The Swedes searching for their Colombian mothers 40 years after their adoptions: ‘They stole my identity’

 

READ:   https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-02-15/the-swedes-searching-for-their-colombian-mothers-40-years-after-their-adoptions-they-stole-my-identity.html

PUNISHED: Sweden Boarding school for Sami Children

 Samí journalist and author Ann-Helén Laestadius offers readers a glimpse into the government-backed school system for the Indigenous children of Sweden that has parallels with the U.S. Indian Boarding School Era. Her novel, Punished, follows five Sami children forced to attend a nomad school in the 1950s. The story stays with them into adulthood, where each copes with the physical, mental, and cultural abuse scars just below the surface. Originally published in Swedish, the English translation of Punished is now available. Laestadius joins us for this month’s Native Bookshelf discussion. 

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Sweden to Investigate International Adoptions

Posted on December 7, 2021

The government of Sweden is the most recent to announce that it will investigate “irregularities” in the last 60 years of international adoptions, focusing in particular on China and Chile.

Around 60,000 children have been adopted to Sweden, most originally from South Korea, India, Colombia, and Sri Lanka.

Results of the investigation are expected to be released in November 2023.

In February 2021, The Netherlands froze international adoptions after adult adoptees raised concerns about adoptions from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. A government commission found some adoptions, dating back to the 1960’s and through the 1990’s, where children had been stolen or bought.

An additional article about Sweden’s investigations from February 2021 is available here.