Mother increases her family by adopting a boy from India

An adoptive mother has recounted to TVMnews that in addition to her biological children she had always also wished to have adopted children.

Interviewed by TVMnews she said she treats her own children in the same manner while expressing her satisfaction at increasing her family through adoption.

Currently there are about 500 parents waiting to adopt children from other countries.

197 children from other countries have begun a new life in Malta after being adopted last year.

TVMnews obtained from official sources that last year the most children adopted came from Ethiopia, Cambodia and Russia. There are other countries from which adoption is favoured, including India.

Debbie Schembri recounted to TVMNews her wish to increase her family saying this is an act of love because children also show that love whether biological or otherwise and she regarded her Indian adopted boy in the same manner she regarded her children. .

Also commenting to TVMnews, the Indian High Commissioner to Malta, Sangeeta Bahadur, expressed her surprise at the number of Maltese parents wishing to adopt children from Asian countries.

She said “How much these parents are helping these children who have health issues and other difficulties and they’ve been adopted, brought here and given the right treatment cos when these kids grow up I can imagine how much they will contribute to the closeness between our two countries. How much more understanding and cultural perspective they will generate in their Maltese parents and the kind of empathy Malta and India will start having for each other”

The Director of the A?enzija Tama, Shirley Mifsud, told TVMnews that the period of the adoption process varies depending on the country from which adoption is sought. She said this process may take between two-and-a-half years to thre years until finalisation. It depends on the country where adoption is being requested, in this case India.

She maintained that parents are always anxious to learn of the traditions of their adopted children and to lerarn the culture the children need to enable them to maintain their roots and she praised the work of the Indian community in Mata and the Indian High Commission of bringing together families with adopted Indian children to enable them to share experiences.

According to the Fondazzjoni g?as-Servizzi tal-?arsien So?jali, FSWS, currently there are more than 500 Maltese parents waiting to adopt children from overseas.