11 April 2025 Two decades ago former Vice President Gunter Verheugen and the European Commission’s Secretary-General were encouraging me to publish a book about the adoption lobby and how the European Commission countered those forces. It was the beginning of the end of intercountry adoption. And of my professional career. Both took about 15 years… Read more »
Category: Blog
USAID report on Romania’s intercountry adoption system (2001)
In 2001, USAID released a report on Romania’s intercountry adoption system, authored by Michael W. Ambrose and Anna Mary Coburn, J.D., following EU criticism in its 2000 Regular Report on Romania’s EU accession. Commissioned as a strategic move to steer the EU’s vision and lead the adoption discourse, it critiques Romania’s “point system” for prioritizing… Read more »
Adoptions from Romania, what did authorities know in the year 2000
The Romanian adoptees are growing up. They have the right to know. The right to know if their authorities knew there were huge problems in ‘adoptionland’. If they knew they were involved in international crime. The right to know why their search for their family may be difficult. The right to know why their adoption… Read more »
Letter to Adoption Agency
14 January 2021 Honored to have my book referenced by this Romanian adoptee in her letter to the adoption agency. Published with permission: by Clara, born in Romania and adopted to France. “In very cynical terms, an American told me: “But don’t you understand, buddy, that this is the last reservoir of Caucasian children in… Read more »
Budgetary Control Committee of the European Parliament
6 January 2021, Budgetary Control Committee of the European Parliament Question Mr. Jeroen Lenaers, Member of the European Parliament I would like to raise a very serious case that is not necessarily related to the 2019 discharge, but it is about the issue of a whistle-blower, Roelie Post, a former staff member at DG Enlargement… Read more »
Open Brief aan de Rechters in de zaak Dilani Butink
20 mei 2020 Open Brief Edelachtbaren, Met belangstelling heb ik eergisteren gekeken naar de online streaming van de rechtszaak die door Dilani Butink is aangespannen tegen de Nederlandse Staat en adoptieburo Kind en Toekomst. Het betreft een civiele zaak, waarin ze erkenning vraagt voor het feit dat haar adoptie frauduleus was. Met daarbij de enorme… Read more »
Adoptions from Romania – The Devil is in the Details
23 April 2020 The Romanian adoptees who were adopted in the nineties and early 2000 have reached adulthood and have started looking for their roots. For their country. Their parents. The Dutch TV programm Spoorloos (Traceless) has shown some of their stories. They found their parents. Their stories were different than they had been told…. Read more »
Zwartboek Adoptie, door Eugénie Smits van Waesberghe
over verzwegen adopties in de 20e eeuw in Nederland-Een schoot vol tranen 7 april 2020 – Boekrecensie Recentelijk las ik het boek van Eugénie Smits van Waesberghe, een (mede-) strijdster voor mensenrechten en gerechtigheid inzake adopties. De invoering van de Adoptiewet in 1956, op voorstel van de Federatie voor Instellingen voor Ongehuwde Moeders in Kind… Read more »
The Rights of the Child in the EU: Denmark intends to put many more children up for adoption
2 January 2020 Today there is a lot of attention for the NewYear Speech of the Prime Minister of Denmark. Mette Frederiksen. She announced her intention to get more children into care and have part of them adopted in Denmark, in particular children from minorities. That is a shocker. Read more about that in this… Read more »
Reflections on the 2017 Round Table on Intercountry Adoption
21 December 2019 To my surprise, I was invited to speak in the Round Table debate at the Dutch Parliament which took place in The Hague on 24 May 2017. A lot has happened since, which led me to these long overdue reflections. It was a highly emotional session, where those speaking pro and against… Read more »