A child-friendly adoption policy is paramount

A child-friendly adoption policy is paramount

.July 20, 2012

Several lawmakers from the Chamber of Deputies, this week, took the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to task over the fate of Rwandan orphans adopted by foreign nationals.

The major issue that the parliamentarians had was that children who are taken to other countries by their adoptive parents risked losing touch with their Rwandan culture and heritage. 361 adopted Rwandan children are currently living in various nations including the United States, France, Belgium and Italy.

Are the children, very often very young, helped to understand where they are from? Are they given opportunities to meet fellow Rwandans? Or are they simply assimilated into the nation their foster parents come from? The MP’s certainly have genuine concerns that must be addressed. These questions must be answered as soon as possible; especially because the policy of the Rwandan Government is to gradually phase out orphanages, preferring children to be raised in foster homes.

It is therefore a positive move on the part of the National Commission for Children (NCC) to adopt new guidelines on child adoption to complement The Hague Convention on Adoption. Currently, the NCC receives a progress report every six months for the first two years of adoption and thereafter, annually until the child’s 18th birthday.

But while we must ensure that the child’s cultural needs are met, we must also ensure that the new guidelines don’t harm the children’s chances to get adopted. The process must not be so bureaucratic that prospective adopters are left frustrated and therefore unable to adopt a child in need.

The needs of the child to have a home and the stability of a loving family must remain priority.

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