Adoptions pros and cons

By Sitembile Siwawa

CHILD adoption is a phenomenon that has not received much publicity and thought it deserves although it is one of the schemes that has the potential to uplift the living standards of the orphaned and vulnerable children in our society.

Perhaps, the scheme has not received the much needed sensitisation due to some underlying factors that border on cultural, social and economic factors.

Adoption, which is a creation of a legal relationship between parent and child where it did not exist biologically and it's aimed at providing a permanent home and family to a child is provided for through the Adoption Act Cap 54 of the laws of Zambia.

Therefore, adoption enables childless people a chance to have and raise children like their own; while, children also have an opportunity to grow up in a conducive environment.

But one may wonder why adoption is not common among Zambians and yet it has a lot of benefits.

Hilda Mulenga of Garden House township in of Lusaka said adoption does happen but families who have adopted children before feel coming out in the open destroys the already founded relationship between an adopted child and its parents.

Ms Mulenga- a mother of one - said "when you are keeping a child who is not biologically yours you try by all means not to disclose to them that you are not related by blood as this has the potential to harm them emotionally and I think that's what makes adoption unpopular."

And another revelation why adoption is uncommon is the notion that people who adopt children do not have the ability to have their own due to various reasons such as infertility and other illnesses.

Ministry of Community Development, chief social welfare officer Irene Munga said families should be encouraged to adopt children because many of them are orphaned and vulnerable.

At the moment, adoption has some stigma attached to it as many people who may consider adopting children are seen as infertile.

She said "Confining children under institutional care like orphanages should be the last resort therefore it is better children are given an opportunity to stay in a family environment where their needs can be fully-nurtured by having them adopted by capable families."

In the Zambian context a person who has not attained the age of 21 and has not been married can be adopted and such a person is referred to as an infant or child.

And any Zambian or foreigner who is 25 years and is at least 21 years older than the infant qualifies to adopt a child. Ms Munga said by the age of 25, a person is matured enough to take care of themselves or even someone else.

Adoption is not restricted to married people only but single females are eligible provided they meet the requirements but single males are not allowed.

The adoption process begins with the completion of the prescribed forms which can be obtained from the juvenile inspector in a given district.

Granted adoption order is registered with the registrar of births and deaths under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

However, before the adoption process is completed, an assessment is carried out by relevant officers to determine the financial, emotional and material capacity of keeping a child.

And if the prospective parents are not found unsuitable, the procedure is discontinued until certain measures are put in place.

Another requirement is that that both the applicant and infant must reside in Zambia for easy monitoring.

When adoption is taking place, both the infant and the prospective parents are subjected to vigorous pre and post counselling to ensure that they know what they are getting into.

According to the 2011 annual progress report of the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health, 105 adoptions were done.

In 2012, out of 129 applications, 90 adoptions were granted with about a quarter being done by foreigners.

This number can however increase with enough sensitisation and public awareness on the importance of adopting.

According to Ms Munga, girls are always on demand compared to boys as prospective parents feel girls are much easier to bring up.

And children under the age of five are more on demand than older ones who are considered difficult as their mind-set has already been moulded towards one area.

Ms Munga has since urged Zambian families to start adopting orphaned and vulnerable children instead of leaving adoptions to foreigners.

She has since warned that it is a crime to advertise a child for adoption and people should seek proper ways of adopting.