Dutch state ‘negligent’ in 1992 S.Lanka baby adoption: court

A court on Tuesday found the Netherlands and a children’s association acted illegally during the adoption by a Dutch family of a Sri Lankan baby girl in 1992 and ordered them to pay damages.

The plaintiff, Dilani Butink, was provided with only “summary” adoption papers and has been unable to trace her biological parents.

Butink took the government and the “Kind en Toekomst” foundation (Child and Future) to court accusing them of negligence, falsifying documents and illegal adoption practices.

In 2002, a court in The Hague declared too much time had passed for the case to be heard.

However, the government last year halted the adoption of children from abroad following the publication of an official report highlighting illegal procedures, particularly in Sri Lanka, and dropped the statute of limitations for historic adoption cases.

“The State and the Dutch foundation acted contrary to their obligations,” the appeal court said in a statement, noting they “relied too heavily on the checks of the Sri Lanka authorities”.

“Both of them… could and should have done more to avoid the uncertainty” that the plaintiff faced over where she came from and the circumstances of her adoption.

The judges dismissed the foundation’s attempt to have the case thrown out after so many years since it involved “fundamental rights” of a newborn child.

She was offered for adoption just days after birth to replace another baby girl who had been withdrawn from the procedure, the court said.

The foundation and the state were ordered to pay compensation, with the amount to be set by the government.