Hong Kong - A nanny who cared for an adopted Korean
girl given up by a senior Dutch diplomat and his family claims the
girl was not treated like a normal daughter, a news report said
Friday.
She was rarely in her mother's arms and always in the care of
someone else, according to a former Indonesian maid quoted in South
China Morning Post Friday.
The woman, who has requested not to be named, worked for the Dutch
vice-consul Raymond Poeteray and his wife Meta in Hong Kong and when
the family was based in Jakarta in 2002.
She said she thought it strange that the girl, now eight, was so
quiet.
'They did not treat her the same way as the son. There was not the
love there,' the maid told The Post.
Vice-consul Poeteray and his wife Meta adopted the girl aged four
months when he was working in South Korea in 2000, at a time when the
couple believed they were unable to have children.
They have since had two children of their own and last year handed
the adopted girl to social workers in Hong Kong, saying the adoption
had 'gone wrong.' The Poeterays have now returned to the
Netherlands where the vice-consul has been asked to explain his
actions to the government.
The maid's comments follow a statement issued by the couple
published on Thursday in the Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf.
In their statement, the Poeterays reject all allegations, claiming
she suffered from a severe fear of bonding which became so severe
that medical specialists advised that she be placed in temporary
care.
They said 'contrary to what has been written in the media, we do
not want to get rid of our daughter. We never even considered giving
her up.
'Mid-2006 certified medical specialists, social workers, the
adoption organization Mothers Choice as well as the Hong Kong Social
Services, recommended us to place her in foster care temporarily.'
The parents say they are still undergoing therapy, as is their
daughter, but specialists were not certain the girl could ever return
to her parental home.
'We continue to hope she will,' the consul writes, 'We will do our
utmost to find a solution' so she 'can find happiness in her life.'
The girl, who speaks English and Cantonese but not Korean, is
neither a citizen of her adoptive parents' home country nor a Hong
Kong resident so her future in the territory is uncertain.
The plight of the girl, described by the newspaper as healthy and
happy, has sparked anger and bewilderment among members of the Korean
community in Hong Kong.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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