Most prospective adoptive parents still prefer girls. This article indicates that in Uganda, more boys live as street children and in orphanages. This mismatch of supply and demand is seen in many countries.
“In 2009, The Daily Nation newspaper ran a story in their Living magazine about the threat boys were under. From research carried, they found out that more boys than girls were abandoned or aborted. Also, fewer boys were adopted from orphanages or children’s homes. ”
“It is a disturbing trend, the number of children (most likely more boys than girls) being abandoned on the streets, in hospitals and elsewhere.
According to Vincent Ssekate, the deputy public relations officer of police, in 2009, they registered 285 abandoned children in Kampala. “Some of these children were found on the streets, others in rubbish bins and others abandoned at people’s homes.”
Ssekate explains that there is no clear reason as to why parents, especially mothers, abandon their children, but the few they have been able to identify claim it’s because they do not have any viable source of income to take care of their children. He adds that some mothers just do not want to take up responsibility.””“When people come across an abandoned child, they bring them to different police stations because in 2009, Kampala South, which is the Central Police Station, registered 15 abandoned children. In Katwe, Entebbe and Kabalagala, we registered 117 children and in Kampala East, there were 44 cases plus the 109 cases in the North, bringing the total to 285 abandoned children in 2009,” Ssekate explains.
Mary Namukasa, the OC Child and Family Protection Unit (UFPC) Kawempe Police Station, says when such children are brought to the station, they are kept around for some days and if unclaimed, “We take them to the probation office, where they are referred to the different orphanages in Kampala.”
But back to the issue of whether girls are generally preferred to boys. When it comes to adoption, it looks like girls are indeed preferred. The system however also makes it hard for boys to be adopted.
Patrick Bukenya, the Probation and Social Welfare Officer Makindye Division, says before one adopts a child, they have to foster that child for three years. He explains that these three years are meant to enable you attain permanent residence in the country and a place of work.””Another factor considered before one adopts a child is the age group. “The person adopting has to be 21 years and above and a male individual is not allowed to adopt a female child. Even a single female individual is not allowed to adopt a male child unless there is proof that she is a relative to the child.”
“People who come in to adopt mainly want girls. The problem is in the backward belief that when boys grow up, they start asking about their heritage, which is not the case with the girls. Also, some people fear that boys become unruly as they grow up. On many occasions, people who adopt boys have brought them back to us because they became unruly,” Bukenya says, adding that in the different orphanages and baby homes in Uganda, the biggest percentage of children there are boys.
In most cases, women are the most willing to adopt but are bound by the law that a single female cannot adopt a boy. “
“The irony is that many years back, many efforts were made on helping the girl child because it was thought she was at a greater disadvantage. It now looks like the boy child is need of help too.”
The Plight of the Boy Child
[Daily Monitor 6/12/11 by Sarah Tumwebaze]
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