Before the weekend, the government announced a full investigation into overseas adoptions dating back to the 80s after a number of stories of illegal adoptions. Already in 2020, news told the story of adopted Aarsheim. The year before, Aarsheim had discovered that he had been kidnapped in Colombia in the 80s before he was adopted to Norway. In Norway, he grew up with a Norwegian family in Stadlandet. The family was blissfully unaware of the three-year-old’s past. 32 years after the kidnapping, news was able to be there when he got to meet his biological family for the first time. Aarsheim received an enormous response after the story became known. – I was full of impressions. The fact that it got such a big response from adoptees, adoptive parents and the public in general was a big surprise. There was almost exclusively positive feedback, he says. But a telephone conversation from the chairman of the agency Adoption Forum is said to have stood out. John Erik Aarsheim and his brother Juan Jimenez were then reunited for the first time after 32 years. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news – Tried to gag me – It wasn’t a congratulatory phone call, but an angry chairman who wanted to hear what my motive was for going out with the story, he says. He tells of a “relatively short but brutal conversation”. – She tried to make me responsible for the fact that Adoption Forum had received many critical inquiries from other adoptive parents, says Aarsheim. Aarsheim says he thought he would get a nice phone call asking if the agency could assist with anything in his situation. But he claims the chairman rather encouraged him to tell the media that his kidnapping story was not true. – They cast a lot of doubt on my story. I experienced that they tried to gag me in what they thought was my purpose for the story, he says. The brothers in Colombia before the kidnapping. Granted that cases could emerge – then they did what the Norwegian authorities stated to news in 2020 that they had never heard of similar stories to the one about Aarsheim. But later that year, the Adoption Forum admitted to news that similar cases from the 70s and 80s may appear. In January this year, VG revealed precisely this. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the organization Adoption Forum transferred money to Ecuador when it became clear that Camilla Austebø had probably been kidnapped in Ecuador before she was adopted to Norway. VG has also told the story of Simon Valvik, who experienced opposition from the Adoption Forum when he started digging into his adoption story. – When the case about Camilla came to light in VG, I realized that there was something behind it. In the conversation with Adoption Forum, they were concerned that my story could not be correct because there had never been any illegal adoptions through Adoption Forum. That could not be true, because my story was an example of the opposite, says Aarsheim. – Differing opinions news has presented the allegations to Aarsheim for the Adoption Forum and asked for comments from chairman Andrea Johanna Bratt Mæhlum. Managing director Nina Wang answers on behalf of the chairman who called Aarsheim. She will neither confirm nor deny whether it is true that the chairman asked Aarsheim to adjust his story in the media. – There are different opinions about how this conversation went, and it does nothing good for us to speculate about it, writes Nina Wang, general manager of the organization to news. – Lei oss Wang writes that Adoption Forum is positive about a full investigation of adoption cases from the 80s. – We are sorry that John Erik did not experience being followed up in a good way. Those affected by the cases from the 80s deserve full answers, she writes. She states that “Adoption Forum will do what we can to help ensure that everything comes to light through the external investigation and that everyone who is waiting for answers gets them.” General Manager of Adoption Forum Nina Wang. Photo: Lise Strandlien – Every stone that can be turned must be turned. We will make the information and documentation we have available, so it must be reviewed and followed up by the right authorities, writes the daily manager. Wang denies that Adoption Forum has tried to gag Aarsheim. – We respect his experience and what John Erik says. Adoption Forum has no interest in gagging anyone. We want all the facts on the table. We will do everything we can to contribute to the authorities and the external investigators’ work going forward. Got two families For Aarsheim, it was harrowing to learn the truth about his life. But he has also got his biological family back and has been to Colombia several times. He hopes the investigation will provide answers to more families out there. – I think it is incredibly important that adoptees and adoptive families meet with openness. They must listen, show that they have confidence in those who come forward with their stories. It is incredibly difficult for those involved to dig up all this from their past, says Aarsheim. John Erik Aarsheim and his family in Colombia. Photo: Private
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Adoptee John Erik says he was asked by the Adoption Forum to retract the kidnapping story – news Vestland
