Adoption in a time of family catastrophe in Italy and Israel

Amit and Tal Biran

with children Tom (L), and sole survivor Eitan (R)

Times of Israel

My late father Les was adopted. He was very happy to live with his aunt Sarah whose house was just around the corner from his biological parents and siblings. And he saw his brothers at school each day. But it wasn’t until Long Lost Family started on British tv in 2012 that the important questions were asked.

1. When his mother Annie was hospitalised for years, why did his father Solomon keep only the two teenagers and not the four youngest siblings under 10?
2. Of his mother’s brothers and sisters who fostered the four youngest children, why did the others eventually go back home but Les remained with the aunt?
3. Why did my father lose his proper family surname?
4. Did his biological mother still love him as much as she loved the other siblings?

Les passed in 2015, and I haven’t discussed adoption since. Now DUTA has raised the important issues anew. 

Let us examine the popular cable car that takes tourists from Stresa on Lake Maggiore to high on Mt Mottarone, in 20 minutes. Mt Mottarone reaches 1,491 metres and overlooks the pictur­esque lake and the Italian Alps in Piedmont. The dual cable system is split into two sections, 2+ ks between Stresa and Al­pino, then 3 ks between Alpino and Mottarone. The two cars each carry up to 40 passengers.  

ABC News reported that a mountaintop cable car plunged to the ground in northern Italy in May 2021, killing 14 people. The photos showed the cable car’s crushed remains in a thick patch of pine trees on Mt Mottarone. The Alpine Rescue Service said that the cause of this very serious accident had not been determined. In fact the cable line had had important maint­en­ance work, including changing the cabl­es, in 2016 and had only rec­ent­ly reopened after coron­avirus lockdowns. It appeared that a cable broke, sending the car careen­ing until it hit a pylon and the trees.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi condoled with the families of the victims, particularly the seriously injured chil­dren. Two ch­ildren were flown to hospital where the 10 year old died after card­iac arrests. The younger child, 5 years-old Eitan Biran, was cons­cious on arrival and und­erstood some Italian. His surgery stab­ilised multiple fractures, but had no idea about his dead parents. The hospital said nobody had contacted the hospital about him.

Searching for survivors and bodies

Sky News

Italian author­ities told Israel's Foreign Ministry that 6 Israeli nationals from one family had died. The 14 people who died on top of Mt Mottarone included Eitan Biran’s father Amit Biran 30, mother Tal Peleg-Biran 26, younger brother Tom, and great-grandparents Barbara and Yitz­hak Cohen of Tel Aviv. All five were buried in Israel a few days later by their devastated relatives.

Leap to May 2021 when The Guardian reported that an Italian judge has ruled that the three men detained over the cable car crash in northern It­aly could leave prison for now. Pro­secutors were invest­ig­ating susp­ected involuntary mansl­aughter and negligence. Perocchio and Nerini, own­ers of the Lift Company, were freed pending the outcome of the in­vestig­ation because, the judge wrote, there was no proof against Nerini and Peroc­chio yet. Tadini, the man in charge of operating the lift, was placed under house arrest.

Jewish Chevra Kadisha

Taking the coffins back to Israel

Now back to adoption. The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli family is fighting to adopt survivor Eitan Biran. His aunt Gali Peleg wanted custody of the orphan, claiming the aunt Aya Biran-Nirko in Italy is a stranger to him. Peleg was starting legal proc­eed­ings to adopt her nephew Eitan Biran; he has been living with an aunt from the other side of his family in Italy, since being released from a Turin hospital in June. Peleg, sister of Tal Peleg-Biran, accused Biran-Nirko, the Italy-based sister of Amit Biran caring for Eitan, of kidnapping the boy and prev­enting him from having a normal childhood. The boy doesn’t know the pat­ernal aunt at all, Peleg said at a press conference beside her husband and lawyer. She said short visits with the boy mandated by an Italian court had left him feeling as if he had done something wrong and they did not want him. In a few years he’ll look back and see where he grew up and who his parents were and it’s impor­tant that he knows that his family wanted him.

Though Eitan had some spent time in Italy, Peleg’s husband Ron Peri claimed that his Israeli parents had never wanted him to be there for long and would have wanted a quality Jewish education in Israel. He claimed that the family had only learned of Biran-Nirko’s existence recently and hinted that vast amounts of Go-Fund-Me money could have motivated her sudden appearance. Biran-Nirko is an Is­raeli who did her medical degree and post-grad work in Italy. Eitan suf­fered severe trauma in the crash and Biran-Nirko took on the temporary task of dealing with the hospital and his recovery. 

Since then Eitan was moved into his aunt and uncle's home in Travacò Siccomario nel Pavese. And an Italian court has ordered Ms Biran-Nirko to allow Eitan’s other aunt and grandmother to visit him as often as they can get to Italy. Bitter custody battles are losers for all the parties.

I am devastated by this story for two reasons. Firstly Joe and I, along with all the other medical graduate colleagues and their spouses, spent 3 years doing the House Year and Junior Residency in Israeli, British or European teaching hospitals. We too had two boys born overseas, exactly like Eitan and his baby brother, and brought them back to Australia before their schooling started. Secondly how will Eitan feel about the final adoption decision and will he have all his questions answered?