Dutch diplomat gave up adopted girl on medical advice
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch diplomat who caused an uproar when he returned an adopted Korean girl after seven years said he did so on medical advice because she had such severe problems fitting into the family.
The case sparked outrage in Hong Kong and the Netherlands. The Dutch daily De Telegraaf newspaper wrote on Wednesday that the couple had thrown her away like household rubbish.
The couple adopted the eight-year-old Jade when she was four months old while they were based in South Korea, believing they could not have children. The wife later gave birth to two children, the South China Morning Post said.
"When we moved from Jakarta to Hong Kong in 2004, medical specialists diagnosed that my daughter suffers from serious bonding problems," Raymond Poeteray and his wife Meta wrote in a letter to De Telegraaf on Thursday. Poeteray now works at the Dutch consulate in Hong Kong.
The couple said intensive family therapy had not helped, and the situation began to take a toll on the entire family. They said that contrary to media reports, they had not intended to give her up formally and still considered her their daughter.
"The situation developed such that in mid-2006 on the advice of medical specialists, social workers and the adoption organization Mothers Choice and the Hong Kong social services, it was decided that Jade be placed in temporary care.
"Though the specialists now think it is not possible that Jade can be brought home, we continue to hope," they said, adding that all the negative publicity surrounding the case was making things worse and begged to be left alone.
NEW HOME
The couple said in their letter that the adoption in Korea complied with Korean regulations and laws. But they said they had not completed procedures to obtain Dutch nationality for the child because of the medical problems.
Hong Kong's Korean community voiced outrage at the child's treatment and were working with the consulate and Hong Kong's social welfare department to try to find her a new home.
"It is an unfair situation, many Koreans want her to find a new family," said a representative for the Korean Residents Association in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's Social Welfare Department said foster parents were now caring for the girl, but declined further comment.
"She is Korean and her situation after seven years of adoption is that she is hurting," a South Korean consular official said.
"Our concern is for the welfare of the child. We're looking for a good home for her, she cannot speak Korean, she can only speak English and Cantonese, so we think it's better for her to find a home in Hong Kong."
(Additional reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong; Editing by Caroline Drees)
