About 30,000 young women were taken into shelters and gave birth anonymously, after which the Church sold their children for big money. The horror that occurred for forty years is exposed in the HLN– podcast Children of the Church.
The House debated it today during a plenary meeting. Five members of the House asked their question about these new revelations, including Yngvild Ingels. She herself has no knowledge of who her biological mother is. “Colleagues, I don’t like standing here today and you know why,” he said. “The testimonies in the newspaper this morning (Thursday, ed.), they make a difference. But I am also grateful that a birth mother finally spoke, because we very rarely hear that.”
She calls for recognition of the horror that has occurred for years and underlines that “time is running out”. “We’re all not getting any younger. I don’t know how old my biological mother was, but I’m well into my forties now, so we don’t have much time anymore. I only ask you one thing, Mr. Minister, when can we expect an answer?”
The end of her testimony made a deep impression on the MPs. “When I read articles and hear testimonials from birth parents, they always have one central question: what would my child be like? I can’t tell her myself, but I would like to tell her that I am doing well, that I have ended up well, that I have been in a warm nest and that my adoptive parents are fantastic. I hope one day I can tell her myself.” Ingels broke down in tears, after which she received a standing ovation from almost the entire hemisphere.
Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry
Minister of Justice Paul Van Tigchelt (Open Vld) believes that the facts must be thoroughly investigated and sees a role in this, among other things, for the parliamentary investigation committee that is currently examining sexual abuse in the Church. “It is our responsibility that victims get what they are entitled to, that they are recognized, that we get to the bottom of the facts and that this never happens again.”
Van Tigchelt, who, in addition to Justice and the North Sea, is also responsible for religious services, spoke of “immense suffering caused by atrocious practices by the Church”.
Whether there could also be legal consequences is less certain, Van Tigchelt indicated at the same time. After all, most facts may be outdated. Moreover, human trafficking has only been punishable since 1995, while the offenses took place between WWII and the 1980s.
