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Mr. Sutter, you took over Alice Honegger’s adoption agency in 1984. How did you get involved?
I was looking for a new job at the time and the position was advertised. I had no experience with children and the adoption system was completely new to me. But I was interested in foreign cultures. As a trained social worker, I had the necessary qualifications for the association to obtain cantonal approval to place adopted children.
A few months later, you quit your job again. From where?
Shortly after starting my job, I took a trip to Sri Lanka. It quickly became clear that these adoptions were illegal and unethical. I couldn’t stand behind it and didn’t want to participate any more.
How did these adoptions happen?
I visited various institutions and people working in Sri Lanka. For Alice Honegger, it was very important to have a lawyer who organized everything needed for the adoption in place. So birth certificates, permits, travel documents, etc. Swiss couples purportedly purchased the package for $1,000. This price includes everything except the flight.
What was problematic for you about these adoption placements?
It was clearly a commercial deal. During my conversations there, I realized that there were very few children in Sri Lanka suitable for adoption abroad. However, the lawyer in question was sending approximately 25 children abroad every month. He had about 270 children a year and raised $1,000 for each child. He became rich by arranging babies. This adoption agency was a business; you could “buy” a child to order.
Where did babies come from?
It was never entirely clear where they came from or under what circumstances they were adopted. Most often these were children of single mothers who were poor and received some money through adoption. However, children were also “ordered”, delivered and sold. There were also women who gave children to new parents but were not actually biological mothers. Government officials and children’s homes told me it was not possible to legally adopt so many children from Sri Lanka to the West. In addition, there were already government proposals in Sri Lanka to help unmarried mothers avoid having to give their children up for adoption.
At that time, you wrote a report about your trip and mentioned that mothers had to surrender their children to the court.
Yes, I was at such a hearing. On the one hand, there was a group of mothers who had to hand over their babies to their new parents before the court. He would have been shocked.
Why did mothers have to surrender their babies to the court?
The court supposedly made sure everything went smoothly. However, it was clear that the local lawyer had bribed the officials. The lawyer provided accommodation for the mothers while they had to wait for their court date. I saw such a shelter where six mothers and their babies stayed. It was a very simple room, only a few square meters in size, with mattresses on the floor. Also minimal medical care. These mothers lived there for about three to four weeks. Until the children are delivered.
How did the procedure work for adoptive parents from Switzerland?
The couple came to Sri Lanka from Switzerland. About a week after arrival, they were able to visit the child briefly, so to speak. Then they had the opportunity to travel around the country for a week and have a holiday. During this time, Alice Honegger’s local lawyer organized everything necessary, including travel documents. The new parents then had to return to the capital Colombo by a certain time so that the babies could be handed over to the court.
Who was responsible for this baby “business”?
At that time, many couples came to St. Petersburg because they really wanted children. He contacted our placement office in St. Gallen. But in the 1980s there were almost no children available for adoption in Switzerland. The couples would have to wait a long time, possibly several years. That’s why they wanted to adopt a child from abroad. Most of the time it worked within a few months.
How did you experience Alice Honegger? Was he working selflessly?
He believed that he did everything for the child’s well-being. But when we look back, we see that she was a tough businesswoman.
What was it like working with him?
I didn’t work with him directly. At that time I was hired to continue with the placement agency. I’ve only been to his house, where his office is located, twice. It happened while he was handing over the documents. There was a dark, oppressive atmosphere there. These first contacts with him were not very positive for me. There were files everywhere, shelves filled to the ceiling with folders. I think he was a hoarder.
When you returned from Sri Lanka, you wrote a report. What was your result?
My conclusion was that I did not want to continue this way. I rejected this type of private, i.e. commercial, adoption arrangement. I made suggestions on how we could place children through government agencies. But this would mean that far fewer children would be available for adoption, and it would take much longer for adoptive parents to be able to adopt a child. I suggested that we provide better follow-up care to families here in Switzerland. Because there were also problems in newly established families. Some of these children could not stay with their adoptive parents and had to be resettled elsewhere, for example in the Pestalozzi village of Trogen.
How did the association’s board of directors react to your suggestions?
The board did not respond to this and argued that if they stopped bringing babies from abroad there would be no more income.
Documents from those affected make clear that married couples must pay adoption agency costs. However, invoices are not included in the files.
It is clear that agency fees have been paid. I had to make such calculations myself. The association lived off these agency fees.
Why didn’t the board want to stop these questionable adoption agencies?
Because everyone on the board was affected. They all had children with the help of Alice Honegger. I presented my report to the board and then met with the responsible person at the cantonal guardianship office. I made it clear that if nothing changed I would terminate my employment at the club. He assured me that in this case the association would no longer seek permission. Looking back, I was naive at the time because I assumed that the report would be forwarded to the cantonal supervisory authorities.
By stepping back, you made it possible for Alice Honegger to become her own heir and continue working for years to come.
It was very disappointing for me when I learned this years later.
Collaboration: Alessia Cerantola, Leslie Knott
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
