Irish Pink Adoptions aims at providing support information for “pink” families-to-be, or who already are.We chose the term “pink family” as a relatively neutral umbrella term for the single gay men, single lesbians, or same-gender couples who intend to adopt, are in the process of adopting, or have adopted. Continue reading
By Nick Collins
Wednesday Oct 6 2010Gamu Nhengu, the X Factor contestant whose departure from the show caused outcry, has been ordered to leave the Britain.
The 18-year-old, from Zimbabwe, had been tipped to win the competition outright but failed to even qualify as one of the final 12 contestants after being rejected by judge Cheryl Cole.
Reports earlier this week claimed Gamu’s failure was related to issues with her visa, and on Tuesday night the Home Office confirmed her family had been sent an official letter telling them to leave Britain.
The order was the result of an investigation into £16,000 in benefits wrongly claimed by her mother, Nokutula, The Sun reported. Continue reading
http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/kfmhcwgbidkf/
For the second day, it kept up its public criticism of the choice of Edwards, whose success in fertilising a human egg outside of the womb led to “test tube babies” and innovations such as embryonic stem cell research and surrogate motherhood.
The Vatican ratcheted up its negative opinion as several leading Italian newspapers criticised it for its attack on Edwards.
A statement by the Vatican-based International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC), said it was “dismayed” at the choice.
“Although IVF has brought happiness to the many couples who have conceived through this process, it has done so at enormous cost,” the federation said in a statement issued on Vatican letter head.
“Many millions of embryos have been created and discarded during the IVF process,” it said, adding that embryos were being used as “animals destined for destruction”. Continue reading
http://sify.com/movies/hollywood/fullstory.php?id=14958072
Robbie Williams and his new wife Ayda Field want to start a family as soon as possible and jokingly says he wants gay kids.
“I want a gay one, we’ve talked about it and that’s what we want, whatever it is,” contactmusic.com quoted Williams as saying.
“I genuinely don’t care. I always thought I want a boy ever since I was little but now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah girls, they’re daddy’s girls aren’t they?’
“If it’s a guy I’m going teach it to play footy and all of that stuff and if it’s a girl I’m going to protect her to my death,” he added.
The 36-year-old star admitted he and Ayda are even considering undergoing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to boost their chances.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/quintuplet-joy-for-lesbian-couple-2366422.html
By Edel O’Connell
Wednesday October 06 2010
THE father of an Irish woman whose partner is pregnant with quintuplets has said his biggest concern now is for the health of the mother and babies.
Paul Nolan, from Waterford, said the family were shocked when they heard the news that the Australian partner of their 21-year-old daughter Rosemary was pregnant with quins.
The Irish woman and her partner, Melissa Keevers (27), made headlines by becoming the world’s first same-sex couple to be pregnant with quintuplets. Continue reading
Available for 20 days: http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1081936
Do the right thing yourself: http://www.burrenchernobyl.ie/
http://www.rte.ie/tv/dotherightthing/episodes.html: Episode 5, Journey To Belarus
After the intrigue and drama of Greece the volunteers travel to Belarus for a weekend caring for orphaned children in the Vesnova Children’s Institution.
Under the watchful eye of Chernobyl Children International director Adi Roche the volunteers are thrown in the deep end: caring for kids with serious illnesses & severe physical disabilities. It’s an incredibly emotional challenge and some volunteers prove better than others at dealing with it. In the midst of all this the slightly shell-shocked group must also come together to put on an Irish-themed ‘theatrical event’. Continue reading
http://www.e4.com/hollyoaks/episodes/2010/10/04-08-october_p_2.html
Sinead worries that Diane won’t return the baby. She tracks down Rob at school, who reassures her that the baby will be gone by the end of day, but she’s not convinced. When Sinead returns home at lunchtime to find Diane still with the baby, Diane reveals that she thinks he might be ill. Sinead immediately suggests that a doctor should take a look at him, but Diane is dismissive, so Sinead goes off to recruit Lynsey. Sinead reveals to a stunned Lynsey that her mum’s stolen the baby, Diane breaks down.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0842926/
[easyreview title=”The kids are alright, Lisa Cholodenko,
2010″ summary=”Not reviewed yet.”]
Two children conceived by artificial insemination by their two mothers, bring their birth father into their family life.
This year’s Heritage Day took place under the theme
Celebrating 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup successes: our heritage.
http://www.sa-venues.com/events/south-africa-event-description.php?id=158
Heritage Day is one of South Africa’s newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.
Within a broader social and political context, the day’s events are a powerful agent for promulgating a South African identity, fostering reconciliation and promoting the notion that variety is a national asset as opposed to igniting conflict.
Heritage is defined as “that which we inherit: the sum total of wild life and scenic parks, sites of scientific or historical importance, national monuments, historic buildings, works of art, literature and music, oral traditions and museum collections together with their documentation.”
Government determines a theme for each year’s celebrations.
Related Pages:
South Africa Activities
South Africa Game Lodges
South Africa Attractions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Day_(South_Africa)
In KwaZulu-Natal, the 24th of September was known as Shaka Day, in commemoration of the Zulu King, Shaka.
Shaka was the legendary Zulu King who played an important role in uniting disparate Zulu clans into a cohesive nation.
The Public Holidays Bill presented to the Parliament of South Africa at the time did not have the 24th of September included on the list of proposed public holidays. As a result of this exclusion, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a South African political party with a large Zulu membership, objected to the bill.
Parliament and the IFP reached a compromise and the day was given its present title and seen as a public holiday.
[…] when South Africans celebrate the diverse cultural heritage that makes up a “rainbow nation”. It is the day to celebrate the contribution of all South Africans to the building of South Africa. […]
— Lowry 21:1995
Other holidays: List and meaning
By Fergus Black
Thursday September 23 2010
PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has insisted that “scheduling constraints” and a very busy final year in office were behind her decision not to accept an invitation to be grand marshal of the New York St Patrick’s Day parade.
The organisers of the world’s largest St Patrick’s Day parade had invited the President to be grand marshal to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the event next year.
A statement from Aras an Uachtarain said the President had attended the New York St Patrick’s Day parade in 2002 and was honoured to be considered as grand marshal for 2011.
“Unfortunately, due to scheduling constraints in a very busy final year in office, it is not possible for the President to travel to New York next March.
“The President has conveyed to the organisers her deep appreciation for the invitation as well as her best wishes for the success of the parade in this significant anniversary year.”
But Irish-American commentator Niall O’Dowd insisted yesterday that Mrs McAleese’s decision was connected to the issue of gays being refused the right to march in the parade under their own banners. Continue reading
http://www.rte.ie/tv/fourlive/
Available for 22 days from broadcast: http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1080922 (starts at 18 minutes)
Given that South Africa will be one of the few options for pink families, it will be interesting to watch the interview of a couple who successfully adopted from South Africa.
Note that the person testifying is not connected not Irish Pink Adoptions.
Did you know that Irish couples can adopt from 40 countries under new law to be introduced? Today we hear the facts on adoption and meet people in the middle of the adoption process.
http://www.bghelsinki.org/index.php?module=news&lg=en&id=3626
Past reports by BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bulgarias-children.shtml
BHC announces the results of the inspections carried out in the country’s institutions for mentally disabled children
Hundreds of child deaths, avoidable but never investigated, a large proportion of which caused by malnutrition.
The current state of the social institutions for children reveals malnutrition, violence, physical and chemical restraint.Sofia, 20 September 2010
A large number of child deaths – never investigated and avoidable. This summarizes the findings made by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) after the conclusion of inspections which covered all the social homes for children with mental disabilities in Bulgaria. The results were announced today at a press conference in Sofia.
The inspections of the homes for children were carried out in collaboration with the Prosecution Service. Presently, the Prosecution Service is expected to commence formal investigations on the basis of the material evidence gathered.
There is evidence of two hundred and thirty eight deathswhich have occurred between 2000 and 2010, or average of 25 deaths per annum.
At least two thirds of these deaths have been unnecessary and avoidable:
– 31 caused by starvation (systematic malnourishment);
– 84 caused by general physical deterioration, resulting from neglect;
– 13 caused by infections, i.e. bad hygiene;
– 6 caused by accidents such as freezing to death, drowning, suffocation, etc.;
– 36 caused by pneumonia, i.e. by exposure to cold or long-term immobility;
– 2 caused by violence;
– 15 deaths have unexplained causes.“This investigation is unprecedented in terms of its range and results. The facts that we discovered confirmed more categorically than ever that the claims that these children’s deaths were caused by their disabilities were absolute lies. The children were dying from neglect,” said Yana Buhrer Tavanier, the Campaigns Director of BHC.
149 of all the deaths have occurred in the children’s homes, and not in hospitals, which means that the children were not hospitalized in spite of their grave health conditions, and that they were left there to die, or were released from hospital just before they died. 11 of the children were hospitalized too late.
The deaths tended to occur during the cold months of the year.
An autopsy was not performed in more than 90 of the deaths. The death cases were never investigated as a rule – the deaths remain unpunished and the children unprotected.
The homes for children with mental disabilities in Bulgaria continue to maintain a practice of malnourishment, violence, physical restraint by tying up and treatment with dangerous drugs, was revealed by the inspections.
“At the time of the inspections, 103 residents were suffering from malnutrition and therefore they are exposed to the risk of dying of hunger, including of diseases that will kill them because of their weakened and underfed condition,” said Margarita Ilieva, Attorney-at-Law, Deputy Chairperson of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and Director of its Legal Defence Programme. “This is a case of an institutionalized – much more than organized – crime, and it is directed against the most vulnerable group of people in this country,” she added.
During the inspections, a total of 622 cases of grave inflammatory diseases and contagion were established. Some of the children’s homes, such as Medven, Gomotartsy, and Sladak Kladenets, have very bad levels of hygiene, and a history of multiple and repetitive epidemic outbursts. Most typical are the fecal-oral infections, dysentery, and hepatitis, and they cost the children their lives. The public health control authorities (the Regional Inspections for Protection and Control of Public Health) are ineffective in dealing with the problem – they fail to penalize any violations of the law, as well as of formal recommendations.
7 cases of sexual abuse were found to have occurred in the period in question; in addition, there have been at least 8 cases of physical violence, including a head injury with lethal outcome, and a case of strangulation. The Child Protection Department was contacted in all of these cases, and the State Agency for Child Protection was informed of at least half of them. BHC does not possess any evidence of the actual involvement of any of the two agencies in any of the above cases. None of the children who suffered violence have received any help or justice.
Existing documentation reveals more than 86 serious accidents. 58 of the residents are prone to self-harming.
More than 8 homes maintain a practice of unlawful physical immobilization of children as means to control their behaviour – tying up by the limbs or fastening to beds, wheelchairs and other objects, and the use of restraining jackets. There have been at least 17 cases of physical immobilization. More than 90 children have been “chemically restrained” by heavy and damaging neuroleptic drugs. Any physical immobilization is a form of violence that is destructive to the mental health, and any chemical method of restraint is detrimental to the body.
Dangerous drugs, often harmful and unnecessary, have been administered to 167 residents. Some of the children have been subjected to long-term excessive drug treatments.
BHC states that, apart from the staff in the children’s homes and the medical personnel involved, responsibility must be also sought from the mayors, as officials formally in charge of these institutions, from the Minister of Labour and Social Policy (the Child Protection Departments and the local Social Assistance Directorates), from the Regional Inspections for Protection and Control of Public Health and from the State Agency for Child Protection.
The performed inspections of homes revealed that the five worst institutions are Mogilino (now closed), Medven, Kroushary, Petrovo (Blagoevgrad region), and Rudnik. The full reports on the inspected homes may be seen at:http://forsakenchildren.bghelsinki.org/. That is also the website designated by the BHC for its public campaign to bring to justice the persons and institutions guilty of the crimes committed in the Bulgarian homes for children with mental disabilities.
—
Background information: Inspections of homes
In August 2009 BHC started a lawsuit against the Prosecution Service for its failure to investigate the crimes committed in the homes for children against their residents, and in particular, to prosecute the large number of deaths – 75 in 8 years. In February 2010 an agreement was reached with the Office of the Chief Prosecutor for collaboration between the Prosecution and BHC in inspecting all children’s homes in the country. The inspections were carried out between March and June 2010. Until August 2010, the finding of the inspections were analyzed by BHC and compiled into a series of reports (totaling 263 pages and 1730 footnotes, which included evidence supporting the established facts) that were presented to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office. It remains to be seen what the Prosecution Service’s response will be.
—
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organisation for the protection of human rights that was founded in 1992. The objectives of the committee are to promote respect for human rights in Bulgaria in the following target areas: the rights of women, of persons with mental disabilities, of ethnic and religious minorities, of children, protection from torture and ill-treatment, the rights of refugees and migrants, freedom of speech and free access to information, the rights of persons in penitentiary institutions, and issues of the criminal justice system.
For more information on the inspections of homes and the campaign: http://forsakenchildren.bghelsinki.org/
For more information about BHC: http://www.bghelsinki.org/
For more information, please contact:
Margarita Ilieva, Attorney-at-Law: margarita.ilieva@gmail.com; 0884 088 337
http://www.e4.com/lifeunexpected/
After spending all of her 15 years bouncing from one foster family to another, Lux has decided it’s time to take control of her life and files to become an emancipated minor. Her journey through the legal maze of emancipation leads Lux to her biological father, Nate ‘Baze’ Bazile, who is astonished to learn that he has a teenage daughter. Baze owns a bar and lives like an aging fraternity boy with his two slacker roommates.
Lux learns that her mother is Cate Cassidy, a star on the local radio morning show. Lux has been listening to Cate’s voice on the radio as long as she can remember, so she feels an instant connection with the mom she’s never met. Cate is guilt-ridden and saddened to learn that Lux has grown up in foster care, but happy to finally meet her beautiful daughter. When a judge decides that Lux isn’t ready for emancipation and unexpectedly grants temporary joint custody to Baze and Cate, they agree to make a belated attempt to give Lux the family she deserves.
NELFA, first Journées européennes des familles homoparentales (JEFH) 2010
(Première European homoparental families convention (JEFH) 2010)
Paris, 17th and 18th September 2010, Espace Reuilly, Paris 12.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/kidnap-son-convinces-father-to-surrender-2342996.html
By Angela K Brown in Houston
Saturday September 18 2010
A 20-YEAR-old man who police say was abducted by his father 17 years ago during a messy divorce apparently read a newspaper article about his disappearance and persuaded his father to turn himself in.
Stephen Michael Palacios will soon be reunited with his mother, Dee Ann Adams, after almost two decades apart. Continue reading
CARL O’BRIEN, Chief Reporter
Gay rights campaigners have called on the Government to legislate for civil marriage for same-sex couples following today’s Irish Times /Behaviour & Attitudes poll which shows a large majority of people in support of such a move.
The poll found 67 per cent of people believe gay couples should be allowed to marry, while a further 60 per cent do not believe that civil partnerships will undermine the institution of marriage.
Moninne Griffith, director of Marriage Equality, said the findings show the Irish public are “keenly aware that the current exclusion of lesbian and gay couples from civil marriage is deeply unfair and doesn’t make any sense in today’s Ireland.”
She also said the finding that 91 per cent of people would not think less of a person if they were lesbian or gay was highly significant. Continue reading
As we have seen, with Hague coming, things have changed, and relationships with “sending” countries are changing too.
Understanding Hague… a story of Doors and Windows
To add a bit of clarity, we have collated the various sources of information into one table, which we hope reflects the reality of the situation.
This is not a legal insurance… it is only our understanding to help you direct your searches!
CARL O’BRIEN, Chief Reporter JUST OVER two-thirds of people (67 per cent) believe gay couples should be allowed to marry, according to an Irish Times /Behaviour Attitudes social poll.
It is one of a series of findings in a poll on “sex, sin and society” that indicates Irish people have adopted a more liberal attitude towards personal relationships and sexual behaviour.In addition showing strong support for gay marriage, a significant majority (60 per cent) also believe civil partnerships for gay couples will not undermine the institution of marriage.
A large majority (91 per cent) also say they would not think less of a person if they revealed they were gay or lesbian.These numbers are consistently high across most age groups, as well as in urban and rural areas.People are divided, however, on whether gay couples should be allowed to adopt children. Some 46 per cent support such a move, while more than a third (38 per cent) are opposed. Continue reading
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8998198.stm
The UK immigration authority has defended its procedures following claims it could do more to protect children brought to the UK from abroad.
In a Newsnight probe, welfare groups criticised the failure of the UK Border Agency to tell all adults accompanying children about private fostering law.
They said this left many children unregistered and vulnerable to abuse.
But the UK Border Agency (UKBA) said it was better to look for signs of risk and then make direct intervention.
Research shows there are at least 10,000 children in Britain, many from West Africa, growing up in informal fostering arrangements unknown to local authorities.
The law requires guardians to notify their local council of the arrangement, but few do.
‘Absolutely shocking’ Continue reading
Because of the recent announcement about adoption being soon open for South-Africa, Bulgaria, and Thailand, LGBT adopters can celebrate, as South-Africa is themost likely country of origin for us, and it allows LGBT applicants.
As a matter of fact, South-Africa has same-gender marriage and adoption since 2002-2003.
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