'Help me find my birth family'

For one young Swiss man looking for his birth family, official channels had turned up nothing. So Marco Hauenstein, 19, turned to Facebook to try to find out more - not anticipating how widely his post would be shared.

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Swiss couple 'made to adopt own children'

Swiss couple 'made to adopt own children'

A Swiss couple who used a surrogate mother in the US to give birth to their twins have lost an appeal to be registered as the children's natural parents in Switzerland. But there is a way out.

‘A child cannot have two fathers’, rules Federal Court

‘A child cannot have two fathers’, rules Federal Court

A Swiss male couple who had a child with a surrogate woman in California cannot both be recognised as the child’s legal father, the Federal Court has ruled. The couple’s lawyer and family associations have condemned the decision.

Harsh judgment for a harsh care system

Harsh judgment for a harsh care system

Switzerland is going through a process of atonement for historic wrongs committed against children in care. The players are often reduced to simple stereotypes: cruel authorities and exploitative foster parents, with little mention of the other main culprit – poverty.

Goethe Institut Boston Unveils ‘The Foster Boy’

Goethe Institut Boston Unveils ‘The Foster Boy’


I’m not a creature of habit, not of good habits anyway, but over the past two years I’ve developed a healthy new one. Once a month I go to the Coolidge Corner Theatre for the Goethe Institut Boston’s late Sunday morning screening of a new German language film. My routine: take-out coffee at Peet’s, a movie, and brunch afterwards.

Court hands Swiss man 13 years in abuse case

Court hands Swiss man 13 years in abuse case

A court in Switzerland has sentenced a Swiss man to 13 years in prison for drugging and sexually abusing dozens of girls at a camp and a private boarding school.

Bern government apologises to child labourers

Bern government apologises to child labourers

Bern has become the first canton to apologise to some of the thousands of children who were placed by the authorities as unpaid labourers on farms until the 1960s.

Social Worker Sexually Abused 122 Individuals

Social Worker Sexually Abused 122 Individuals

According to reports, a 54-year-old social worker in Switzerland was arrested for sexually abusing 122 children and adults. The assaults took place in the care homes over the last 29 years when he worked as a social worker.

Finding ways to police chat rooms around new restrictions

Finding ways to police chat rooms around new restrictions

The new year has brought controversial rule changes for cantonal police who are charged with patrolling internet chat rooms for child predators.

Polanski free after Swiss reject extradition

Switzerland declared Roman Polanski a free man Monday after rejecting a request to extradite the film director to the United States to answer for a child sex case dating back more than three decades.Duration: 01:59

Polanski awarded $4,440 in privacy suit

Polanski awarded $4,440 in privacy suit

Director Roman Polanski, currently under house arrest at his chalet in Switzerland, has won a privacy suit against a French newspaper for printing photos of him and his family at the Swiss house.