As we mark the 2019 Day of the African Child, it is critical to highlight the challenges facing alternative child care space in Kenya. This year’s theme is ‘Humanitarian Action in Africa: Children’s Rights First.’ A central pillar of this theme Considering that parental care constitutes the primary care for children, separating children from their parents is a gross violation of their rights.’
Globally, there is a move to change the way we care for orphans and vulnerable children from over reliance on institutional care to an embrace of family based solutions like kinship care, adoption, foster care and guardianship. At the center of any successful de-institutionalization process is the need to strengthen families and prevent separation of children from their families.
However, propaganda that links child adoption to trafficking does more harm than good to the many Kenyan children who are stuck in children homes without parental care. Child abandonment is real and some children either die or develop permanent complications arising from the nature of their abandonment. Adoption presents these children an opportunity to find caring families. In addition, adoption also offers parenting opportunities to parents unable to get biological children. In this regard, adoption is mutually beneficial to both parents and children. As such, adoption is not sale or trafficking of children, but on the contrary offers vulnerable children protection from such exploitation. It should be noted that the approved fee for adoption of a child by Kenyans in only Kshs. 12,500 whereas the legal fee ranges from Kshs. 30,000 t0 120,000. The lie that children are sold through the adoption process is simply not true. Indeed, a well streamlined adoption process is in itself a deterrent to child trafficking.
Because of ongoing propaganda on adoption, the last five years has seen us lose some of the alternative care gains that had been made. As a result, vulnerable children are suffering.
In 2001, a new law was enforced opening up adoption practice to other adoption societies. This opened up adoptions to other players and consequently enhanced service delivery.
Unfortunately, since 2012 there has been increased propaganda referring to adoption as child trafficking and players in the adoption sector as “cartels”. A certain report circulating in the media houses conducted by the Expert Committee on adoptions and the child welfare society of Kenya, terms all players in the adoption arena as cartels including judges, adoption societies, children homes, lawyers and government children officers. From the reports, it would seem that of all players in the adoption sector only child welfare society of Kenya does a clean job. Far from the truth!
Sadly the organization behind this propaganda is none other than Child Welfare Society of Kenya, Some questions that people ask:
Who’s behind CWSK?
How come all the funding to adoption societies was withdrawn and channeled to one organization?
Who is benefiting from the CWSK?
Is the tax payers money received by CWSK used to fuel this propaganda?
What is the status of CWSK? Are they a state corporation, an NGO? Or a semi-autonomous government agency? What does this mean?
Unfortunately, the effects of this CWSK-led propaganda has been to leave vulnerable children in a worse state than before. These children should always remain our main focus. Their welfare and rights to caring families should never be compromised by anyone or any institution, however powerful they may be.
