Taking in a new member into your family may sometimes prove
to be a hard task. Apart from being overwhelmed with excitement, paperwork can
prove to be really tiresome, and some, a long process. Well, for your own legal
rights and responsibilities to the child and the interest of the child, the law
requires you to meet a few things before you can adopt a child in Kenya. First,
you need to figure out how to begin the adoption process, what’s the procedure
of adopting a child and find out if you meet the requirements for adopting a
child in Kenya, both for citizens and foreigners who wish to adopt a child.
“A child’s best environment to grow up in is his home surrounded by family members.”
Every child deserves and has a right to shelter, clothing,
food and an education. Provisions that are essential for any child around the
world need to enable their development all round to facilitate smooth
transition from childhood to adulthood.
But the truth is, we are not equals in terms of where we
come from. No one chooses to be born in the family they are in. You did not
send in an application to be born in the Mutua’s, Lemaiyan’s, Smith’s,
Kardashian’s or any other family out there.
When we talk of child matters there are different principles
that guide how to deal with them; best interests of the child,
non-discrimination, participation and survival and development.
When a couple or an individual makes up the mind to take in
a child from an orphanage they must have done the relevant research and had an
in depth conversation to psychologically prepare for the next big steps. There
are of course legal procedures to be followed before a court and children
officers involved to award guardianship or custody over a minor.
In Kenya, Chapter 141 of the The Children Act addresses
provision for parental responsibility, fostering, adoption, custody,
maintenance, guardianship, care and protection of children.
Any child below age 18, who is abandoned, an orphan without
guardian willing to take care of him/her, whose parents/ family is unknown, is
eligible for adoption. This is done through an adoption society for example
Little Angels Network, Kenya Children’s Home, Kenyan’s to Kenyan’s Peace
Initiative (KKPI) Adoption Society, Change Trust and Child Welfare Society of
Kenya.
The Adoption Process
According to the Guidelines for the Alternative Family Care
of Children in Kenya, Adoption is the complete severance of
the legal relationship between a child and his/her biological parent(s) and
birth family, and the establishment of a new legal relationship between the
child and his/her adoptive parent(s).
There are different types of adoption as follows;
i. Domestic (national) adoption refers to adoption by adopters who are Kenyan and where the child they are adopting is resident in Kenya. Applications for domestic adoption are initiated through a duly registered local adoption society.
ii. Foreign resident adoption refers to adoption by adopters who are not Kenyan nationals, but have lived in Kenya for over three years and who adopt a child who is Kenyan.
iii. Inter-country (international) adoption refers to adoption of a Kenyan child by adopters who are not Kenyan and live outside Kenya. Inter-country adoptions are processed through an approved foreign adoption agency in conjunction with a Kenyan adoption society registered to make international adoption arrangements. Applications must be approved by the National Adoption Committee before a child is placed with an international applicant.
iv. Kinship or family adoption refers to adoption by adopters
who are kin or relatives within the extended family of the child. Applications
for kinship adoption are similar to domestic adoption. A bonding period is
necessary where the child has not been living with the prospective adopter.
Step 1: The journey begins with an orientation meeting for
inquiries and forms are filled at this point.
Step 2: The next step would be social workers visit to the
home of the interested parents for purposes of fact-checking including
security, reasons to adopt, home environment (is it conducive for a child), the
age and sex of the expected child e.t.c.
Step 3: Then follows a meeting session with the adopting
parents and a child identified by the social workers for introduction purposes
and to create time for a bond. If the bonding is automatic with a flow, the
child is fostered in the home for three months, upon which evaluation is done
through regular visits to see child’s progress in the new environment as well
as the relationship with other family members.
Step 4: If successful, the final step is at the Children’s
Court to finalize where the adoption parent(s) ability to support and
educate the child are examined by the court and the social worker may give an
opinion on the capability of the adoptive parent(s).
Sometimes not all adoptions or fostering goes right and this
leads to a children being taken away from the homes probably back to the
previous children shelter as investigation goes on. For example, an
investigative story done and aired on a local media station, showed officers on
video carrying away a child from the house without the knowledge of the
adoptive parents and as per what one of the foster parent said that some of the
officers had guns in their house.
I strongly condemn such kind of acts portrayed by the
officers. Why? Because this is not how you want a child remembering his family
especially if it is the only family the child has known his whole years. Such
kind of actions have repercussions on the child’s psychology and perception
about handling sensitive matters. The best thing they should have done and for
future use as well, is to have a conversation with the child and explain the
situation as it is, ensuring the child is aware that the events are not by any
means his/her fault. By doing this, the innocent child’s interests are said to
be considered.
I wrote this article because there are so many children in
shelters who are in need of a home and a family that is loving, supportive, caring
and means the world to them. I hope that one day in the future I can be able to
foster children regardless of how tiresome the system may be.
As you read this, remember that in whatever matter it may
be, and a child is involved, take a step back, think about the effects of the
next actions are going to have on the minor and have a reasonable conversation
with him/her. It will make things better. Trust me.
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