Dutch State must compensate adult adoptee for abuses in 1992 Sri Lanka adoption: court

A woman adopted from Sri Lanka in 1992 won a lawsuit she filed against the Dutch State. Due to abuses, Delani Butink could not find out who her biological parents were. The State and mediation organization acted unlawfully, relying too much on the authorities in Sri Lanka, the appeals court in The Hague ruled on Tuesday. They should have done more to avoid problems.

The first court rejected the woman’s complaint in 2020. The case was time-barred, and there was no reason to make an exception for Butink, the judges ruled at the time. Butink appealed and with success. According to the appeals court, time-barring is unacceptable in this case.

Dutch parents adopted Butink in 1992. She started looking for her biological parents in 2009 and returned to Sri Lanka in 2015. There she found out that her adoption papers had been falsified with the knowledge of the Dutch mediation organization Stichting Kind en Toekomst (the Child and Future Foundation). As a result, she was unable to find her biological parents. The situation created a great deal of uncertainty for her, about her origins and the circumstances under which her parents placed her up for adoption.

The court ruled that the Dutch State must pay the woman compensation. The amount is yet to be determined.