Does the Council of States vote for this?: The federal government must help adoptees find parents

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It is a dark chapter in Swiss history: from the 1970s to the 1990s, around 900 children were adopted from Sri Lanka, most of them illegally. This was confirmed in February 2020 by a report from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). It also says: The Federal Council was informed of the abuses, but did nothing to stop the illegal adoptions. And the cantonal adoption authorities also looked the other way, as did the Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka.

The adopted children were only a few weeks old. They came from so-called baby farms in Sri Lanka. Babies were sold there to foreign couples who wanted to have children. According to the ZHAW, a baby costs about $15,000. The lighter the skin color, the higher the price. There were also cases where a woman was bribed to play mother to the authorities and allow her to adopt. They were called “acting mothers,” the study continues.

A hot potato for the federal government and the cantons

The scandal was exposed by Swiss media in 2018. Politically, this topic causes a lot of discussion. Since then, the federal government and the cantons have shared responsibility for this.

The issue will be discussed in the Council of States on Thursday. He votes on a parliamentary initiative on adoptions and origin research. The federal government currently lacks a legal basis to financially support private organizations in tracing origins. That should change. The federal government should not spend money on individual cases – the cantons are responsible for that – but should coordinate and provide general support.

“Private organizations in the former adoptive countries are more likely to obtain information than state actors from Switzerland,” said Beat Flach (GLP), member of the responsible committee of the National Council. “We assume that if the federal government financially supports private organizations, the cantons will also help in the search for origins. Because they have the records of adoptions.”

Funding is running out

An association that is committed to tracing the origins of adopted children from Sri Lanka is Back to the Roots. Since the beginning of 2022, the organization has received financial support from the federal government and the cantons as part of a pilot project. This allows her to professionally guide adopted children from Sri Lanka in their search for origin. However, this financial support will expire at the end of December 2024 – and therefore a longer-term solution is needed.

“As part of the pilot project, we will be able to support approximately 60 adopted people from Sri Lanka. Adoptees from other countries of origin currently have to bear the costs themselves,” says Sarah Ineichen, founder of Back to the Roots. “Fatal mistakes have also been made in other countries of origin. The federal government and the cantons can no longer avoid their responsibility. Otherwise you will have to take into account hundreds of affected people who demand their right to know their origins.”

Source:Blick