Pound Pup Legacy

The first private contributor to the French Adoption Army, the Rogier Zanier foundation, is funder of the Holy Baby Orphanages in Cambodia. LICADHO, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, wrote the following report about a case related to the orphanage in Takhmau:

In November 2001, a married couple in Phnom Penh, P & C, requested LICADHO’s assistance to recover their one-month-old baby. P & C were poor itinerants without permanent jobs or home in Phnom Penh. The mother, P, stated that on November 13, 2001 she took her baby boy to a medical clinic in Takhmau, Kandal province. P was taken there by another woman, who had told her that she would receive money if she agreed to give up her baby there. The clinic staff took the baby boy (after giving him a blood test to check that he was not HIV-positive) and gave P $85 in return, according to P’s testimony. P was asked to sign a document at the clinic stating that she gave up her baby voluntarily (the document did not refer to adoption of the child). She signed this document without the knowledge of her husband, C, who did not give his consent. A few days later, C, who had been out of town looking for work, returned home and learned of his wife’s actions. After discussion, P & C decided they wanted their baby back and approached LICADHO for help.

LICADHO investigators established that the medical clinic is owned by Dr Keo San, a former Cambodian senator who is also director of the organization which runs Holy Baby orphanage in Takhmau. LICADHO investigators, attempting to establish whether P & C’s baby was there, visited the orphanage but were not allowed to see the young babies there.

On November 21, 2001, LICADHO contacted the Ministry of Interior’s police anti-trafficking unit, requesting an investigation and return of the baby to his parents. Subsequently, the police informed LICADHO that Dr Keo San and staff of the orphanage refused to return the baby, because P had signed a document giving up the baby. Holy Baby staff also informed the police that the baby would be adopted to a foreign country.

Six months later, the baby had still not been returned. The police investigation continued, supposedly, but without any result. In June 2002, LICADHO became aware that Holy Baby was supported by the Zannier Holy Baby Foundation in France and wrote to its director, Dr Pascal Hourtoulle, about this case. For the next four months, despite an exchange of letters between LICADHO and Dr Hourtoulle, the latter provided no information about the origins and whereabouts of the child.

Meanwhile, in July 2002, LICADHO became aware that the Cambodian government had approved the child for adoption to France in February 2002. Inquiries with the French Embassy confirmed that the child had been adopted to France in February.

The official adoption dossier included a document, signed by Dr Keo San and by Holy Baby center director Vong Lay Huort, which falsely stated that the child was “abandoned” and his parents are unknown.

In late July, the Ministry of Interior anti-trafficking unit – following a request by the French Embassy for information on its investigation into this case – requested a meeting with P & C at the ministry. LICADHO staff were refused permission to witness the meeting. According to P & C, senior ministry officials informed them at the meeting that their son was in France and would have a good life there. At the request of the police, P & C signed a document withdrawing their complaint against Holy Baby orphanage and their request for the return of their child.

LICADHO has concerns about the manner in which P & C were asked to withdraw their complaint. However, in subsequent discussions with LICADHO, P & C repeated that they do not seek the return of their child from France now that he is already there. P & C, who are extremely poor, feel that their son will have a better life in France. LICADHO respects their wishes.

Nevertheless, LICADHO remains concerned about alleged improprieties committed by Holy Baby personnel, including:

• Alleged payment made to P in return for handing over the child at Keo San’s medical clinic;
• Apparent use of the private medical clinic to receive children who are then sent to Holy Baby orphanage;
• Lack of prior consent given by P and by C to the adoption of their son abroad;
• Adoption of the child abroad after P & C had filed a complaint requesting the return of their child;
• False adoption paperwork prepared by Holy Baby staff stating that the child was “abandoned”, parents unknown.

In October 2002, Pascal Hourtoulle, on a visit to Cambodia, agreed to meet with LICADHO. During the meeting, he acknowledged that the child obtained from P was the same child who had been adopted to France. However, he did not accept that Holy Baby had acted improperly in any way. In a February 2003 meeting with LICADHO, French businessman Roger Zannier – the funder of the Zannier Holy Baby Foundation – also indicated that he saw no wrongdoing by the orphanage.

Mission de l’Adoption Internationale (MAI), the French government agency responsible for international adoptions, issued a statement in October 2002 urging prospective adoptive parents seeking children from Holy Baby to obtain specific information about the circumstances in which the children entered the orphanage.

Holy Baby has no information about the identity of the birth parents of three-quarters of the children at the orphanage, Pascal Hourtoulle told LICADHO in October 2002.

This is the type of environment France is going to send it's young and unexperienced volunteers to, backed by the money of a French industrial who sees no wrong doing in fraud and child-trafficking.