Kenya puts foreign adoptions on hold

Around two million children live in homes in Kenya. Because infertility is taboo there, it is difficult to find adoptive parents for them in the country. Now the government has also stopped the few placements abroad.

"It's a very confusing situation because there has been no official announcement so far. We've only seen reports in the two major daily newspapers here. And they contradict each other."

Susan Otuoma runs the Little Angels Network, the largest of four Kenyan agencies that place children for international adoption. What she finds even more confusing, however, is the government's justification: fighting child trafficking. Kenya has a big problem with this, but in most cases it occurs domestically. Children are abducted and forced into work or prostitution.

"There has been a lot of propaganda about the sale of children. That adopted children have been stolen or their families deceived into consenting. All I can say is that we do our job pretty thoroughly."

Adoptions abroad are strictly regulated

Kenya has had strict rules for international adoptions since the country joined the relevant international agreement in The Hague a good ten years ago. Social worker Anne Mwangi works for a home that also places children abroad. She also does not want to give her real name for fear of reprisals against the children's home:

"Adoptions approved in Kenya have gone through thorough investigations because every abandoned child has to be reported to the nearest police station. Always! And no Kenyan court will approve an adoption without a police investigation."

That means without a long search for the parents. In addition, a child can only be placed abroad if no suitable adoptive parents can be found in Kenya. That is difficult in a country where infertility is taboo. Susan Otuoma:

"Even today there is a great reluctance to do it. We have many couples who have to do it in secret. No one in the family is allowed to know. We have couples who fake a pregnancy. A lot of education is needed because it carries a great stigma."

The Kenyan children’s homes are full

Around two million children live in homes in Kenya. And many have no chance of being adopted by Kenyan parents: older children, boys, children with disabilities or HIV infection, so-called taboo babies, who were conceived through incest, for example. Anne Mwangi:

"We do not encourage our children to go abroad because we know it is a challenge for them to adapt to their new culture. We do not give babies up for international adoption because it is fun or makes money, but because some never find adoptive parents here in the country."

There are no official statistics, but Susan Otouma estimates that no more than 100 children are sent abroad each year. It is a process that takes years and in which every document is checked again and again.

Kenya is one of the countries where legal documents are not recognized without further verification. Susan Otuoma:

"It's crazy, if I may say so. The mistrust is difficult to understand, as all processes are carried out with due diligence. In none of our cases has the process ever been stopped, but it has taken a very long time. This means great inconvenience for the families."

In Germany, affected parents have started a petition to the Foreign Office to shorten the months-long wait until all documents have been checked again. But for the time being, further adoptions in Kenya are on hold - probably for political reasons, say those familiar with the scene. They suspect that the government is demonstrating to the outside world that it is doing something about human trafficking and at the same time using the opportunity to reorganize the adoption agencies according to its wishes. The ones who suffer are the children - and their future parents.