The Muiderbergse Bibi Hasenaar is relieved now that the court in The Hague has ruled that the Dutch state and an adoption agency should have checked better on abuses in the adoption of Dilani Butink from Sri Lanka. She herself was adopted from Bangladesh at the age of 4 and fought for a permanent adoption stop after finding out that her biological parents did not give her up voluntarily.
The story of Bibi’s adoption is poignant. She discovered that her biological mother under false pretenses has relinquished. “I saw a newspaper from Bangladesh with the news that six children were missing. I was also on it as a missing child. That raised my eyebrows,” she previously told NH Radio.
“At the time there turned out to be a man from Terres des Hommes who was approaching parents in the village where I come from. That village wasn’t much by the way, it was more like a camp. The man asked parents if they liked it. seemed that their children went to some sort of home, where they were well cared for and educated.”
Bibi’s mother never saw her again and, as it turned out, she never let it go. When she realized what had happened to her children, she immediately rang the bell. “She litigated for quite some time, it turns out,” says Bibi.
Two years ago she sued the Dutch state, Wereldkinderen and Terres des Hommes. The case filed late last year, but much to her surprise, she lost the case. She decided to appeal. With today’s ruling, she is more confident that the judge will also rule in her favor.
“I am positive. I now also have more evidence. More evidence than Dilani has, so in that sense it seems unlikely that I will lose. But of course I never know how laconic the judges will be,” she says.
‘Ordinary human trafficking’
In the future, adoptions from abroad should be possible again, but no longer through intermediaries. Anyone wishing to adopt a child can only do so through a newly established government organization. Something that Bibi is strongly against: “It is precisely the government that has made many mistakes. I do not understand that a sane person would want to adopt a child. It is just ordinary human trafficking. What are we looking for in such countries? You never have the right to take a child out of one’s own country.”
It is not yet clear when Bibi’s appeal will be lodged.