Scandal escalates over dubious international adoptions involving Indian children in Denmark

The scandal surrounding dubious international adoptions is escalating. Earlier this year, a documentary series revealed that at least ten children from the same Indian orphanage were either stolen or taken from their biological parents and subsequently adopted in Denmark. In the latest season of the series, three additional cases have emerged, highlighting the continued plight of children sent to Denmark against their biological parents’ wishes.

Among these children are siblings Kala and Kumar Chandra Kristiansen, who arrived in Denmark in March 1980 and were placed with adoptive parents in Aarhus. Kumar, now an adult, recalls clearly his biological mother. After years of searching, he found her in Chennai, India, revealing a painful truth: both he and Kala had been led to believe they were adopted due to their mother’s poverty.

The orphanage, Madras Christian Childrens Home, is now closed, with its director deceased. Authorities, including the Danish Adoption Agency, have not conducted an investigation into the adoptions from this orphanage, citing a lack of information. Although plans were in place for a broader inquiry into Indian adoptions, this was halted as the Danish parliament decided to focus on ten countries instead, and the study has yet to commence.

In November 2023, the Danish parliament allocated funds for an investigation into adoption practices, aimed at providing adopted individuals with access to their histories, but it will not determine the legality of specific adoptions.

Similar adoption scandals are surfacing globally, especially in countries like South Korea, where institutionalized theft of newborns for adoption was uncovered. Experts warn that these revelations represent only a fraction of ongoing issues within international adoption practices, calling attention to a systemic problem affecting many nations involved in transnational adoptions.