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29th August, 2010
People Now Adopting Kids Of Kinsmen
PEOPLE have now resorted to adopting children of their kinsmen rather than going through the cumbersome procedures of adoption at the licensed orphanages.
Known as ‘Relative Adoption’, the people formally adopt their relatives through the legal methods.
This method is serving as an alternative for many people seeking to have children.
Statistics available at the Social Welfare Department indicate that over the past 15 months a total of 137 children were adopted nationwide by their relatives using this process, as against 40 from the licensed orphanages.
Last year, 79 children were adopted by their relatives, and the first quarter of this year alone recorded 58 adoptions but only 32 children were given out to non-relatives during the same period.
Mr. Obeng Afriyie, Principal Social Development Officer at the Research Unit, who spoke to the Times in Accra on Thursday, about this emerging trend of adoption said it made the prospective adopters legally responsible for the upkeep and care of their child relatives.
He said the applicants lived mainly outside the country and the children they adopted were mostly those who had lost their parents and had no one to cater for them.
Explaining the process of adoption, Mr. Afriyie said prospective applicants would have to apply to the department and obtain an adoption from the High Court.
He said an Adoption Placement Committee would invite the applicant for an interview and having satisfied the necessary requirements, an adoption order would be secured from the court for the applicant to adopt the child.
Mr. Afriyie expressed the hope that families who adopted their child relatives would care for them as they would for their own children.
Known as ‘Relative Adoption’, the people formally adopt their relatives through the legal methods.
This method is serving as an alternative for many people seeking to have children.
Statistics available at the Social Welfare Department indicate that over the past 15 months a total of 137 children were adopted nationwide by their relatives using this process, as against 40 from the licensed orphanages.
Last year, 79 children were adopted by their relatives, and the first quarter of this year alone recorded 58 adoptions but only 32 children were given out to non-relatives during the same period.
Mr. Obeng Afriyie, Principal Social Development Officer at the Research Unit, who spoke to the Times in Accra on Thursday, about this emerging trend of adoption said it made the prospective adopters legally responsible for the upkeep and care of their child relatives.
He said the applicants lived mainly outside the country and the children they adopted were mostly those who had lost their parents and had no one to cater for them.
Explaining the process of adoption, Mr. Afriyie said prospective applicants would have to apply to the department and obtain an adoption from the High Court.
He said an Adoption Placement Committee would invite the applicant for an interview and having satisfied the necessary requirements, an adoption order would be secured from the court for the applicant to adopt the child.
Mr. Afriyie expressed the hope that families who adopted their child relatives would care for them as they would for their own children.
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