The Dutch government will create an external commission to investigate intercountry adoptions in the past. Special focus will be put on the facts and the role of the Dutch government in respect to these adoptions. The decision follows a request for information done by Lisa Komp on behalf of Patrick Noordoven.

Patrick Noordoven was illegally adopted in Brazil in 1980 by a Dutch couple. Patrick was handed over to them on the street by employees of a children's home. At the municipality the couple declared that he was their biological son.

An employee of the Dutch consulate in Sao Paulo played a key role in facilitating Patrick’s illegal adoption. Based on the information that has now become public, the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security has concluded that people linked to the Dutch government may have facilitated illegal adoptions. Furthermore, it appears that these persons were deliberately excluded from the criminal investigations that were conducted into illegal adoptions from Brazil in 1983.

The external commission will not only investigate intercountry adoptions from Brazil, but also from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Colombia and Indonesia.

See also (in Dutch):

• I. Vriesema, 'Terug in Nederland deden mijn ouders aangifte van mij, hun zogenaamd biologisch kind' | NRC, 6 December 2018
• I. Vriesema, 'Diplomaat hielp bij illegale adoptie, onderste steen moet boven' | NRC, 6 December 2018
• 'Nederlandse Staat was betrokken bij illegale adopties', news report Nieuwsuur, 6 December 2018

Previously

For more information about Patrick Noordoven’s case as well as persons adopted from Sri Lanka visit our previous news items:

• Illegally adopted persons have the right to obtain all information about their adoption
• Children who have been illegally adopted hold the Dutch government to account