WEBVTT 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:14.942 My name is Asha Narayan Iyer and I'm working as a senior researcher on this project on international adoptions in collaboration with Bern University of Applied Sciences and the University of St Gallen. 00:00:15.046 --> 00:00:21.030 In the time period of the study, there's been many more international adoptions versus domestic adoptions. 00:00:21.070 --> 00:00:30.842 And one of the findings from talking to different people in the field was to understand why this was the case. 00:00:31.026 --> 00:00:38.386 And so for that it was important to understand the socio cultural milieu that was one part of the study. 00:00:38.458 --> 00:00:57.018 The other is, you know, part of the purpose of the study is to also inform the adoptees who have been adopted in Switzerland about more about the cultural situation or the culture of India from the period during which they were adopted. 00:00:57.114 --> 00:01:01.410 So it's a kind of a double, you know, double objective. 00:01:01.570 --> 00:01:15.070 So as I got to understand as part of the discussions with different players in the field of adoption, there are few factors which kind of describe the socio cultural situation in milieu in India. 00:01:15.810 --> 00:01:39.400 These relate to specifically the situation of girls and what, you know, in terms of their lack of education, in terms of the very fact that, you know, it's a struggle from right from the cradle to, as they call, as it's called, the tomb or the grave. 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:46.320 Everything boils down to having to struggle just in terms of getting their voices heard. 00:01:47.180 --> 00:02:09.756 It is related to their, just the fact that they're a girl and the culture that is seen, or has been seen, and I'm not talking about this in the past tense, it also is relevant now, is about how there is a preference for males as compared to females, and therefore there is a struggle around that. 00:02:09.868 --> 00:02:12.532 So that's one aspect of the socio cultural menu. 00:02:12.636 --> 00:02:19.730 The other is about the status of women, lack of education and inability. 00:02:19.890 --> 00:02:24.042 I mean, there is no voice, they don't have a voice to being heard. 00:02:24.186 --> 00:02:37.994 And over here, the presentation also talked about the fact that I cannot generalise across India because there are specific states or it's not like one kind of size fits all. 00:02:38.122 --> 00:02:56.476 And so it's specific to certain parts of India wherein lack of education, lack of opportunities, lack of economics has led to women's voices not being heard or them not having control over their reproductive rights. 00:02:56.508 --> 00:02:59.252 So these are some of the factors that we focused on. 00:02:59.356 --> 00:03:07.036 And then to add to that is also this whole aspect of adoption. 00:03:07.188 --> 00:03:23.898 A lot of children coming into adoption and not much of acceptance for adopted children in the indian society in the early seventies to 2000, as a result of which there was a greater flow of children into international adoptions as compared to domestic adoptions. 00:03:24.034 --> 00:03:31.706 One because locally, I mean, in the indian context, domestic adoptions were not something that the society looked at. 00:03:31.858 --> 00:03:43.038 And on the other hand, there was, you know, there was a lot of inflow of parents from other countries, from european countries who were looking, looking at adopting children. 00:03:43.094 --> 00:03:46.942 And so therefore, this was, you know, part of the findings of the study. 00:03:47.006 --> 00:03:54.814 I mean, this was not, in brief, it sounded pretty elaborate, but these were some of the factors which were talked about in the socio cultural milieu. 00:03:54.982 --> 00:03:58.350 So for us, it is very special to have this workshop with you. 00:03:58.390 --> 00:04:01.006 It is very special to have this collaboration with you. 00:04:01.158 --> 00:04:10.824 And I was wondering if it's also very special to you or how do you perceive this jointly working on the adoption topic? 00:04:10.992 --> 00:04:26.088 You know, for me, the interesting part is that this workshop which has been conducted here, has brought together different actors, you know, right, from the government to practitioners and academicians. 00:04:26.224 --> 00:04:38.420 So at one level, we are also learning the same language because we are talking about the same issue and we come from different walks of life, but we are all connected to the issue. 00:04:40.280 --> 00:04:42.440 So that made it very interesting for me. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:50.072 And of course, it is in, you know, the translations really help engaging people in the discussion. 00:04:50.216 --> 00:05:16.184 The other side that, because I have worked in the adoption sector in India, is what I find is if this kind of forum could be also established in India, you know, established in the sense that if we could bring together practitioners from different walks of life, I think there will be a lot that can also be achieved in countries from where children are going into adoption. 00:05:16.312 --> 00:05:26.472 And as we've seen through the discussions and debates in the day, there are different sides to the coin, and nobody, I mean, everybody doesn't have the answers. 00:05:26.536 --> 00:05:32.460 I think we're all coming together to be able to find some kind of a way out of this. 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:46.142 So for us in India, I think, I mean, I, you know, as being involved in this study, it's also we have not, you know, we are interested in looking at the situation today in terms of what can be done. 00:05:46.286 --> 00:06:04.340 And one of the things that is being discussed is in future, you know, if there is the possibilities of how international adoptions can be better handled by countries from where children are going into international adoption. 00:06:04.380 --> 00:06:07.580 So that, for me is that it is doable. 00:06:07.700 --> 00:06:14.292 There is with the right kind of bringing the right people together. 00:06:14.476 --> 00:06:24.348 And the people who are there in this room do have that ability to carry the voices beyond just this room in the sense of making change happen. 00:06:24.444 --> 00:06:26.440 So that, for me was very interesting. 00:06:26.900 --> 00:06:29.412 I'm thinking about India and Switzerland. 00:06:29.476 --> 00:06:32.146 We have two quite different situations. 00:06:32.308 --> 00:06:39.990 So in India, you're still doing international adoptions, whereas in Switzerland we have a decline in international adoptions. 00:06:40.070 --> 00:06:49.318 So we are actually looking at the past, we are investigating the past, whereas you are looking at the current system and the future system. 00:06:49.494 --> 00:06:55.702 So how are you profiting from this research collaboration with us? 00:06:55.886 --> 00:07:05.224 I think such forums here is a forum which is, you know, with a purpose, but, you know, there is also a lot of sharing happening within that process. 00:07:05.392 --> 00:07:11.500 And I think everybody in this room, you know, there is enough for a takeaway. 00:07:12.640 --> 00:07:15.064 So that's where the positiveness. 00:07:15.112 --> 00:07:17.944 I know that's where the energy is coming from. 00:07:18.112 --> 00:07:21.860 So what are your takeaways from the workshop to India? 00:07:22.320 --> 00:07:23.400 My takeaways? 00:07:23.520 --> 00:07:24.336 Okay. 00:07:24.488 --> 00:07:31.160 Like you mentioned earlier, the big white elephant in the room, which is you, you know, birth mothers and their stories. 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:43.896 And that's something like I was sharing earlier with PNbus and, you know, someone saying that I never, till I got into the study, I wasn't. 00:07:44.008 --> 00:07:51.180 I really didn't pay attention to birth mothers because I've come into the sector from working with other children's issues. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:58.294 You know, it never struck me that there is this huge, big invisible part which nobody's paying attention to. 00:07:58.392 --> 00:08:06.110 Is there anything you would like to share, an additional sharing that you would like to make thinking about adoption or adoption research? 00:08:07.090 --> 00:08:08.146 It's, you know. 00:08:08.258 --> 00:08:08.730 Yeah. 00:08:08.810 --> 00:08:18.990 Yesterday when I was on the flight coming to Switzerland, I was reading the distance and it said 6820 kilometres, India to Switzerland. 00:08:21.850 --> 00:08:28.610 Children have travelled so far and come and there are voices in this room today who were talking about it. 00:08:28.910 --> 00:08:39.210 So somewhere I feel that these children travel such long distances without knowing what they were in for. 00:08:42.350 --> 00:08:52.700 It's not that all of them got a bad deal, but, you know, the uncertainty and maybe some of them didn't even realise it, they just grew into it. 00:08:53.080 --> 00:09:00.920 And that makes it, you know, whose best interests.