Dowse family told of delight after Tristan’s adoption

IT was straight to the photographers’ studio for the Dowse family when, after years of trying for a baby, they adopted a gorgeous two-month-old boy.

The portrait shows a beaming Joe Dowse, Lala and a clearly delighted Tata, Lala’s daughter from a former relationship.

Tata has one arm around her mother and with the other hand, she holds on tightly to her new brother.

Joe and Lala couldn’t wait to tell friends and family the good news and an e-mail was quickly sent to spread the word.

“New arrival - Joe, Lala and Tata are delighted to announce the adoption and arrival of Tristan into the Dowse family. Tristan was born on June 26 2001 and is a healthy little boy who has now taken up full-time residence effective yesterday. We are thrilled and would like to thank all those who helped and supported us through the whole process,” it read.

Nobody knows what happened in the following years but two years on, the Dowse family didn’t want Tristan anymore.

Joe Dowse and his pregnant wife gave up on their two-year-old child, by then an Irish citizen as he had been placed on the Adoption Board’s register of foreign adoption. They left him in a Jakarta orphanage with a box of toys, some clothes and €2,000 and flew off to Azerbaijan to start a new life.

Tristan cried all night long in his strange new surroundings and to this day won’t play with any of the toys that his adoptive father left with him. Neither could he communicate with anybody as he only spoke English.

It has since been reported that the orphanage where he was left is illegal and does not have an operating licence.

“The children living there have never been registered to the authorities in Bogor. From a legal standpoint, it’s as if they don’t exist,” Indonesian Director of Child Welfare Dr Makmur Sunusi said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said last night its officials in Jakarta are concentrating their efforts on finding out whether Tristan’s adoption was legal.

It is not known how much longer this process will take.

A number of couples, struck by Tristan’s plight, have offered to adopt the young child. However, as his parents never sought a High Court order in Ireland to cancel the adoption, he is, in theory, still in their care and cannot be re-adopted.