BANGLADESH - Adoption law ‘needs revision,’ says nun (Mujibor)
BANGLADESH - Adoption law ‘needs revision,’ says nun
Published Date: February 8, 2010
Adoption law ‘needs revision,’ says nun thumbnail
Infants at the St. Benedict Creche
CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (UCAN) — The present adoption law in Bangladesh does little to help couples who want to adopt orphans and hence needs revision, says a nun who works for abandoned children.
An improved law can help orphaned and abandoned children have a better future, said Sister Bibiana Pathang from Our Lady of the Missions congregation. The nun is current director of St. Benedict Creche, a home set up in 1912 by her congregation for orphans and abandoned children and is located in Chittagong diocese.
The orphanage has helped local and foreign couples obtain guardianship of 106 children. The orphanage presently has 41 resident children.
Parents and relatives of children with serious physical disabilities, diseases or who have a dark complexion are left at the center. Sometimes, unwed mothers drop their infants in front of the creche gate. Hospital authorities also send orphaned children here. About 15 staff members help run the creche.
At the age of seven, girls at the center are sent to another center, run by nuns in Khulna diocese, for studies. Boys are sent to different Church-run hostels. The nuns bear all the expenses, even the wedding expenses for the girls.
“I have to file a guardianship transfer petition in court when any family wants to receive a child from here. I and the party too need to go to court for several hearings” the nun explained.
“It takes more time when a foreign family comes to adopt. But I did not face any difficulty in this process other than the long period of completion,” she added.
Complex guardianship procedures
Actual adoption of children is not permitted under Bangladeshi law. However, the law does permit citizens to apply for guardianship of children.
The 1982 Guardianship and Wards Amendments Ordinances prohibit non-Bangladeshi parents from being guardians of Bangladeshi children.
However, a Bangladeshi who also is a citizen of another country can obtain guardianship of a Bangladeshi child.
The process of obtaining guardianship involves complex legal procedures.
Mujibur Cornelius and Ellen Devgrab from the Netherlands obtained guardianship of Rima from St. Benedict Creche in 2002. They again obtained guardianship of another girl Resa in 2006. Both girls were adopted at the age of three.
“Their guardianship transfer process took more than one year. The process is very difficult,” recounted Sister Pathang.
Cornelius is a citizen of both Bangladesh and the Netherlands.
Likewise, Rita Mondol, who is a citizen of Bangladesh and Canada, obtained guardianship of Rekha when the girl was five. The Chittagong Medical College Authority sent Rekha to the creche when her mother died after giving birth and there was no one to look after the child.
However, many children who did not have such guardians are now enjoying a bright future.
Albert Baroi who grew up at the center now works as a teacher at St. Martha’s School in Srimangal, southeastern Bangladesh. He visits the creche whenever he gets leave as he says he feels at home here.
Likewise, Mou Costa, who is now married, visits the creche often.
Yasmin, who married a man from Denmark says they have a happy family with two children.
“Local and foreign couples with no children will be more interested to adopt children if the law is revised,” Sister Pathang noted.
BA08751.1588 February 8, 2010 55 EM-lines (538 words)
http://www.ucanews.com/2010/02/08/adoption-law-needs-revision-says-nun
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