News on Western Europe

Adoption in decline as more children go into care

2011-09-29T10:30:36Z

Only 60 babies were adopted in Britain last year despite an increasing number of children being taken into care, official figures show.

While thousands of children are being looked after in care homes or foster families, the number being adopted continues to decline, in a trend described by campaigners as "deeply worrying".

The Department for Education figures show 3,050 looked-after children were adopted in the year...

How to claim child benefit support in the UK

2010-11-29T15:35:13Z

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An overview of adoption laws in the UK

2010-11-04T14:23:42Z

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Adoption, the works

2010-10-14T12:48:48Z

To what extent is the law on adoption fair critically evaluating the role and discretion of the judiciary in adoption proceedings while taking into account the implications of the Human Rights Act and the erosion of family values.

Adoption in England and Wales is governed completely by statute. On 30 December 2005, the principle statute governing adoption, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 was fully implemented. It represents...

Dutch airlift brings 123 Haitian kids for adoption

2010-04-16T07:33:20Z

Dutch adoption airlift brings 123 Haitian children into the Netherlands

Enveloped in his new mother's embrace, 4-year-old Jersen Silvester Eefting gazed wide-eyed around a hotel lobby at the end of an 11-hour flight that whisked him from the devastation of Haiti to his new home in the Netherlands.

"It feels magnificent," said Florence Okosieme, wife of a wealthy tribal leader from Nigeria, touches down at Wayne County Airport, Detroit. A limousine awaits to whisk her through the grimy streets of 'Murder City' to the suburb of Pontiac, where a poor family awaits her help.

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This charming man: an audience with the Gover

2010-04-16T13:09:31Z

There are two reliable tricks which can fill the room at any Tory speaking event: offer free beer, or put Michael Gove on the panel. His fusion of almost comic politeness and intellectual ruthlessness have given him quite a following, whether he's defending neoconservatism or David Cameron. In three short years he has been propelled to the Tory front bench, tasked with devis...

Race dilemma at the heart of our adoption crisis

2010-04-16T16:55:33Z

Fiona Graham is white, but she has been racially abused when out with her children over the past few years. 'They don't shout at the kids, but there have been a few choice things said to me,' she says. 'Paki lover' is a favourite. That's if she's not with her oil rig worker husband, who is as white as she is and of an intimidating stature.

The Grahams have two children, Aisha, 10, and Burhan, five, who were born to a British Pakistani woman and a white father in the north-east of E...

You were born with your future facial expressions

2010-10-15T20:30:32Z

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Britain Tuition Tangle

2011-01-04T08:04:09Z

FILE - This is a Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010 file photo of Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as they react as their car is attacked by angry protesters in London. British police released a video Tuesday Jan. 4, 2011 of ...

Germany Partial Solar Eclipse

2011-01-05T08:02:05Z

A partial solar eclipse is pictured through clouds in Albershausen, southwestern Germany, on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011. (AP Photo/dapd, Daniel Kopatsch)

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Australia Flooding

2011-01-05T08:06:21Z

In this photo released by the Northern Territory Police, four German tourists rest on the roof of their vehicle as they wait for their rescue from the flooded Magela Creek, near Jabiru, Australia, Monday, Jan. 3, 2011. Drenching rain that started before Christmas has flooded an area the size of France and Real Madrid's Kaka from Brazil runs with the ball during a Spanish La Liga soccer match against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain Monday, Jan. 3, 2011. Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol, right, of Spain and his brother Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol of Spain tangles under the basket during the first half of their