#illegal adoptions

A group of eight people who were illegally adopted from Sri Lanka are suing the state for negligence and restitution of the money they spent finding their birth parents. Despite reports of illegal practices surrounding adoptions from Sri Lanka dating back to 1979, adoptions went ahead for decades. In 2021 the Netherlands temporarily halted all cross-border adoptions following a highly critical report condemning the role of government officials and highlighting a wide range of abuses, including corruption, forgery and child snatching. In 1987 Sri Lanka admitted the existence of so-called baby farms and said that most of the adoptions had been illegal.

Coerced adoption in the Unification Church

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The Anniston Star


January 23, 1989


MOBILE (AP) – An investigator with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Department remains baffled by three adoption cases involving foreign couples that a Unification Church member said was motivated simply by love.



“Why have these people come from these different countries to give their children to these particular people?” said Lark Dodd.



But Ms. Dodd said her investigation into the cases was closed since no wrongdoing was discovered.



Two of the foreign couples who traveled to Mobile to have their babies gave custody of the newborns to Unification Church members. A third couple returned to Canada with their infant son after the state launched an investigation.



An attorney for the Unification church said the church has not arranged the adoptions or instructed members to have babies and give them to church members.



“To the best of my knowledge these relationships were developed by the individuals themselves,” with no guidance from the church, said David Hagar, an attorney at the Unification Church’s New York office.



Workers at Spring Hill Memorial Hospital told The Birmingham News that the Canadian woman refused to look at the 9-pound, 12-ounce baby boy she gave birth to on Sept. 21 and told them another woman would pick up the infant.

The bewilderment of hospital officials heightened when a 58-year-old woman appeared, saying she would take custody.



“They had no adoption papers,” said Brenda Hutchison, clinical supervisor of the hospital’s pediatric department. “We had nothing that said this woman could have the baby.”



While pondering the situation, hospital workers recalled a similar case just two weeks before. A woman from France had a baby boy and said she was giving the baby as a gift to a woman who would pick the child up. That case did have legal adoption papers.



“They said, ‘God told me to do this’,” Ms. Hutchison said. “They both said these babies were gifts.”



Interviews with law enforcement, hospital and Unification Church officials revealed the adoption cases involved the “Moonies” – followers of Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon.



Church members in Bayou La Batre, a hub for Unification Church activity in Alabama, paid for couples to fly to Mobile from Austria, Canada and France to have their babies born as U.S. citizens. Then church members in the coastal community filed for adoption, authorities said.



“There’s nothing strange or unusual about the church,” said Martin Porter, president and chairman of Master Marine Inc., a Unification Church-owned shipbuilding business in Bayou La Batre.

Porter said that includes bringing church members from other countries to Mobile to have their babies and give them to Porter and Master Marine’s vice president, Paul Werner.

Porter explained the motive for such a gift simply:
 “Why would you do that (give a baby up for adoption to a specific person)?” he asked. “It would be because you have a very deep love for the person. It would only be because they wanted to.”



In addition to the babies born in September that Porter and Werner filed to adopt, four months earlier Werner filed for adoption of a baby boy whose mother came from Austria and gave birth at the University of South Alabama Hospital, said Ms. Dodd.

The three adoption cases prompted the state Department of Human Resources to investigate.

The couple from Canada were forced by a court order to remain in the United States while the case was investigated and their baby was put in state custody. After nearly two months, the couple dropped the adoption procedure.

“They were just blown away… by the legal machinery that was going to come at them,” said Hagar, who flew to Mobile at Werner’s request:

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Any time a petition for adoption is filed, we are obliged to make an investigation and report to the (probate) judge,” said Jerry Milner, supervisor of the Department of Human Resources’ office of adoptions. He declined to comment on the case specifically.



But it appears the two babies adopted and living with Porter and Werner will remain in their custody, Ms. Dodd said.



She said all people involved in the adoption cases were Unification Church members who knew each other personally and could have arranged the adoptions outside official church channels. It would be illegal for the church to play a role in arranging the adoption, she said.

Ms. Dodd also said Werner told her that he and Porter paid the expenses of the couples who had their babies in Mobile. To pay them a fee would violate state law against child-selling, she said.

“There’s no financial remuneration passing to anybody,” Hagar said. “This isn’t a baby auction.”



Alabama Watchman Fellowship Director Craig Branch, whose evangelical ministry monitors the Unification Church, contends the adoptions must have been orchestrated by the church.

In UC of Japan 745 people have been adopted since 1981

Updated November 7, 2023

Approx description of the video contents:

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) announced on the 5th [of December 2022] that it had received a written response from the religious organization regarding the questionnaire asking about the actual situation of adoption by the followers of the so-called “Unification Church”. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare commented that it was “examining the contents of the response carefully”.

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Just after 8:00 pm on the 5th [of December], Sayuri Ogawa (a pseudonym, in her 20s), a former second-generation member of the so-called “Unification Church”, commented on the “adoptions” of her church. Ogawa said her two younger sisters were given away to be adopted by another church family.

Sayuri Ogawa (pseudonym): “My mother actually said, ‘I really need to have more children,’ and ‘I feel bad that I can’t give birth to more than 10 children.’”

It’s not surprising that people might think, “(the mother) probably had a baby with the intention of giving it up for adoption.”

The biggest problem is that the human rights of the children who are adopted, and the feelings of the second-generation children, are being violated (in some families).

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On November 22nd, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, together with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, sent a letter of inquiry to the sect, asking questions such as “whether or not the church mediates adoptions” and “whether there is any money given or received by UC members in connection with this?”.

The church said 745 people have been adopted since 1981. A video for UC members encouraged the giving of children for adoption.

Video for members created by the sect (from YouTube):

“Blessed families who have received from Heaven the blessing of children have the mission and responsibility to share their children with other blessed families who do not have children. Let us carry on the beautiful tradition of adoption within the Blessed Family [community].”

On the afternoon of December 5, the deadline for responding to the questionnaire was reached, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare received a response from the church. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare commented, “We are currently examining the responses, and we will consider appropriate future responses based on the results of our review.”

So far, in a response to an interview with Nippon Television, the church has stated that “the organization encourages families of members who are not blessed with children to adopt children, but we do not mediate adoptions in any way,” and they answered, “each adoption is decided through personal connections among believers and socializing within the community where the members reside.”

The church side commented, “There is no mediation for adoption; it is a voluntary iniative, and it is not institutionalized.”

On the other hand, Ogawa said, “I want the national and metropolitan governments to not just accept what the church says, but to thoroughly check the facts.”

(From “news zero” broadcast on December 5, 2022)

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Unification Church's Japan HQ tried to 'mediate' adoptions among followers: probe – The Mainichi

December 6, 2022

▲ Former second-generation followers of the Unification Church, Sayuri Ogawa and Shoko Takeda, pictured in the center and on the left, respectively, are seen during a session discussing the issue of suspected adoption arrangements by the religious group, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Nov. 16, 2022. (Mainichi/Kengo Miura)

TOKYO – The Unification Church headquarters in Japan may have mediated adoptions among followers, it emerged from passages in a pamphlet edited by the group and issued to devotees in October 2003.

The pamphlet, edited by the then Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, indicated the stance that the headquarters’ family bureau will “mediate” adoptions among followers, and aim for the establishment of many adoptions. Though the group’s current practices are unknown, it came to light that it may have been engaging in organizational efforts to arrange adoptions at the time the pamphlet was published.

Furthermore, it was also revealed that a passage of a revised August 2022 edition of a book written by a Unification Church-affiliated individual and first published in March 2015 called on families with followers opting for adoption to consult with the family bureau chief of the church they belong to. This showed that the group was trying to be actively involved in the establishment of adoptions among followers, even as of late.

▲ A book written by an individual affiliated with the Unification Church shows a passage calling on followers to consult with the family division chief of their church in the event that they are interested in adoption among followers. (Mainichi)



On Nov. 22, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare sent to the religious group a document under the joint signature of itself and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, with questions regarding the nature of its mediation and other matters regarding the adoption issue, and demanded responses by Dec. 5. If the group had been repetitively mediating adoptions “for business purposes” without being granted a business permit, this infringes against the adoption mediation law, making the Unification Church applicable for a possible dissolution order. Thus, the issue of adoptions among followers is a focal point of the ongoing probe.

The remarks of late Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon and others regarding “childbirth, pregnancy, and adoption” were compiled into the pamphlet, and published in October 2003 by Unification Church-affiliated publisher Kogensha. While the book itself is already out of print, the Mainichi Shimbun confirmed the relevant quotes in the pamphlet that contains around 70 pages, which was part of the National Diet Library collection in Tokyo.

Of all four chapters, chapter three, titled “The benefits of adoption,” pointed out the necessity for adoption among followers, and other matters, and explained the significance of adoptions for Unification Church believers, as well as the mindset for families who adopt out or adopt in children.

▲ A pamphlet edited by the Unification Church contains a passage mentioning its policy to “mediate” adoptions among followers. (Mainichi)

In addition, it raised the specific nature of adoptions, such as “the assignment of maternity expenses,” “basic rules on what kind of families should partake in adoptions,” “how to report adoptions to the group’s headquarters,” “details on ‘adoption ceremonies’ held by the group,” and “how to name adopted children.”

Chapter three contained a passage mentioning the mediatory role that the headquarters’ family bureau played. It read, “If there is a family that desires to ‘receive a child (for adoption),’ or has decided it wants to ‘offer a child (for adoption),’ please contact the headquarters’ family bureau. The headquarters’ family bureau will act as a mediator and intends to make efforts to create as many adoptions as possible.”

In publications revised in recent years, there are no passages mentioning the group’s mediatory role, but they suggest its attempts to be involved actively in the formation of adoptions.

The February 2017 revised edition of a handbook edited by the group’s family education bureau and originally published in August 2014 reads, “If you arrive at an agreement (for adoption), you must report to the family education bureau, without exception.”

The August 2022 revised edition of another book penned by a Unification Church-affiliated individual and originally published in March 2015 also contains a similar passage reading, “If there is a family that desires to ‘receive a child (for adoption),’ or has decided it wants to ‘offer a child (for adoption),’ please consult with the family division chief of the church you belong to.”

All three publications provide the explanation that the adoption efforts began with the consent of Unification Church founder Moon and other parties. They also each include basic principles in accordance with the group’s teachings on what kinds of families should partake in adoption together, and recommend adoptions by stating, “It is important to keep in mind the desire to offer your child.”

The three publications also stated that “before pregnancy is the most ideal time to make arrangements for adoptions, while a decision should be made before delivery at the latest,” and set forth that child delivery expenses should be shouldered by the family accepting the child. The publications ask followers to submit an “adoption request form” with family photos to the group’s headquarters when the adoption decision is made.

(Japanese original by Takayuki Kanamori and Hiroyuki Tanaka, Digital News Center)

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There is significant evidence of inhuman and degrading treatment of women and children in Mother and Baby institutions – including of pregnant women and survivors of sexual abuse – according to a report compiled by academics.

The authors of this report came to this conclusion after examining the evidence compiled by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. In many instances, their findings contradict those of the commissioners.

The new report, which will be published in full on Wednesday, found there is “substantial evidence of unconstitutional involuntary detention, especially in the earlier period under study”.

It also found “significant evidence” of coerced and illegal adoption, “amounting in many cases to forced adoption, throughout the period under examination”.

A NEW DOCUMENTARY set to air on RTÉ tonight will shine further light on Ireland’s illegal adoptions and how those in power were able to facilitate it.

RTÉ Investigates: Ireland’s Illegal Adoptions will show how religious orders, which ran most agencies, created a pathway for the illegal trade.

The documentary uncovers:

How religious orders pursued birth mothers for maintenance payments months after their children were adopted

More evidence of how Professor Eamonn de Valera, a son of the former president, faked medical appointment documents to facilitate illegal adoptions

Tusla is to apologise to illegal adoptees for insensitive meetings

In January, the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes published its long-awaited report. However, it was largely silent on illegal adoptions despite Government promises for action in 2018 after it was revealed that 126 adoptees had been illegally registered on their birth certificates as the natural children of their adoptive parents.

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Switzerland's government expressed "sincere regret" for failing to prevent the illegal adoption of children from Sri Lanka in the 1990s.

The issue came to light several years ago after Sri Lankan adults who had been adopted as children in the 1980s and 1990s returned to find their birth parents, only to discover that information contained in their files was sometimes false.

An investigation by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in February found that almost 11,000 Sri Lankan children were provided to parents in various European countries in the context of an organised, often illegal, international trade.

The study also found that Swiss authorities became aware of irregularities and cases of child trafficking as early as the end of 1981 at the latest.