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25 October 2007
UTRECHT – The biological father of 2.5-year-old Donna has not been awarded any visitation rights to the child. The Dutch adoptive parents retain full custody, the court in Utrecht ruled on Wednesday.
The Belgian father had requested that the Dutch parents be divested of custody. The court saw no reason to do so since the child is being cared for properly. The father had also requested visitation rights. His petition was found inadmissible because he has never been a part of Donna’s family life.
The court did decide that child protection authorities should investigate the living situation of Donna, who has been living with her foster parents in the Netherlands since March 2005.
The foster parents “bought” the girl from a Belgian surrogate mother who had previously made an agreement with the Belgian biological father. Shortly before giving birth however the surrogate lied to the Belgian man, saying she’d had a miscarriage. The surrogate later claimed that the child she gave birth to was her husband’s. DNA tests revealed however that the Belgian man with whom the surrogate had an original agreement was in fact the child’s father.
[Copyright Expatica News 2007]
Subject: Dutch news, Belgian news