Child rights activists push for an adoption centre

What you need to know:

• Justice John Eudes Keitirima of the Family Division in Makindye said the official fees for filing an adoption case in the court is Shs6,000 but many people engage lawyers to help them in the entire process.

Child rights activists and adoptive parents have asked the government to put up an adoption centre for children.

The revelation was made yesterday during an adoption awareness conference in Kampala under the theme “Bringing hope to a generation through adoption’’.
Adoption refers to the action of legally taking another person’s child and bringing him or her up as one’s own.

Mr Damon Wamara Kamese, the director of the Uganda Child Rights NGO network, decried the absence of the government in active adoption processes. 
“The tendency of moving from one office to another makes the process hard but when you have a one centre where all the issues are cleared, it will ease the process and increase the number of people being adopted within the country,’’ he said.

“Despite the government revealing that the adoption fee is Shs6,000, this is quite different from what people are spending to clear the process. People are spending a lot in legal process, which is a must for one to have a child,” Mr Kamese added.
He also encouraged people to adopt more children from childcare homes, which, according to him, gives a child a full sense of belonging, heritage, identity, discipline, and grooming.

Parents decried the slow process of adoption, which has made some individuals to withdraw from it.
“Our appeal is to soften the adoption legal processes, sometimes you chase the process for some time and after you enter the courtroom not even sure that they will accept you to take on this child. Our journey starts from the legal system,” Ms Brenda Lenia Mwagale, an adoptive parent, said.

“My adopted son was not abandoned, he was given a second chance to live. I do not judge women or mothers who do not abort children, but put it somewhere alive so that another family can take care of that child. I see them as courageous people,” she added.

Justice John Eudes Keitirima of the Family Division in Makindye said the official fees for filing an adoption case in the court is Shs6,000 but many people engage lawyers to help them in the entire process.
“The other costs incurred during the process is a discussion between the client and lawyers, but it should not be an expensive fee,” Justice Keitirima said. 

He urged lawyers to minimise the charges so that the process ia affordable.
 The Commissioner for Youth and Children Affairs at the Gender ministry, Mr Kyateka Mondo, said they are ready to work with adoptive parents to have more children taken care off.
According to Sanyu Babies Home, there are more than two million vulnerable children in Uganda with about 50,000 currently living under 800 childcare institutions.