Documents

Plane ticket for an Indian girl who travelled from Calcutta via Bombay to Geneva in 1980.

Interview with social worker Asha Narayan Iyer about the Indian adoption system

The focus of the meeting was intercountry adoption, in particular in the context of India. An introductory presentation by Asha Narayan Iyer from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences was followed by a discussion highlighting the sociocultural factors that influenced adoption trends and noted that from the 1970s to the 2000s, intercountry adoptions were clearly favoured over domestic adoptions. Key issues raised included the status of women, lack of education, and societal attitudes towards girls that have historically marginalised their voices and opportunities.The workshop brought together representatives of government authorities, practitioners and academics to jointly discuss how to improve practices in the adoption sector. Participants identified a need for ongoing dialogue and acknowledged the importance of understanding birth mothers' experiences, which are often overlooked in the adoption debate.The overall aim of the meeting was to bridge knowledge gaps and improve the quality of the discourse surrounding intercountry adoptions in India.

Letter from the Swiss Ambassador to India to the State Secretariat in Bern: Adoption of Indian children in Switzerland. Accusation from a Calcutta newspaper.

Handwritten letter from an adoption agency to an adoptee

The former head of an Indian adoption agency sends a 31-year-old man a letter with information about his parents, who were unable to marry for social reasons. Source: private archive

'Mother Unknown' book cover

Klappentext: Im letzten Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts adoptierten Schweizer Ehepaare über 2000 Kinder aus Indien. Die Autorinnen zeigen anhand der Kantone Zürich und Thurgau exemplarisch auf, wie indische Babys und Kleinkinder zwischen 1973 und 2002 in die Schweiz vermittelt, zur Pflege aufgenommen und adoptiert wurden. Sie folgen dabei dem Weg der Kinder, der bei den leiblichen und meist unverheirateten Müttern in Indien be- ginnt. Sie beleuchten die Umstände der Zeugung, der Geburt, der Weggabe und Aufnahme der Kinder in der Schweiz vor dem Hintergrund der Rechtspraxis bei internationalen Adoptionen im Herkunfts- und Aufnahmeland. Die Autorinnen haben in Indien und in der Schweiz zahlreiche Gespräche mit adoptierten Personen, Adoptiveltern, am Verfah- ren beteiligten Fachpersonen sowie weiteren Expertinnen und Experten geführt. Sie rollen mit ihrem transnationalen Ansatz ein bisher weitgehend unbekanntes Kapitel der Geschichte der Fremdplatzierung auf und geben Einblick in ein komplexes Geflecht, das von Armut, sozialen Stigmata, von unerfülltem Kinderwunsch, von kommerziellen Interessen, einer fragwürdi- gen Rechtspraxis und mangelhaftem Kinderschutz geprägt war. Die vorliegende Untersuchung wertet erstmals umfangreiches Material aus Schweizer Archiven und Adoptionsdossiers aus und zeigt: Bei der Adoption ihres Kindes in der Schweiz blieben die indischen Mütter meist unbekannt und ihre Zustimmungs- erklärung fehlte.

Flyer about the adoption research project (postcard format A6)

Questionnaire for prospective husbands in English

Questionnaire that the marriage bureau of the Shraddhanand Mahilashram shelter handed out to men who wanted to get married.

Questionnaire for prospective husbands in Hindi

Questionnaire that the marriage bureau of the Shraddhanand Mahilashram shelter handed out to men who wanted to get married.

Birth announcement in pink: "It wasn't the [stork] but the [aeroplane] that brought me to my new parents.”

The aeroplane as the mechanical 'bearer' of the baby was a common motif in 'birth announcements' for adopted Indian children.

Bombay High Court In Re: Giovanni Marco Muzzu And Etc. Etc. vs Unknown on 22 July, 1982

Tribune de Genève: Home story of a family who adopted seven Indian children in addition to their own four.

The name of the family has been redacted out.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION: Beedi Sector in India: A Note

Map showing intercountry adoption locations

Pictures of adopted children in India (newspaper clipping from Thurgauer Zeitung, 4.3.1987)

Information on costs, provided by the Adoption International association

The official cost for the placement of children for adoption by Swiss adoption agencies amounted to several thousand francs in each case. Some couples seeking to adopt ended up paying amounts of up to 20,000 or 30,000 Swiss francs.

Brief communication from the Winterthur guardianship authority regarding the deed of surrender

Adoption research logo (colour)

Adoption research logo (bw)

Milton McCann paedophilia allegations (link to Swissinfo article)

Obituary of Sr Hermann-Josef Jegler

Nekrolog zur Ingenbohler Schwester Hermann–Josef Jegler (1929–2002), Provinz Baden-Württemberg

Video by adoptee Paul Vezin about tracing his origins

Interview with cultural anthropologist Pien Bos about Indian mothers who gave up their children for adoption, June 2023, St Gallen

Steps in the adoption process

In 1980, a couple from eastern Switzerland await the arrival of an Indian child with a basket of dolls of different skin colours

The long journey from Kawta to Thurgau

Girl reciting a verse for Samichlaus, 1984

Ein aus Indien adoptiertes Mädchen sagt 1984 vor dem Samichlaus und seinem Helfer einen Vers auf.

The Ingenbohl Sisters and Indian children after the cholera epidemic (1896)

Sister Theodosia teaching Indian children (year unknown)

Sister Theodosia Thakur (1901)

The first 4 Ingenbohl sisters in India (1894)

Sister Waldtraut at the Holy Cross Social Service Center in New Delhi

Table: Indian children in the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau, placed by Mother Teresa

Letter from Mother Teresa on speeding up the entry procedure

Letter of thanks from Mother Teresa dated 28.12.1987 for speeding up the entry procedure

Contract between the Shraddhanand Mahilashram shelter and unwed pregnant women

Unmarried mothers in Calcutta, 1986

Mona und eine andere unehelich schwangere Bewohnerin des Shelters Asha Kendra in Kalkutta, 1986

Babies being looked after in Calcutta, 1986

Pflege von Babys, welche das Hilfswerk International Mission of Hope an adoptionswillige, ausländische Ehepaare vermittelte. Kalkutta, 1986.

Image 1: Rameshwari, an unwed mother staying at the Asha Kendra shelter in Calcutta, 1986

Image 2: Rameshwari, an unwed mother staying at the Asha Kendra shelter in Calcutta, 1986

Image 3: Rameshwari, an unwed mother staying at the Asha Kendra shelter in Calcutta, 1986

Deed of surrender for a child

'Deed of surrender' written and signed by a man in 1964 on behalf of his sister before he handed her child over to the Missionaries of Charity.

Chronological overview of adoption agencies in Switzerland

Swiss Civil Code Art. 256a (version of 1972, valid 1983)