An anonymous author once wrote that ‘Adoption is when a child grew in its mommy’s heart instead of her tummy.’ In all debates about adoption, we should never lose focus of this truth. As Head of an organization that has championed and facilitated hundreds of adoptions for fifteen years, I have had a first-hand experience of the intimacy of adoption. Every single case is special. Indeed, adoption cases are not just about paper work and court appearances in the same way that pregnancy is not just about a bulging stomach and morning sicknesses. Rather, pregnancy is really about a precious baby in the womb and the loving mother bearing that baby. Similarly, adoption is about a special child being conceived in the loving hearts of adoptive parents and being raised by those parents for life. Any discourse that paints such legal and intimate adoption in negative light is deceitful and cruel.
Kenya is a country that is ruled by law. As such, adoption laws are crystal clear. Organizations that are licensed to handle adoption abide by these laws and renew their licenses annually. They can therefore not exploit adoption as a business venture of any sort. If they do so, the law that applies equally will take its course.
When Kenya ratified the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) it started reviewing existing child laws and recommended comprehensive reforms that would be in line with CRC’s provisions. As a result, the Children’s Act was born in 2001. Amongst other things, this Act provided rules on adoption, foster care, institutionalization and other provisions related to guardianship of children. Thanks to the Act, adoption doesn’t exist in a vacuum and is in fact tightly regulated, as it should be.
A lot has been said about law-abiding adoption organization being primarily focused on making money. Again, the law is clear. There are only five adoption organizations in Kenya, so its relatively easy to audit their operations. Due process should definitely apply if any of these five organizations places financial gain before the welfare of vulnerable children. Pursuit of such financial gain can be done in several ways including seeking a monopoly in child welfare issues and exploiting vulnerable children for publicity.
It is important to note that adoption services fees are regulated by the Adoption Committee which works under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. The Director of Children Services is the Secretary to this committee. Among other members is a representative from the Attorney General’s Office, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Law Society of Kenya. The current fees for adoption by Kenyans is Ksh12,500. This is the amount that a person wanting to adopt pays to the adoption society to facilitate their process. The fees for a foreigner wanting to adopt a Kenyan child was placed at between Ksh 80,000 to 150,000 and not the outrageous amount of Ksh6 – 10 million that is often cited by naysayers. But this notwithstanding, in 2014 our government enacted an indefinite moratorium on inter-country adoption of Kenyan children by foreigners. This is moratorium is still in force and adoption societies are fully complying so there is no way they can be ‘making money’ through foreign adoptions.
We really must steer discourse back to answering this question – how do we take care of the vulnerable and abandoned children in our midst?
There are thousands of abandoned children in our midst. Some are right under our noses in the streets or neighborhoods while others have temporary abode in hospitals or children homes. In worst case scenarios, other are already living in exploitative circumstances. Many of these children have no family connections since their families cannot be traced. For others, their families have totally rejected them due to socio-cultural reasons among other reasons. Irrespective of the reasons behind their abandonment, we need urgent and sustainable solutions to the tragic plight of these innocent children. Those solutions cannot be found in finger-pointing and misinformation but in honest, child-centered dialogue.
In 2014, the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, (UNODC) cited Kenya as a source, transit, and destination country in human trafficking. Adoption of vulnerable children is an antidote, and not an enabler of such trafficking. And not just adoption but also foster care, children homes and kinship. Through such legal means, no child should be left vulnerable and exposed to those who would wish to harm them. Indeed, even our African culture and religious precepts dictate that we must take care of the vulnerable children in our society. Any discourse and resultant action that doesn’t maintain a laser-sharp focus on vulnerable children is self-serving.
Adoption opens hearts and doors to a vulnerable child who needs the permanent warmth and care of a family. Thanks to such care, many of these children go on to make a positive lasting difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. What if the baby Steve Jobs hadn’t found the life-long care that his adoptive parents gave him? The world would have been a poorer place because Steve Jobs literally changed the world through his innovations. That might never have been the case if the American society of the 1960s had perceived legal adoption as ‘stealing.’
A society that abandons vulnerable children is essentially abandoning its future. A vulnerable child of today might be the Steve Jobs, David Rudisha or Wangari Maathai of tomorrow. But only if we take care of that child through adoption, kinship, institutions or any other legal means.
