– One is always a little curious about where life started. As an adoptee, you have no idea. Magnus Helio Holen from Averøy in Nordmøre talks about why he started investigating his adoption case as an adult. He was only one year old when he came to Averøy from Brazil, and as an adult he became curious about who his biological family was. Photo: Eline Molvær Løndal / news He is one of many adoptees who have requested access to their adoption case at the Norwegian Directorate of Children, Youth and Families (Bufdir). So far this year, Bufdir has received over 340 requests for access to foreign adoptions. By comparison, there were less than 70 people who did the same in the whole of 2020. Received paper from Brazil Holen says that he first sought access to paper from Brazil. It took a year before he got them sent. – It was during the corona, so many offices were closed then. This made the process take a little longer. But when he first got them, he was very happy. – They all had paper, it looked like anyway, he says. Magnus Helio Holen thinks it is worrying that it will take so long to gain access. Photo: Eline Molvær Løndal / news He thinks it’s taking too long He thinks, on the other hand, that it took far too long to get a response to the application from Bufdir. Nordmøringen wanted to be completely sure that the paper from Brazil had all the information, so he also sought access to Bufdir in Norway. – I applied in May and got a reply on 3 November, says Holen, who thinks it is far too long. He emphasizes that it was not a very big deal for him, who had already received papers from Brazil. But he thinks about those who don’t have it. – It can be very psychologically difficult to go and wait. – Waiting times must go down Minister for Children and Families, Kjersti Toppe, agrees that it is unacceptable that waiting times are so long. Minister for Children and Families, Kjersti Toppe. Photo: William Jobling / news – We have prioritized the adoption field and given a clear management signal to the directorate that waiting times should be reduced, and that the processing capacity for such inquiries should be increased, says Toppe. Kristin Ugstad Steinrem, who is department director at Bufdir, acknowledges that they have a long processing time. – We have had an average processing time of 4.9 months. It has to do with the large number of inquiries we receive, she says. But she says that they are working to reduce the treatment time. – Measures have been put in place. The waiting time is still several months, but if we had not introduced those measures, the processing time would probably have been even longer, she says and continues: – We understand of course that it is a long wait for those who wish to receive their documents, says Steinreim. In March, Magnus Helio Holen got to meet his biological mother for the first time. Here he is together with her and his interpreter. Photo: Privat First Christmas in Brazil Thanks to Holen being able to see his case, he got to meet his biological family for the first time in March. – It was special. It was more important than I had imagined beforehand, actually. Holen says that the meeting with siblings, aunts, uncles and mother has enriched his life. Soon it will be ready for another meeting. – I will be celebrating Christmas there for the first time, so it will be a lot of fun. Magnus Helio Holen is in Christian Strand’s TV series on news, “Gitt bort”. Photo: news The hole is also in the TV series “Gitt bort” which premieres on news today.
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Several ask for access to adoption papers: – It can be psychologically difficult to go and wait
