 30 days, or 90 days in complex cases.  Two organisations tasked with releasing records struggled to handle an early surge of applications.  The Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) and child and family agency Tusla both missed statutory deadlines.  "The initial surge led to wait times which would be frustrating and which we regret," said AAI interim chief executive Colm O'Leary.

"When you're starting off a process and you're learning that records are held across various sources, it takes time to become familiar with all of the record types," he explained.

A Tusla spokeswoman said "a significant portion of the applications are classified as complex which means they require more time".

But adoptees argue authorities should have been better prepared.  "Surely, state bodies would have had a basic idea of the number of adoptees who would want to at least get their birth information," said Ms Southern.

After initial delays, she received her own documents which - for the first time - revealed her original name and parents' names.  However, she still needs help finding her biological family and spent the past year waiting for news.  "I don't know if they will ever trace my birth mother or not.  If they can't, I should be told," she said.

"They should have presumed the majority would want to trace - better to presume that too many people would wish to trace birth families than too few."

'Belfast baby'

Loraine Jackson had hoped her birth files might shed some light on her cross-border adoption.  She grew up in Dublin, with barely any information about her birth.  But in her early 40s, she found out she was actually a native of the United Kingdom, having been born to a single mother in Belfast in 1948.  Her parents died years before she could trace them.  When she spoke to BBC News NI last year, she expressed hope her files might reveal how or why she was taken across the border for adoption.  After months of waiting, a "fat package" arrived in the post which included an unredacted version of her adoption agreement.  For the first time, she saw her relatives' signatures and finally found out who authorised her adoption.  "My birth mother had not been present at the signing. Her sister signed for her," Ms Jackson explained.

She also expected her files would contain information about the standard of care she received in Bethany children's home in Dublin.  But apart from a photocopy of her name in Bethany's admission book, she was disappointed.  "The information just didn't seem to be there. Whether records were not kept as well in those days, I don't know."

Although left with many unanswered questions, her maternal aunt's role in her adoption was new information to her.  "It was definitely worthwhile doing, and I'd advise anyone who hasn't applied yet to go for it."

AAI staff received a wide range of feedback from adoptees about their birth files from delight to disappointment to disbelief.  "A lot of people have said: 'Is that it? Is there nothing else?'" Mr O'Leary said.

He acknowledged some adoptees were dismayed to learn that nothing more exists on file than details they already knew.  Others have received heavily censored documents.  "Sometimes the authority gets records that are already redacted prior to us getting them we cannot unredact it," Mr O'Leary explained.

He also said AAI staff can apply redactions themselves, in cases where personal information refers to a third party.  However, he added applicants can request a review if they believe files were "inappropriately redacted".

The interim chief executive acknowledged the AAI's 12 social workers have "significant" tracing workloads.  But he said tracing "is not a linear process" and adoptees often pause the search themselves to digest new information.  "You're dealing with a very emotive situation," Mr O'Leary said.

"People may initiate a trace, thinking that their birth mother would want to hear from them, and they have to take on board that the birth mother does not want contact."

But the new law produced positive outcomes too - the AAI's tracing service has facilitated 44 family reunions.  "Sometimes I'll go to the kitchen and I'll see a social worker taking out the fancy crockery and making tea" Mr O'Leary said.

"They're bringing it into a room where a family is being reunited."

He added that when staff help connect families "there is a sense of success, and of delivering on the legislation".

The AAI's backlog of birth record applications is almost cleared and by last week, just 56 were outstanding.  Tusla has a much larger backlog which it expects to clear by June 2024.  It said from1 September, all new applications are being processed "within statutory timelines".

65

Articles / Adoption: Woman recalls prejudice she faced as a child

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on October 04, 2024, 03:51:33 PM »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-67137721

Adoption: Woman recalls prejudice she faced as a child

Published 18 October 2023

By Minreet Kaur
BBC

A woman abandoned as a newborn baby by a roadside in Uganda has recalled the "stigma" of growing up as an adopted child in the 1960s and 1970s.  Bharti Dhir was found in a fruit box by a passer-by in the town of Kabale in 1960 before being adopted by a Sikh family.  At the age of seven she accidentally discovered she was adopted.  Now living in Reading, Berkshire, she is helping families starting their own journeys of adopting children.  Ms Dhir, 63, remembers the moment when she inadvertently stumbled upon details of her background at the family home in Uganda.  "I went into my father's office and saw some scraps of paper with my name on it and I saw the words 'adopted' and 'abandoned'," she said.

"Growing up a lot of people in school would say 'you know that's not your real family' this was hurtful as my parents never wanted me to feel I was any different to their other children."

Ms Dhir said children like her, with dual Indian-African heritage were "looked down on".

'An insult'

She remembers comments to her parents like "by adopting an African child you must have had an affair" and "this will bring dishonour on the family".

"People didn't understand why they adopted me as they saw me as a stranger's child," she said.

"I always felt that if you're dark and have curly hair it's not a good thing and this had a huge impact on my sense of self-worth.  "As a child, I felt I was ugly and not a beautiful person, and it was only in my 30s I changed this perception of myself."

The family fled Uganda in the early 1970s with thousands of others in the Asian community, forced out by dictator Idi Amin.  Arriving in the UK the family were among the refugees housed at a camp at Newbury, but she experienced the same prejudices.  "People would say to my mum 'she is very dark; can you give her this skin lightening cream can you straighten her hair?'.  This is an insult I felt and I refused to change the way I look for a partner and I wasn't prepared to put up with it."

She has since documented her experiences in her autobiography, and is now working to help other families in the local Asian community on their adoption journeys.

'Embrace adoption'

"It's more popular to adopt within a family rather than someone outside, as you've kept it within the family and you know exactly what the background is," she said.

She has met three Asian families who have adopted outside of their extended family, one of whom is a friend.  She added: "They consider it a blessing and see the children as their own.  I am now helping the South Asian community to embrace adoption and am there to offer any support or advice.  I can see adoption is becoming less of a stigma but we still have a long way to go before it is fully accepted within our community."

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Articles / Mother and baby homes: NI-born survivor 'abandoned again'

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on October 02, 2024, 12:28:08 PM »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68556291

Mother and baby homes: NI-born survivor 'abandoned again'

Published 18 March

By Eimear Flanagan BBC News NI

A woman from Dublin, born into a mother and baby home in Northern Ireland, has said she feels "abandoned again" because she is excluded from a new compensation scheme.  Sinead Buckley was born in 1972 to an unmarried woman from the Republic of Ireland.  At that time her mother, Eileen, was living in Marianvale in Newry.  A midwife in Dublin, Eileen came north because of the fear and stigma associated with being a single mother.  Marianvale was one of a network of institutions across the island of Ireland which housed unmarried women and their babies at a time when pregnancy outside marriage was viewed as scandalous.  After the birth in Newry's Daisy Hill Hospital, an adoption agency in the Republic arranged for Eileen's baby to be adopted by a family in Dublin.  Ms Buckley grew up and still lives in Dublin, but never got to meet her birth mother.  Eileen died during a Covid lockdown which meant she endured the heartbreak of watching her mother's funeral over the internet.  This week, the Republic of Ireland will open an €800m (£684m) redress scheme, external for survivors of its own mother and baby homes.  Ms Buckley is one of thousands of Irish adoptees who will not qualify, despite her decades-long battle with the Irish state to access her birth identity and family medical history.  "I grew up with a sense of rejection and abandonment and I feel like I've just been completely abandoned again," she told BBC News NI.

"I used to be proud to be Irish, I'm not anymore. I'm not Irish what I am?"

Ireland's Department of Children said that Marianvale was outside the Republic's jurisdiction, adding there were "processes ongoing in Northern Ireland to respond to these legacy issues".

But as a Dubliner, born to parents from the Republic, Ms Buckley said she cannot understand why she is excluded from the Irish redress scheme "because I was born a few miles over the border and adopted back here".

Who qualifies for compensation?

Under the rules, mothers who spent even one night in an eligible institution in the Republic will receive compensation.  Payments start at €5,000 (£4,275) and rise incrementally based on length of stay, external.  But former child residents only qualify if they spent six months or more in homes.   Marianvale is not on the list of eligible institutions, but even if it was, Ms Buckley would still not be entitled to compensation because it appears she was resident for less than six months.  "I wish someone would explain the six-month thing to me because we've suffered through life," she said.

"There's absolutely no humanity in this decision."

She added she paid Irish taxes all her life and now the Irish state "isn't recognising me".  "For me it's not about the money, it's about the principle," she said. "I want to be vindicated."

'Where do I belong?'

Adoption records show her mother was engaged to a Tipperary man when she became pregnant, but Eileen's family opposed her relationship.  When she entered Marianvale, her fiancé was not even told he was about to become a father.  The adoption was arranged by Cunamh, formerly known as the Catholic Protection and Rescue Society of Ireland.   "If the adoption was arranged from counties in the south and agencies in the south run by convents and nuns in the south and women from the south were in there and the children were adopted back into the south it's just a loophole to get out of paying anybody money," Ms Buckley said.

Border babies

Her cross-border journey was not unique.  A recent report into Northern Ireland's mother and baby homes, external calculated that more than 550 babies were moved to the Republic between 1930 and 1990.  "Here in the north, the campaigners have been calling for their public inquiry and redress for more than a decade," said solicitor Claire McKeegan, who acts on behalf of survivors of institutional abuse in Northern Ireland.

In 2021, Stormont's leaders agreed to hold a public inquiry into mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries and workhouses north of the border.  But two and a half years on, that inquiry is still to be legally established.  "Obviously with the collapse of Stormont, the legislation hasn't happened for them and many survivors and victims are no longer with us," Ms McKeegan said.

The solicitor is due to meet First Minister Michelle O'Neill about the issue next month and said the message from survivors will be: "It must be done and it must be done now."

For Ms Buckley though, it was the Republic's secretive adoption system which she had to fight all her life.  As a teenager she suffered serious health issues and baffled doctors ran lots of tests because they could not access her family medical records.  "My mother told me that at one stage they thought it was leukaemia and that the doctors had been trying to ring the adoption agency just to try and get some history.  They were like: 'This girl is really sick, we need to know.'  And they were just met with closed doors."

Aged 43, Ms Buckley was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a condition she later found out runs in her birth family.  She believes she missed out on earlier diagnosis and treatment due to her lack of rights to birth information when she was a teenager.  A new Irish law came into force in 2022 which gave all adoptees rights to access their original birth certificate and family medical history, but adoptees complain of long delays with the new system.  How many survivors get compensation?

It has been estimated there are about 58,200 people still alive who spent time in the Republic's mother and baby homes and county homes (institutions which succeeded workhouses).  The Department of Children confirmed its redress scheme will "provide financial payments to an estimated 34,000 people".

But that means just over 40% of survivors some 24,000 people cannot apply because of the six-month rule.  Awarding payments and medical benefits to all surviving residents would have doubled the cost of the scheme.  "The exclusions are vast and it really is extremely unfair," said Dr Maeve O'Rourke.

The human rights lecturer recently helped design the framework for investigating homes in Northern Ireland.  Dr O'Rourke argued the Republic's 2015-2021 mother and baby homes investigation, external was too narrowly focused and has resulted in a restricted redress scheme.  She said there should have been a wider investigation into adoption across all of society, including the role of adoption agencies, maternity hospitals, "forced family separations" and illegal birth registrations.  "Unfortunately, and perhaps to limit its ultimate financial liability, the Irish government insisted that it would be limited to mother and baby institutions and a sample of county homes," she added.

Ms Buckley took part in a 2021 public consultation, external in which survivors and interested parties gave views on the design of the redress scheme.  Most survivors stressed loss of the mother/child bond was the most important factor that required redress, not the time spent in homes.  Ms Buckley shared her own experience during the consultation but was shocked when she realised Marianvale residents would not be part of the settlement.  "I couldn't stop crying. We bared our souls at that thing, you know? We told them how this has affected us mentally," she said.

"For saving a few quid, we're just collateral damage."

67

Articles / Finding out at 87 who mum and dad were

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 30, 2024, 11:25:14 AM »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crkd4em7eelo

Finding out at 87 who mum and dad were

Steven McKenzie
BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter

Published 19 September 2024

Updated 20 September 2024

A woman who was adopted in the 1930s has, at the age of 87, discovered the identities of her birth parents and met living relatives she never knew she had.  Gladys Johnston was three when she was adopted from an Irish orphanage and brought up in the Scottish Highlands as an only child.  At the age of 12 she found out she was adopted, but it has not been until now that she learned who both her parents were, with help from family in Scotland and BBC Alba documentary-makers.  Gladys said she wished she had met her half-sisters many years ago but added: "We are going to have to make the most of what we have left."

Gladys' mother, Catherine Kearney, was a servant working at a boarding house in Drogheda in Ireland when she became pregnant.  The father was a married man and it is believed he was unaware of the pregnancy, leaving Catherine to raise their child on her own.  Catherine gave birth in an orphanage in Dublin and, because of attitudes at the time about children born out of wedlock, she was coerced into giving Gladys up for adoption.  She was three years old when she was adopted by Mary and Duncan Cameron who lived in Ardtoe, a small community on Lochaber's Ardnamurchan peninsula.  Gladys, who raised her own family in Scotland, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "When I was quite young I was told the people I was living with weren't my parents.  That was some blow to me. I just couldn't cope."

Gladys did not let on to her adopted parents she knew.  She said: "The parents that adopted me were absolutely lovely people. I never wanted to upset them in any way.  I carried this suffering with me for a long time, thinking each day I might get there but certainly not doing anything while they were alive because they were so good to me.  They gave me such a good upbringing and I was so happy there."

Eight years ago, with help from documentary-makers, Gladys traced her mother in Ireland. Sadly, Catherine had died just a few months earlier.  Gladys did discover that her mum had married and had another daughter.  But the search drew a blank on her dad.  She said: "I thought 'this is just half the journey. I’ve traced my mother but it would be wonderful to find out who my father was'.  And it bothered me a lot."

She added: "I yearned to find out who my father was before I died."

Last year, Mrs Johnston was encouraged by a granddaughter to do a DNA test offered by an Ancestry website.  The results, along with further research, led Gladys to discovering the identity of her father, Irishman Joseph Quinn, and finding two half-sisters called Mari and Annette.  It is not known how Joseph met Catherine, but it is believed he met her while travelling for his work as an electrician.  Gladys, who travelled to Ireland to visit her father's grave and is in regular contact with her sisters, said she felt relieved to finally know who her birth parents were.  She said: "I have joined a lovely, lovely family.  I never saw my mother during this lifetime, and likewise, I never saw my father during his lifetime.  I am so pleased to have found out who he was. And now, I feel at peace."

68

Articles / Film spotlights 'life-long' impact of adoption

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 30, 2024, 11:11:10 AM »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2y4ng1nedo

Film spotlights 'life-long' impact of adoption

Rachel Candlin
BBC News, West of England

Published 28 September 2024

Two women, who were adopted as babies, have shared their stories to spotlight the "life-long impact" of adoption.  Adele Gardner and Grace Payne feature in a documentary directed by Rwandan-born adoptee, Louise Ndibwirende, who wanted to challenge the assumption that "the adoption process ends with the paperwork".

Speak Little One: The World is Listening is being screened at The Watershed on 28 September for "underrepresented" adoptees and others with experience of adoption.  Alison Woodhead, from Adoption UK, said: "More needs to be done to highlight the voices and views of adoptees; they should be front and centre when it comes to reforming the adoption system."

Ms Payne, 28, who was adopted at 18 months due to China's one-chid policy, said: "I got involved in the documentary because I have a passion for advocating for adoptees and promoting more awareness and discussion around the difficult subject of adoption.  Being adopted has massively shaped who I am today and I feel proud of my identity. To feature in the documentary is an honour and something I’ll never forget as an incredible display of adoptee solidarity."

"The documentary shines a light on the reality of adoption, a topic often overlooked, whitewashed, and even stigmatised in our society," said Ms Ndibwirende, who was adopted into a French family at the age of three.

"I wanted to create a safe platform for adoptees to share the emotional and sometimes traumatic reality of adoption, so any adoptee who feels their experiences differ to the 'happy-ever-after' narrative knows they are not alone.  Actually there's often a lot of grief for everyone, and especially for the adoptive child and that follows them through different chapters of their life; with relationships, friendships and finding their identity and culture.  These stories deserve to be told without shame or judgement, and I was really passionate about making sure those voices were heard," she said.

Ms Gardner, 67, was adopted at three months in the 1950s when unmarried mothers were encouraged to give up their babies.  "To those who who are not adopted its complexities often remain invisible.  Louise’s brave decision to make her first documentary on this subject encouraged me to want to be part of it. By sharing our journeys as adoptees I hope we can shine a light on identity, adoption and ownership of the self," she said.

Adoption UK is an organisation dedicated to supporting people across the adoption community.  Ms Woodhead, director of Public Affairs and Communications, said: "Most adoptees tell us that adoption has cast both light and shade on their lives.  Ms Ndibwirende is absolutely right that more needs to be done to highlight the voices and views of adoptees. They should be front and centre when it comes to reforming the adoption system and children’s social care.  That’s definitely a shift the sector is trying to make, but adoptee perspectives have been ignored for decades and change is happening too slowly."

Adoptee voices heard

Ms Ndibwirende, 35, who was adopted into a French family aged three years, said interracial adoption added another layer of complexity.  For me personally, it can cause an identity crisis and challenge in terms of sense of self, which is really hard to unpack.  Looking for my birth family also kind of flipped the life that I had up until that point.  There's a narrative that once you've found your biological family, it's this kind of happy ever after, but it can be peak existential crisis," she said.

"The impacts can last a lifetime. That’s why we’re campaigning for lifelong support for adoptees, to make sure that adoption gives them the best possible chance to thrive," added Ms Woodhead.

Anyone with experience of adoption, especially adoptees, are being invited to the screening on 28 September and to take part in a question and answer session.

69

Articles / Forced adoption victim seeks truth from pope Lieve Soens was a product of birth

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 28, 2024, 11:13:13 AM »

https://tribune.net.ph/2024/09/27/forced-adoption-victim-seeks-truth-from-pope

Forced adoption victim seeks truth from pope
Lieve Soens was a product of birth under X system.

Published on:
Sep 27, 2024, 17:39

KUURNE, Belgium (AFP) — The stain of Catholic child abuse looms over Pope Francis’ visit to Belgium this week, but a lesser-known scandal still roils the country: the “forced adoption” of newborns taken from their mothers, with nuns’ complicity.  Lieve Soens was adopted by a Belgian couple in 1974, shortly after she was born in Dunkirk, northern France, to a woman who opted to remain anonymous under a system known as giving birth “under X.”  Now 50, Soens is still trying to understand how her biological mother a teenager at the time was taken by nuns from Lommel in Belgium to Dunkirk, more than 200 kilometers away, to deliver a baby she would never see again.  In her decades-long quest to find her roots, Soens had the support of her adoptive parents.  They were convinced, she says, that they were doing the right thing by taking in an unwanted baby.  They showed her documents from 1974 including her birth certificate mentioning her adoption and change of name, and a bill from the private clinic where she was born.  After they passed away some 20 years ago, she ramped up her efforts.  “I don’t want to hurt anyone, I just want the truth,” she said, while acknowledging her “anger towards the Church, the nuns and the clinic” who all played a role.

Soens is among the guests expected on Friday at Laeken palace, the royal residence where Francis is to deliver a speech to the Belgian nation.

Church apology

In 2023, the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published the hard-hitting testimony of multiple victims of forced adoption, including a mother whose newborn had been taken from her.  The paper’s investigation estimated that Belgian nuns had been involved in around 30,000 such cases between 1945 and 1980.  Most of the births were in Belgium, but 3,000 to 4,000 pregnant women were taken to France. There, the “under X” system erases all filial link between mother and child, said Binnenlands Geadopteerd, a support group for the victims of forced adoptions.  Most cases involved young, unmarried women some of them victims of rape or incest whose parents wanted their pregnancy kept under wraps.  The parents would make contact with Church officials, who provided the link to families wishing to adopt.  The Belgian conference of bishops has formally apologized on several occasions over the scandal when it first erupted in 2015 and again last year.

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Articles / Bessborough mother and baby home should have been bought by the State, Tánaiste

« Last post by Forgotten Mother on September 25, 2024, 10:02:26 AM »

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Bessborough mother and baby home should have been bought by the State, Tánaiste says
ireland

20/09/2024 | 14:48 PM

Olivia Kelleher

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has indicated that he has always been of the view that the State should have purchased Bessborough, the former mother and baby home in Cork, for conversion into a memorial or amenity site.

This week a decision made by Cork City Council to refuse planning permission for a proposed 92 unit residential development at Bessborough in Blackrock in the city was upheld by An Bord Pleanála.

The planning authority backed the decision of the local authority because of the historical landscape and potential human remains at the grounds.

Speaking in Cork, Mr Martin said that options should be explored in relation to the use of the site.

“I was always of a view that the local authority with the State should have purchased that site and have a proper memorialisation but also see if we could do things on a planned basis. It is a beautiful area. It can potentially be a very strong amenity area for the area as well, but that was always my view on it.

"I felt at the time that maybe the local authority should have got involved earlier and pre-empted what happened and bought it because there are medical facilities, or HSE facilities on the site," he said.

"There are a variety of facilities on the site, and it is a natural area and a green area as well, and we need to look at that as well."

Meanwhile, Bessborough became notorious for the cruelty and neglect of mothers and their babies.

Of the more than 900 babies who died at Bessborough or in Cork hospitals having been transferred from the mother and baby home over the course of seven decades, less than 70 have known burial sites.

Survivors of the home have broadly welcomed the decision by An Bord Pleanála to deny planning for building on the site.

Carmel, whose mother gave birth to a boy who died in Bessborough, told Red FM News of her delight at the decision by the planning authority.

"I'm delighted it is being refused. All the grounds potentially have burials in them. It is not just one particular area.

There hasn't been an investigation to establish whether there is a mass grave or where the children are but what we do know is that there is witnesses that have witnessed burials take place."