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Girls preferred
Between 1979 and 2002, 2,278 Indian children were adopted in Switzerland, 68% of them girls and 32% boys. In Switzerland, girls were preferred as adoptive children, whereas in India couples preferred to adopt boys to continue the line of inheritance and avoid paying dowries. Patriarchal structures created disadvantages for girls, such as poorer medical care and nutrition.
Inadequate representation by an appointed guardian
Indian children could only be adopted in Switzerland after they had been in foster care for at least two years. By law, the state had to appoint a guardian to ensure that their rights were respected during their time in foster care. The analysis of a sample of 24 adoptions in the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau found that this legal guardianship was inadequate in 20 cases.
Indian law
Between 1973 and 2002, there was no universally applicable law on adoption in India. The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956 only covered adoptions by Hindu couples. Non-Hindus were permitted to take a child as their ward under the Guardians and Wards Act of 1890. The legal uncertainty surrounding intercountry adoptions attracted prominent criticism in the 1970s and 1980s. A landmark Supreme Court judgment in 1984 ruled that foreign couples could apply for custody of the child and that the adoption process must be completed in the adoptive parents' country of residence.
Milton McCann from Terre des Hommes (India) Society
The Terre des Hommes (India) Society was founded in Calcutta in 1976 by Milton McCann and a Swissair pilot. McCann began in 1972 to place Indian children for adoption in Switzerland in collaboration with Terre des Hommes in Lausanne. Internal conflicts at Terre des Hommes led to a split. The Lausanne section of the organisation decided to continue its adoption placement activities. For decades, McCann was an important cooperation partner in India. The collaboration with Terre de Hommes in Lausanne ended in 1996, when McCann was accused of paedophilia.
Missing declarations of consent
Swiss adoption law stipulates that the biological parents must consent to the adoption of their child. An investigation in the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau shows that in many cases the 'deed of surrender', which was required as proof of the Indian parents' consent, was missing from the adoption files. Indian courts systematically kept this documentation under seal. The Swiss authorities approved the adoptions without access to the biological parents' surrender documents.
Overwhelmed
In Switzerland, many of the couples had initially wanted to adopt a Swiss child. Since the 1970s, the number of children available for adoption had been falling. To avoid having to wait a long time, some couples opted for an intercountry adoption. Most of the adoptive children came from countries of the global South. Adoption agencies such as Adoption International offered courses to raise adoptive parents' awareness of the issues, but these were not considered very effective.
Religions in India
India is a country of remarkable religious diversity, encompassing all the world's major religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism, India's oldest religion, has permeated society with its concepts of dharma, karma and moksha. Islam arrived in India in the 7th century. The Mughal era especially had a profound influence on in Indian culture. Christianity was introduced in the 1st century, Sikhism emerged from the 15th century and Buddhism experienced a revival in India in the 20th century.
Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross
The Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, also known as the Sisters of Ingenbohl, are an international religious order of the Roman Catholic Church founded in 1856 by the Capuchin Theodosius Florentini and Sister Maria Theresia Scherer. The motherhouse is located in Ingenbohl in the Swiss canton of Schwyz. The sisters were praised for their nursing work during smallpox and typhoid epidemics and in times of war. In 1941, the order reached a peak number of 9,638 members. Today, around 2,600 Ingenbohl sisters are active in 18 countries.
The Indian caste system
The millennia-old Indian caste system was a form of social stratification that divided society into four main castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras) with an additional category of Dalits or Scheduled Castes. People usually kept to the caste assigned to them when choosing a career or spouse. The Manusmriti, an ancient Hindu text, describes this system and related social, legal and religious norms. Although it has become a lot less significant in urban areas, the caste system persists in rural areas.
The journey to Switzerland
Some couples from Zurich and Thurgau went to collect their future adoptive children in India. Other children were accompanied by someone else. Flight attendants were often employed to bring the children to Switzerland, for example on behalf of Terre des Hommes in Lausanne or Adoption International. Airlines such as Swissair and Air India helped to organise and fund the children's transfer to Switzerland. This practice was criticised in India by legal scholars like Laxmikant Pandey, who warned of malpractices that risked the children's safety.
The Missionaries of Charity
The Missionaries of Charity is a Roman Catholic order founded by Mother Teresa (1910–1997) in Calcutta in 1950 that was officially recognised by the Pope in 1965. Some 5,000 Ingenbohl nuns work in institutions for people in need around the world. Mother Teresa founded a first children's home in Calcutta in 1955. The 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner worked with the children's charity Terre des Hommes in Lausanne and with individual adoption agents in Switzerland.
