Adopted by couples abroad? Why the child may not be safe and happy in its new home

26-year-old Mahogany who was adopted from Lucknow in 2002 told TOI about the verbal, physical and sexual abuse she faced from her adoptive mom in the USIn February 2023, three Indian siblings were reportedly abandoned in Malta by their Maltese adoptive parentsIn 2017, three-year-old Sherin Mathews who was adopted from India was found dead in a culvert near her adoptive family's homeThese instances illustrate the risks posed by intercountry adoptions, which many activists feel are unsafe for children50-year-old Arun Dohle, a social worker and foreign adoptee himself, argues that giving children away to foreign couples is a violation of Article 21 of the Indian constitutionIn 2005, a massive child trafficking racket was unearthed from underneath a foreign adoption agencyBetween 1991 and 2001, the Malaysia Social Service Centre had sent at least 125 children to various countries, including Australia, Finland, and the NetherlandsIndia's Central Adoption Resource Authority has fleshed out regulations for post-adoption care for both domestic and foreign adoptions but Dohle doubts their efficacyIn 2000, three-year-old Rakhi was found abandoned at Lucknow’s Charbagh Railway Station with no family in sight. She was rescued and put in Lilawati Bal Griha, a children’s home in the city. Within two years, Rakhi’s caretakers got an adoption application. Carol Brand, then 52 years old, had flown all the way from the US to adopt Rakhi and take her home with her to Minnesota.Rakhi, who later rechristened herself Mahogany, shared with Times of India how Carol had done nothing to parent her or provide for her. Carol was allegedly a drug addict and alcoholic. Instead, she subjected her to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse throughout her childhood, and left her in dire financial circumstances with no support.In September this year, Mahogany, now 26, took a flight to India, to search for her biological family in Lucknow. However, her search went in vain. medium108853826More inter-country post-adoption horrorsMahogany is not alone in her experiences with her adoptive family. In February this year, three siblings adopted by a Maltese couple were found abandoned by their adoptive parents in Malta. However, one of the most striking instances of post-adoption horrors is the death of a three-year-old Indian child in the US. Sherin Mathews was adopted by an American couple in 2016 and was reported missing in October 2017. After a two-week long search operation, her decomposing body was found in a nearby culvert by a cadaver dog. The prosecution then accused the adoptive father, Wesley Mathews, of killing her. In 2019, the capital murder trial took a turn when Wesley pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, of injury to a child by omission. He has since been serving a life sentence in jail.The 2003 Hague Adoption Convention on international adoptionsIndia had signed and ratified the Hague Adoption Convention in 2003. The Hague Adoption Convention, or more accurately, the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, is a framework that deals with international adoptions and sets rules and regulations to make the process safer. Only countries that have ratified the Hague Convention can be part of inter-country adoptions, both by allowing foreign adoptions of their children or by helping their citizens adopt children of other countries.Many activists, especially those working with child rights and trafficking, believe inter-country adoptions are inherently unsafe for children, and often cause more harm than good.India’s post-adoption regulations for inter-country adoptionsTimes of India reached out to representatives of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), but to no avail. However, seven points of post-adoption care for foreign adoptions are fleshed out in the CARA website. One such point states that either the foreign adoption agency, CARA, the Indian diplomatic mission or the government department concerned, would have to report the progress of the adopted child for two years from their date of arrival to the receiving country. Based on this progress report, if authorities feel the need for “adjustments”, they will arrange for counselling for the adoptive parents and for the adoptee. But if they find that the child is unable to adjust in the adoptive family or that being in the adoptive family is not in the best interest of the child, the child will be withdrawn from there. They will then either be put in foster care, or in another adoptive family in that country, based on consultations with the Indian embassy. medium108853804A smokescreen between rules and reality?But 50-year-old Arun Dohle, who is a foreign adoptee himself, doubts to what degree these regulations are followed in inter-country adoptions.“If India is exporting a child, it is out of India’s jurisdiction. India, the Indian court, nobody can do anything about it and see how the child is really doing,” Dohle said. “There's always this smokescreen of post-adoption reports and all that, but that is rubbish… In my example, I was a child of my adoptive parents. Like a biological child, German authorities do not have a right to intrude in a family. So if my adoptive parents or other adoptive parents don't want to send the post adoption report nobody can compel them unless there's suspicion that they abuse the child,” says Dohle. Dohle is the director of an anti-trafficking NGO called Against Child Trafficking. When he was just six weeks old, way back in 1973, he was adopted by a German couple and taken to Germany. Currently, Arun is based in India. Although he was well taken care of by his adoptive parents, he is a big adversary of inter-country adoptions.“I think my constitutional rights – my and that of every child who has been sent abroad – are violated, because under article 21 of the constitution, we have a right to life. Why can a country export us?” says Dohle.Adoption racket investigations through the yearsDohle also referred to a criminal investigation from 2005, when cops unearthed one of India’s biggest trafficking scams in Chennai. On May 3, cops in Chennai caught a bootlegger in a drunken brawl, who during the interrogation, revealed along with his brother-in-law he was also involved in "arranging" for children to be sent abroad. A flourishing child trafficking racket was thus uncovered. In the CBI probe that followed the police investigation, it was found that a Chennai adoption agency called Malaysia Social Service Centre had sent at least 125 children to various countries, including Australia, Finland, and the Netherlands between 1991 and 2001. The agency falsified adoption documents, aided kidnapping of children and flouted all adoption regulations in both India and other countries. Dohle’s opinions have largely been shaped by his work against trafficking, and also in his experiences with the Adoptee Rights Council in India, where he helps adoptees trace their long lost biological parents. Even today, Dohle refers to these horrifying findings to argue why the Hague Convention on intercountry adoptions are a violation of child rights everywhere.Audio production: Sahil Gupta 104178416