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Tamar (Lommel)
Tamar was a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children located in the Belgian city of Lommel, run by the Congregation of Kindsheid Jesu. It was established in 1970 on the attic of the Maria Middelares Hospital and moved in 1976 to its own building next to the hospital. Tamar was established to help young women who where pregnant out of wedlock. Tamar became notorious for its involvement in forced adoptions forced adoptions and unwanted sterilizations of young girls. Tamar operated during a period in Belgium when adoption practices were often shrouded in secrecy and church-run institutions held significant influence over many aspects of society. One of the aspects of Tamar’s operations was the involvement in anonymous births in France, known as Sous X (literally "under X"), a practice that was legal in France but prohibited in Belgium. Many young women, often teenagers, were forced to travel to France to give birth anonymously. Afterward, the children were illegall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maternity Home
A maternity home, or maternity housing program, is a form of supportive housing provided to pregnant women. Maternity housing programs support a woman in need of a stable home environment to reach her goals in a variety of areas including education, employment, financial stability, prenatal care, and more. There are over 400 maternity homes in the United States ranging in size and criteria for admittance. Staffing model is a primary way that maternity homes differ. The three major staffing models are houseparents (e.g. a married couple), live-in staff, and shift staff. Additionally, there are a limited number of maternity housing program who operate as a "shepherding" or "host" home. In the "host home" model, women are connected to screened households that offer to provide housing. In other countries, the term "maternity home" may refer to the above described or may describe a temporary residence for pregnant women awaiting birth, which might include women who must travel long d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the south, and the North Sea to the west. Belgium covers an area of and has a population of more than 11.8 million; its population density of ranks List of countries and dependencies by population density, 22nd in the world and Area and population of European countries, sixth in Europe. The capital and Metropolitan areas in Belgium, largest metropolitan region is City of Brussels, Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven. Belgium is a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a complex Federation, federal system structured on regional and linguistic grounds. The country is divided into three highly autonomous Communities, regions and language areas o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lommel
Lommel () is a municipality and city in the Belgian province of Limburg. Lying in the Kempen, it has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the arrondissement of Maaseik. Besides the residential town, Lommel also has a number of nature reserves, such as the nature reserve De Watering, the Lommel Sahara, and numerous forests and heathlands. Lommel is the third shopping city in Belgian Limburg with a commercial and shopping center ''De Singel''. Importantly, the silver sand that is mined here for the benefit of the glass industry. Some sand mining quarries are transformed into nature reserves and recreational areas, including Lommel Sahara. The city of Lommel is in the watershed of the basins of the Scheldt, and Meuse, and within these basins Nete Dommel respectively. Tamar, a maternity home for pregnant girls and unmarried mothers and their children run by the Congregation of Kindsheid Jesu, is located in Lommel. Despite its religious mission to help young women, Tamar was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Congregation
Congregation may refer to: Religion *Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church *Religious congregation, a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church *Congregation (group of houses), in some religious orders of the Catholic Church Music * The Congregation (band), an English pop group * ''Congregation'' (The Afghan Whigs album), 1992, and its title song * ''Congregation'' (Kerbdog album), 2014 * ''The Congregation'' (Johnny Griffin album), 1957 * ''The Congregation'' (Leprous album), 2015 * "Congregation" (song), by Foo Fighters, 2014 Other uses *Congregation (university), a formal meeting of a university See also * Congregate (other) * Congregational church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.Gerald O'Collins, O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches, ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and Eparchy, eparchies List of Catholic dioceses (structured view), around the world, each overseen by one or more Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the Papal supremacy, chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and List of islands of France, many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it Exclusive economic zone of France, one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany to the northeast; Switzerland to the east; Italy and Monaco to the southeast; Andorra and Spain to the south; and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its Regions of France, eighteen integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of and hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from the biological parents to the adoptive parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Historically, some societies have enacted specific laws governing adoption, while others used less formal means (notably contracts that specified inheritance rights and parental responsibilities without an accompanying transfer of filiation). Modern systems of adoption, arising in the 20th century, tend to be governed by comprehensive statutes and regulations. History Antiquity Adoption for the well-born While the modern form of adoption emerged in the United States, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their choosing. Podcasts are primarily an audio medium, but some distribute in video, either as their primary content or as a supplement to audio; popularised in recent years by video platform YouTube. In 2025, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg reported that a billion people are watching podcasts on YouTube every month. A podcast series usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event. Discussion and content within a podcast can range from carefully scripted to completely improvised. Podcasts combine elaborate and artistic sound production with thematic concerns ranging from scientific research to Slice of life, slice-of-life journalism. Many podcast series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinderen Van De Kerk
Kinderen van de kerk (Children of the Church) is a four-part Belgian podcast series released between December 2023 and January 2024. It was created by podcast makers Achille Van Ingelgem and Feline Franceus, in collaboration with the newspaper ''Het Laatste Nieuws''. The series explores the history of forced adoptions by Roman Catholic institutions in Belgium. The podcast presents testimonies from mothers and adopted children, often speaking publicly for the first time. It critically examines the role of Catholic religious orders, particularly nuns, in separating children from their mothers, sometimes without informed consent. Allegations are made that these institutions were financially compensated, raising concerns about child laundering and human trafficking. A central focus is the maternity home Tamar in Lommel, operated by the nuns of the Congregation of Kindsheid Jesu. Survivors allege that children were taken from their mothers at Tamar under coercive circumstances. A d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuns
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of Evangelical counsels, poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Enclosed religious orders, enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is often used interchangeably with Religious sister (Catholic), religious sisters who do take simple Vow, vows but live an active vocation of prayer and charitable work. In Christianity, nuns are found in the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheranism, Lutheran, and Anglicanism, Anglican and some Presbyterian traditions, as well as other Christian denominations. In the Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, female Monasticism, monastics are known as Bhikkhunī, Bhikkhuni, and take several Eight Garudhammas, additional vows compared to male monastics (bhikkhus). Nuns are most common in Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, but have more recently become more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Belgium
For most of its history, what is today Belgium was either a part of a larger territory, such as the medieval Carolingian Empire, or was divided into a number of smaller states which were prominent among them. The pre Belgian states being, the Duchy of Lower Lorraine, the Duchy of Brabant, the County of Flanders, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the County of Namur, the County of Hainaut and the County of Luxembourg. Due to its strategic location as a country in contact between different cultures, Belgium has historically been called the "crossroads of Europe", and for the many armies fighting on its soil, it has also been called the "battlefield of Europe" or the " cockpit of Europe". Today, Belgium's modern shape can be traced back at least as far as the southern core of the medieval Burgundian Netherlands. The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) later led to the split between a northern Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands from which Belgium and Luxembourg developed. The ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forced Adoption
Forced adoption refers to the practice of removing children from their biological families and placing them for adoption against the wishes of the parents, often with little or no consent. This practice has historically been a significant issue in various countries, where societal, governmental, and institutional pressures led to the forced separation of children from their families, especially in cases where the parents were marginalized, impoverished, or deemed unfit by authorities. The practice has been widely criticized for its violation of human rights and its long-lasting emotional and psychological effects on both children and parents. Forced assimilation Removing children of ethnic minorities from their families to be adopted by those of the dominant ethnic group has been used as a method of forced assimilation. "Forcibly transferring children of group to another group" is genocide according to the Genocide Convention. While this usually revolves around ethnicity, assimilat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
