Some foster parents sell adopted children

Sekondi, Nov 26, GNA - An official of the Department of Social Welfare has alleged that some foster parents abuse the trust reposed in them and sell their adopted children.

Mr Owusu Barima, Western Regional Director of the Department, said this at a forum on Fosterage, Adoption and the Domestic Violence Bill, organised by the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC) on Wednesday.

He said the department has had cases of the sale of adopted children and is becoming the bane of the country's fosterage and adoption procedure.

Mr Barima said it is only the courts that can approve adoptions but there have also been instances of improper and illegal adoption of children.

He said people should, however, adopt children rather than send them to institutions like Children's Homes and Orphanages because children need to grow and develop in their natural setting, free from institutional restrictions.

Mr Barima said some orphanages are reluctant to give out children for adoption but such orphanages should compulsorily be made to do so.

Mrs Sweetie Sowah, Regional Officer of the Legal AID Board, asked the Department of Social Welfare to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of orphanages and children's homes and exercise proper control and supervision over them.

She said some orphanages and children's homes have become lucrative businesses and their owners do not pay close attention to the needs of children under their care.

Mrs Sowah said anybody above the age of 21 years, of high moral character and proven integrity could be a foster parent to a child.

She said an adoption order could only be made with the consent of parents and guardians of the child.

Speaking on the Domestic Violence Bill, Mrs Yaa Agyeman Boadi, Chief Legal Officer of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDIF), said it intends to provide protection from domestic violence particularly for women and children who are vulnerable. She said the existing laws are inadequate in dealing with violence in domestic settings and in domestic relationships such as family relationships and relationship similar to family ties.