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About us
Vision Wereldkinderen
Every child has a right to a loving childhood. Children should be able to grow up in the protective environment of a family or relatives. For many children, however, this right is not self-evident. Wereldkinderen stands up for the rights and the welfare of vulnerable children in developing countries.
We work together with local organisations that prevent children from ending up on the streets or in a children's home. If growing up with the biological family or in a foster family in the country of origin is really not possible, Wereldkinderen mediates in inter-country adoption.
Read more about these four intervention strategies.
We regard adoption as an international child protection measure. Therefore, we seek suitable families for these children in the Netherlands. Our leading principles regarding this, are the best interests of the child and respect for the parents who have given their child up for adoption and for the adoptive parents.
Our vision is in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Adoption Convention.
All our activities are combined in our motto:
Every child a home
In the seventies and eighties Wereldkinderen (or a predecessor such as Agency Intercountry Adoption) was a mediator for adoption from amongst other countries Bangladesh, Colombia, Thailand, the Philippines, India, South Korea, Brazil and Sri Lanka. There are sometimes questions about these adoptions or the files may be unclear.
It is quite difficult for many adoptees to gain information about their biological family. Wereldkinderen tries to assist them wherever possible. Wereldkinderen believes that it is important that adoptees have the ability to get to know as much as possible about their adoption. Regarding this, we do not lose sight of the interest of the biological family.
What does Wereldkinderen know about these files?
The files that are thirty or forty years old contain – contrary to the current files – very limited information. Sometimes files are incorrect.
We often have the same, limited information as adoptive parents and it is not always possible to seek a contact person from the country of origin. However, we share the information we have with the adopted person.
Access to files
Files are kept in a central organised archive. On this page you can read (in Dutch) which information we need, to be able to give you a copy of your personal file.
For privacy reasons we do not share adoption files with third parties. We only share this information with parents and children. Under certain conditions, reports of (root) journeys, letters and general information about a country are, however, accessible to organisations wanting to conduct research.
Research on the background and the context of adoption
To add to the limited information and to get a better picture of the context of adoptions, Wereldkinderen started the History and Roots project in 2017. Contact persons, license holders, former directors and adoptive parents were interviewed for this purpose and research was carried out into the practices concerning adoption in a number of countries, .in the period before 2000. Procedures and customs in the sending countries were part of the project. We also looked at the position of women in these countries and the social and cultural background at the time. We hope this will give a more complete picture of adoption stories.
How did Wereldkinderen act in that period?
As far as we can ascertain from the files, Wereldkinderen acted in accordance with the procedures in place at the time. For example, it was also then the course of action not to separate siblings. At the same time, we know that this did occur, against all intentions. When that became clear, action was taken on it. Adoptions from certain countries were also stopped or adapted when there were doubts about the procedures.
Do you want to contact us about your personal file? Please send an email to Ellen ten Bloemendal, via info@ Wereldkinderen.nl.
