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The Indian courts would only transfer custody of the children to the foreign couples and did not grant adoptions. An adoption could only be granted in Switzerland, at the earliest after two years in the foster care of the prospective parents. In other words, the adoptive parents did not have 'parental authority' (nowadays known as 'parental responsibility') over the child until this time. This meant that in Switzerland, a person had to be appointed to act as the child's guardian until the adoption decision was issued.[FN3 Swiss Civil Code 1907/1912, Art. 327 a.] In the 24 adoptions analysed in the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau, 20 out of 24 children remained in a legally precarious situation for a long stretch of their time in foster care and were only appointed a guardian months after their arrival in Switzerland. One boy was appointed an official guardian only at the last minute in order to fulfil the formal legal requirements for the adoption.[FN1 StArZH V.K.c.15.: "Serie" 1988-1992.9980, written record book, file note dated 22.5.1985.] A girl went without a legal guardian to represent her interests for the entire duration of her foster care. Her file said that "Apparently all those involved were of the opinion that a guardian had been appointed; this was, however, not the case."[FN2 StArZH V.K.c.25.:4.1.402, letter from orphans’ council within guardianship authority to foster parents, 31. 8. 1995.] The absence of a guardian could have serious consequences, for example if there was no one around to consent to medical treatment or surgery. Moreover, not every child was given a guardian whose sole priority was to act in their interests. Sometimes, the guardian was also the child's future adoptive father or an employee of the adoption agency. This situation had already been criticised as a "regrettable lack of representation" as early as the 1980s.[FN5 Robert Zuegg, Die Vermittlung ausländischer Adoptivkinder als Problem des präventiven Kindesschutzes, Zurich 1986, p. 78.]
Serious situations arose in the cases of Indian children placed in the care of families in the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau, in which the involvement and dedication of an appointed guardian would have been particularly important. For example, there was a strong suspicion that four children who had arrived in 1997 may have been sexually assaulted before or during their journey to Switzerland. The cantonal police informed the guardianship authority and their appointed guardians that an investigation was under way. The guardianship authority asked the children's appointed guardians whether they had seen any indications of sexual abuse.[FN6 STAW guardianship authority, on "Etat" 10126, letter from guardianship authority, Winterthur city social services department, to official guardian, 1.7.1997.] The guardians stated that the four children had been placed by the Missionaries of Charity home in Bombay. Two of the children had been brought to Switzerland for adoption through the services of Helga Ney.[FN7 STAW guardianship authority, on "Etat" 10012, letter from official guardian to Winterthur guardianship authority, 3.7.1997.] It is unclear from the files whether the guardians had sought to investigate the case further. Despite extensive research in the Zurich cantonal archives, it was not possible to determine the outcome of the police investigation.
