“Government neglect led to abuse”… Holland suspends all overseas adoptions

When illegal adoption activities such as paying money to buy children or manipulating birth report documents were confirmed, the Dutch government decided to stop adopting overseas.

In a statement on the 8th (local time), Dutch Minister of Civil Rights Sander Deukhar declared that “the government has not properly managed the abuse that occurred during the adoption process” and declared the suspension of overseas adoption, and adopted children and their parents who suffered damage from illegal adoption. Apologized to

The’Overseas Adoption Investigation Committee’ under the Dutch government announced the results of a survey on domestic adoptions in five countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, between 1967 and 1998. According to the results of the investigation, a number of cases were confirmed in which mothers who had had babies were forced to give up their children or paid money. Birth records were manipulated or deleted so that adopted children could not find their birth parents later. Some Dutch government officials were found to have tolerated even though they were aware of such illegal activities.

Widiya Boerma, 45, a woman looking for Indonesian birth parents, welcomed the government’s decision to the BBC, saying, “Overseas adoption in the Netherlands is based on a process of paying monetary incentives, which is a motive for human trafficking.”

The Investigation Committee was established in 2018 as a number of cases of such illegal adoption were revealed as adopted children search for their biological parents, and illegal adoption emerged as a social problem. They counted that 40,000 children from 80 countries were adopted into the Netherlands for 62 years from 1957 to 2019. About 4,100 of them were Korean children, and more than 3,000 were sent from Indonesia, a colony of the Netherlands.

Minister Dukhar said he will not stop the adoption process already in progress, and will establish a separate agency to help adoptees find their own family members. It has not been revealed how long overseas adoption will be suspended.