Investigator Arun Dohle is in India searching for a woman named Kamala Bai, who may have been scammed into giving up her children Jyothi and Gayathri Svahn 24 years ago. He soon finds other victims who similarly fell prey to the international adoption industry.
ABOUT THE SERIES: Believing she was ‘stolen’ and trafficked as an ‘orphan’, Jyothi Svahn goes on a multi-country hunt for her birth family – and uncovers an international adoption industry built on lies, greed, and heartbreak.
More at http://cna.asia/orphans
Arun Dohle (b. 1973) was adopted by a German couple from an Indian orphanage. Like many adoptees, he started to search for his roots in his late teens. The Indian orphanage did not want to provide access to his file. Arun addressed the Indian Courts and it took 17 years to finally obtain access to the desired information. That´s how he learned that adoption is not about what is “good” for children but rather protects the interests of adoption agencies, adoptive parents, and other vested interests.
Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists by the Vance Twins
During his yearlong struggle to obtain his right to know the identity of his mother, Arun teamed up with Indian child rights activists. This was the beginning of his advocacy for children’s rights work.
Following a major trafficking scandal in 2005, Arun took up the cases of several Indian families whose children were kidnapped, sold to orphanages, and adopted abroad.
The media reporting about his own case led many Indian adoptees to contact him. He advised them on their searches and eventually organized searches in India with the help of his Indian network of social workers and lawyers.
Arun gave up his job as a financial consultant while he dedicated his life to child rights and correcting the injustice of inter-country adoption — one case at a time.
Read more about Arun from Adoptionland, along with other adopted people around the world.
