Adoption, a process between dreams of becoming a parent and the black market

Transcription

1 Adoption, a process between dreams of becoming a parent and the black market Driton Dikena In Macedonia, the trafficking of babies and the black market of adoptions is blooming. The price for a healthy and beautiful baby in this illegal market ranges from five thousand to 60 thousand Euros. Accusations for committing a chain-linked criminal of trafficking of babies meant for adoption are pointed to hospitals, municipalities and the responsible persons in the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in Macedonia. The alarm is already made. Corruption in adoptions was once a taboo theme, but nowadays it is being treated like an everyday conversation topic among the workers of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. Ilija Jovanovic from the association of children without parents "Building the future" was the loudest charge dropper. According to him, the Ministry and social institutions have participated in the greatest crime ever of trafficking babies and their illegal sale. "A family from Kumanovo has paid 10 thousand marks in order to adopt a child, but in return they have received a retarded Roma baby," says Jovanovic, adding that he has the stories of 30 different couples in relation to adoptions. The network of baby trading crime has been spreading like metastases throughout Macedonia, but apparently the center remains the capital city Skopje. According to Jovanovic, it has often occurred in different hospitals that false evidence of dead newborn child had been given to the mother while the abusers have sold her baby on the black market of adoptions." Two twin brothers born in Bitola have been taken. To the Pehcevski family false evidence was given that the newborn child had died. Another mother received serious threats from the Chair nurse not to ask anymore for the newborn baby because it was already is dead. Another family had received evidence that their male baby died, while during pregnancy they had been waiting for a female baby to be born. It was what their gynecologist had said, Jovanovic lists some of the cases of the fraud. He stated that after the investigation made by his association, they have concluded that acting in this way, 19 male and 8 female babies had suffered from the committed crime. The couple who got their child by a taxi driver "Mothers, fathers and their families feel that their children are still alive and living somewhere in the cities or out of the state of Macedonia" emphasizes Jovanovic. He says that the price for a baby starts and runs from 5 thousand to 60 thousand Euros, depending on health, beauty and intelligence of the babies. "The most beautiful and intelligent children are kept in separate locations. The price for a baby starts and runs from 5 thousand to 60 thousand euros, depending on health, beauty and intelligence of the babies. The chain of crime starts from the hospital, social centers in the municipalities, and homes for children without parents, to the ministry. I have not been powerful enough to destroy this extensive network and

2 therefore I require the assistance of the Government and the Ministry of Interior, "says Jovanovic. A couple of Ohrid has their story. They have spent a total of 15 thousand euros and 4 complete years until they got their son. Due to the seriousness of the allegations and the fear of having any kind of problem with those people who took their money, this couple is not willing to disclose themselves and their names. For the reader it will remain the couple who got their child by a taxi driver. "We sent the request for the child since 2003, but in 2009 we managed to get our son. They always called and said to us that something had come out. Most of the money we gave to a taxi driver from Ohrid and a policeman working in the police station in Ohrid. They used to say that the procedures are like that. When the baby was only six months old we went and saw it in Bitola. We loved it. We even choose his name. We celebrated his fourth birthday without having him in our arms. Occasionally we would go to see him in Bitola. Finally the taxi driver brought us the child. Thank you very much. We don t need anything else. We don t mind the money spent now, because we have our son in our arms, "says the couple which got their child by a taxi driver. These serious charges had put in motion the minister Spiro Ristovski. He says what really happened and is happening with the process of adoption of children, would exactly be known when the stage of research will be completed, namely of the mistakes that were made in the past. "There are many abuses detected during the adoption process of children and for this I will do all that s in my power so in the future there is no misuse. During the inspection in some social centers we have found that they didn t register in time the children for adoption in the main register, the procedure of taking the children from unaware parents wasn t followed in a right way. After performing these serious audits I decided to stop the current process of adoption of the children, I have punished three teams in three social centers, I have fired the 15 members of the commission for adoption of children, replacing them with new members. Before the conclusion of the investigation I can not say that someone has taken money or taking money, "says the minister. 360 couples compete for the 21 babies According to him, there are 360 requests for adoption while 78 babies are waiting to be adopted 22 of them are healthy while others suffer from some disease. "There are 21 babies in the adopting procedure and I hope that soon we will decide together with the new commissioners," said the minister. According to him, there is a procedure going on for amending and supplementing the Law on families so it is expected tougher controls and penalties for any possible misuse in the future. According to the current law, adoption is carried out electronically. "For one baby five couples have competed using digits. The selection is made by the computer which of the couples satisfies the requirement to take the baby. Throughout the procedure couples are registered using the ciphers so that committee members do not know the identity of couples and not interfere subjectively, "says Ristovski.

3 In the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs so far has not been registered any charges but also any investigative procedure for the baby market. Macedonian Organization "Building the future" confirms that child adoption prices doubled last year, so the Macedonian government due to the increase of corruption, has ordered the disestablishment of the Special Commission in charge of adoptions. But Krste Miljanovski form the Center for Social Work in Skopje claims that in Macedonia the adoption is free and therefore it is one of the reasons that many foreign couples are trying to adopt children in Macedonia. According to him, the biggest problem of extending the procedure lays on the status of the children s because some couples abandon their children but do not give up of them officially. According to him, without a formal declaration that parents relinquish the child, you could hardly give the child for adoption. "If the state regulates this situation then the centers of children without parents will be emptied immediately," says Miljanovski. He adds that for adopting a child, several procedures should be passed and reception can last from one to three years. According to this center, there are certain procedures that must be passed, for example the appropriate age to raise a child, not to be under investigation, not to be convicted, to have living conditions, to have the right to raise a child, because there are times when people are abusive and the court takes their parental rights. Giving priority to care and love which are able to offer couples who have no children, no doubt, adoption is the safest way for a child to feel part of a family, to feel secure with the person who lives with and to feel the sincerity of the parental love. A.M (10 years) says that his life would be much happier if there was a parent. "I want a mother who shall prepare food and clean my clothes, and a father with whom I would work together to ensure the morsel of bread, not just roam the streets and eat whatever I find and what I get from anybody "tells A.M to me, asking me if I still have my parents. "That is really good, lucky you," says the boy. He does not know his parents, and appeals to all children living with their parents, that the greatest happiness in the world is to have parents, without considering other circumstances. Psychologists in Macedonia say that it is of great importance adopting a child from non-biological parents, because children need a mother, even if she is non biological and the prolonging of the procedure does not help many children. Skender Zeqiri, psychologist, says that the importance of adoption until the first year of child s age is of utmost importance."according to global statistics, it is evident that the infant mortality is higher if there is not a mother who will provide child care. On the other hand, the adoptive family that decides to take a child must be mentally mature to know how to avoid future consequences, which the child can have, for example not bearing with the fact that its family is not its biological family. But it is very important to find a family for the child up to one year of age stresses Zeqiri A child with a dream But not all stories have a bad ending. While researching the crime with the babies sometimes you find a story that ended with a smile. Suzanna's story (the name of the mother is fictional because I did not want her child to learn from the newspapers that it

4 is adopted) puts us back "to the emotions" of a mother in search of a child. She says that "for 23 years her life and the husband s life was black and white." For many years this woman has not heard the word "mother". The fear from lack of a biological inheritor forced Suzanna to decide to adopt a child. "During all that time I felt inside me the big desire for having a child, like every woman to have her own children. I headed in the social municipalities Centre in Skopje, I got registered, there I had my therapies with the psychologists and followed proper procedures, "says Suzanna. The brave step beyond prejudices came shortly after the dream she had. "I watched two little girls in my dream like running towards me with spread hands and telling me to take them, I was undecided for whom to take and decided to take both" Suzanne recounts. She went in the house for parentless children to adopt a girl, but a stuttering boy changed her mind and it looks like "son" chose his own mother. "The first moment that impressed me was that when the boy saw me he softened. He made a move that I was surprised. A lady on my arm told me that this guy loves you, "says Suzanna. The mother s instinct, says Suzanne brought her closer to the child on the first moments when he was still under the State care. "When they told me that this is the child I will get I was stunned. The boy really looks like us and God had created this child willing to stay in our house, "says Suzanna. Often the "truth" of their genetic background, creates a gap between the adopted child and their non biological parents, even though it is early, in this moment Suzanna is in major dilemma. She says that she would like her son to know the truth when hell become a parent. "The day that I will say to him that he is adopted, I will read him a poem that I made in the period when he was too small and could not speak to others," said Suzanna. This mother fears that the discovery of truth, will adversely affect her "sons" life. B.S, 23 years old boy from Skopje, is unwilling to accept the reality that he is adopted, not even today."when I realized that my aunt is my true mother, I hated every one of my family. My cousin (my brother) told me the truth. I realized this fact at the age of 18 and those had been the most terrifying moments of my life. Now I live without justifying the action of my biological parents, even though the people I know as my mother and father have provided me with the greatest love of the world, I am still against this action. My aunt is actually my mother, "he tells today. The lack of laws However, after the adoption of the Law on Family in Macedonia in 1992, the law had had many additions and changes in the implementation of legal measures to legally protect the child. But the issue of implementing the legal measures regarding the rights of children without parents and parental care still remains. Even today the problem of its implementation in the appropriate way by the competent institutions as well as by other persons responsible for child care still remains unsolved. Emrulla Nesimi, a lawyer, states that inadequate legal framework in this part of the law, can be repaired by means of amendments in the current Law on family in the part where it refers to the rights and legal measures of protecting the children in general and adopted children in particular.

5 "But, despite the changes that may be made, the process of drafting a special law (lex speciales) is more than necessary, even indispensable. Also, it is with particular interest and importance the adoption and ratification of the international acts (documents) that regulate the juridical sphere of the adoption of parentless children and children without parental care, i.e. their involvement in national legal framework, "says Nesimi. He noted that taking into account the importance of this institution, the legislation on the family in the country regulates the adoption only with few articles (Sections ), and therefore it is necessary to draft a special law for the legal custody of children without parents and parental care, paying special attention to adopting the most appropriate protection. In the state, calculating by percentage, the waiting time to complete an adoption procedure of a child is 3-4 years, but there are cases when the potential adopters are put to wait for another 8 years. 3-4 children s are being adopted in one month, and currently 22 healthy children are waiting for adoption, also 56 unhealthy ones. The Institutions dealing with this issue emphasize that they understand the eagerness of the young couples to become parents, but they can not help them, since in the state there are no children. More precisely, there is no child with its legally regulated status due to failure of their parents to make a statement stating their withdrawal from the child.