Book cover «Mother Unknown»
In the last third of the 20th century, more than 2,000 children from India were adopted by couples in Switzerland.
Using the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau as examples, the authors illustrate how Indian babies and young children were brought to Switzerland between 1973 and 2002 to be placed in foster care with a view to adoption.
They trace the children's journey, which begins with their biological mothers in India, most of whom were unmarried. Against the background of legal practice in both the country of origin and the country of adoption, the study sheds light on the circumstances surrounding the conception, birth and separation of the children from their mothers, and examines what happened when they arrived in Switzerland.
The authors conducted numerous interviews in India and Switzerland with adoptees, adoptive parents, employees involved in the adoption procedures and other experts. The book's transnational approach opens a door to a chapter in the history of foster placement in Switzerland on which there has been little research. Its authors offer insights into a complex system in which poverty, social stigma and the aspirations of childless couples became intertwined with commercial interests, questionable legal practices and inadequate child protection. This first comprehensive analysis of material from Swiss archives and adoption files reveals a concerning pattern: children of unknown mothers were being brought to Switzerland for adoption with no evidence of parental consent.
https://www.chronos-verlag.ch/node/28927
