[PDLM]

@KIA

I agree, but people seemed to be focussing on the language spoken at home (about which we have insufficient information), and on the passport (where it seems unlikely that a Dutch passport would have been possible). The food "excuse" is just weird.

I'm sure there must be more to this than has been reported so far...

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by shilo507

I am not sure that is true.

Sorry - yes, you're right. I confused two things in my previous post. If I'm not married to the mother then the child has no right to British nationality through me in any case. If I am but they are born outside the UK then they can be UK citizens, but my grandchildren can't necessarily.

But my point still remains that if, as a UK citizen, I adopt a child in HK then they have no right to UK citizenship unless they live in the UK for a while. (And the same is true of anyone I marry.)

But anyway, we're getting a bit off topic here...

[jaykay]

Same story as The Standard yesterday. How come after 7 years this little girl suddenly becomes adverse to their food and has a different culture when she learned all she knew through her "supposed" parents.

These are heartless bastards, they have probably caused huge emotional damage to that poor girl.

Mystery over rejected child

Nishika Patel and agencies

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

South Korean consulate officials are wondering why a Dutch couple who adopted a Korean baby, rejected her seven years later.

The adoptive parents, a Dutch diplomat and his wife have cited cultural shock and the girl's unwillingness to eat the food they provide as reasons for giving up the child.

South Korean consular officials noted that the - unnamed - couple said they had failed to integrate her into the family.

A Social Welfare Department spokeswoman said the girl is in foster care.

The Korean consulate spokesman said: "They now have their own children. They decided it was difficult to raise her because of cultural shock. They said she's not willing to eat their food. That's one of the reasons. It's a strange reason. She was raised from a very early age. It's a very uncommon case. It's a difficult situation for us to understand."

The couple had adopted the child at a time the diplomat was serving in Seoul.

South Korea's JoongAng Daily reported that the diplomat's wife had believed she was infertile when the couple adopted the Korean girl in 2000, but conceived after moving to Hong Kong.

The consulate spokesman said the girl has a Korean passport and is not a naturalized Dutch citizen.

He said the girl speaks English and Cantonese but not Korean.

The Hong Kong government has found a school for her.

Social work professor Wong Chack-kie, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the experience will have an adverse impact on the child's future development.

"Their bond would obviously be strong and the child will be suffering from separation anxiety and a feeling of abandonment. There will be a long-term impact on the child's future development because at seven she is in her formative years. She may find it difficult to establish long-standing relationships in the future."

A spokeswoman for the Social Welfare Department said: "The girl is being taken care of by foster parents. We will take the best interests of the child into consideration."

A spokesman for the Netherlands consulate said it was a personal matter. "They had a very hard time with this. For the family involved it's very traumatic," he said.

[ontheroad]

My kids have also displayed an unwillingness to eat the food I provide- but I've not thrown them out yet!

That's the worse excuse I've heard ever.

Kids, adopted or not, are for life. You can't just get rid of them if they're not perfect. No child is.

Even if there's more to the story, and we shouldn't be judging people we know nothing about, unless you're giving all your kids away because you can't afford to raise them anymore, there's just no excuse.

Also, what I don't understand is this: the foreign press has massively printed the story about the 14 year old who threw her newborn out the window, but I've not seen this story picked up at all.
How come? For me it's a million times more shocking that a (rich, white) expat family would get rid of their (seven year-old) child, than the desperate act of a lost teenager.

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

white

Do you have any evidence for that assertion?

[Star Gazer]

as a diplomat, he should have been an example to the people he represents. by his actions , doing something like this just taints the reputation of the dutch government and his country.

and his actions marred his credibility and disgraced his government.

so yes i agree, the dutch goverment should strip him of his post or send him to timbuktu.

i think that all governments should put a ban on him adopting forever even adoption of a pet!!!

[gr.mk.ii]

"Oh well, we have our own real babies now, we don't need the temp."

[neha]

as somebody else wrote on geobaby.com that the diplomat is of Indonesian origin married to dutch lady. IF u can read dutch, below is the article published in Holland giving the name of the diplomat

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2...erpkind__.html

what an adorable child and what a pity

[Star Gazer]

i agree with HK University Guy


as translated by Babel Fish
I do not think that it has something to do with the cultural differences, say to Law Chi-Kwong, hoofddocent to the university of hongkong, department social studies. The child grew up with the Poeterays as from its baby months. They are therefore total responsible for the education of the child, its mental and cultural development. How you can say that the child could not adapt to culture in which she was educated? Law Chi-Kwong, fulminate "this is simply ridiculous!"

[Star Gazer]

and apparently the Dutch Gov't is sympathetic to them too

Spokesman peter speaks Mollema of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a "sad matter, with a long voorgeschiedenis". He sees in the commotie which has burst out in Asia no reason exhaustive give comment: It is privézaak, which nobody contracts something. We have intensive contact at the accompaniment of this colleague. We offer him support, a helping hand, such as each good employer that would do


(sorry, the edit post function still eludes me!)