Amend adoption policies to improve placement

Amend adoption policies to improve placement

Monday, 19 April 2010

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Recent incidents involving international adoptions gone awry highlight the limited protections that are available to children. Russian and American authorities are in a tizzy over a boy sent back to Moscow by his adoptive mother. Then there is the case of the missionaries being charged with kidnapping for attempting to move some Haitian children to a neighbouring country.

While most countries have the basic protections to prevent trafficking in persons, there remain far too many “grey areas” in legal adoptions. Kenya should be particularly sensitive to this considering we are still in the middle of unravelling a trafficking scandal in the miracle babies saga involving Pastor Gilbert Deya.

A previous scandal involving the sale of orphaned babies from children?s homes revealed damning evidence of complicity by Government officials. There have been changes to adoption law that require all adoptions to be completed in Kenya before departure, or to get an exemption from High Court. But there are no arrangements to let the Government follow-up on a child once the adoption is done.

Illogical restrictions

Many nations are entering into treaties that help them expand the regulation of adoption across their borders. The Moscow case has led to talk of such arrangements. Kenya should look into an array of treaties that would allow follow up on adoptions as well as relax illogical restrictions on inter-racial adoptions. It does us no good to institutionalise children because we cannot assure them of placement in happy homes.

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