HANCI Suspended in Sierra Leone; Illegal Adoption Investigation to Resume UPDATED
A government white paper came out on Friday April 13, 2012 that said “a directive was given to the Ministries of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and Finance and Economic Development to immediately suspend the activities of HANCI and the police was mandated to re-open the adoption case for further investigation.”
US adoption agency MAPS (JCICS member and COA/Hague-approved) was involved in the 1997 adoption cases that this directive refers to.
“More than two hundred and fifty people in Bumbuna Town and Tambarka Chiefdom in the Bombali district who stand the risk of forfeiting what they presently benefit from Help a Needy Child International Sierra Leone HANCI-SL as a result of government’s recent decision to suspend the operation of the organization for its involvement in illegal adoption of 29 children in 1997 have took to the streets of Makeni in protest saying the government should reconsider its decision.
In 2010, President Ernest Koroma established the Justice Adeliza Showers Commission of Inquiry to examine cases of the purported adoption said to have been facilitated by HANCI and one of its partners in the US Maine Adoption Placement MAPS in 1997.
After going through the investigation process at the end of 2011, the commission presented its report which contained findings and recommendations on the way forward to President Koroma for further actions.
A government white paper on the matter came out last Friday in which a directive was given to the Ministries of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and Finance and Economic Development to immediately suspend the activities of HANCI and the police was mandated to re-open the adoption case for further investigation.
However, HANCI’s current beneficiaries, including those being paid for at the Makeni Teachers College Monday staged a peaceful protest in Makeni with various placards asking the government to consider reversing its decision so that they will continue receiving support from HANCI.
In a very sad mood, they said they were surprised when they heard on the radio that the activities of HANCI would be suspended with immediate effect.
Some of the writings on their banners read: ‘HANCI is our future and we trust them’, ‘Why? Allow HANCI to operate,’ ‘Don’t disrupt our school, ‘The decision is too harsh’ and ‘HANCI is our only hope.’
One of the beneficiaries, Abdulai Dumbuya, told Concord Times that HANCI is currently paying for 150 of them from Tambarka and Bumbuna to pursue their TC at the Makeni Teachers College.
“Stopping the operations of HANCI at this crucial time will hinder our continuation of the course,” he said. “We were totally disgusted by the news. HANCI is the only organization that has helped us to educate ourselves. We are only saying to the government, let HANCI continue with its operations while the investigation and an audit of their books are being carried out,” he said in tears.
He explained that since they received the news, they have found it very difficult to study for their exams which started on Monday because they have been thinking of where to get the needed assistance for them to finish their courses if HANCI should be stopped.
Dumbuya called on the government to listen to their concern and allow the organization to continue its activities without any hindrance.
Another beneficiary, Fatu Turay said: “I am totally in a state of distress. I have been thinking of who will assist me if the government refuses to allow HANCI continue its operations. I don’t want to be a drop out.”
The protesters also delivered petition letters to the Social Welfare Ministry office in Makeni and the mother of the president, among others.
However, when contacted, Minister of Information and Communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Kargbo said the government feels sad that its decision has affected some HANCI beneficiaries but there is no way it would be reversed.
“It is unfortunate but we cannot break the law now. Everything will remain as it is until the police conclude their investigation in the next six weeks,” the minister who also doubles as the government’s spokesperson said.
Kargbo also noted that the government will not interfere with the content of the white paper and assured the public that when the facts are out, the government will deal with those found culpable.
“It has been a very turning issue and we want to put an end to it now. After the investigation, we will ensure that the institution remained. It is important that we feel sorry for those affected as a result of this problem,” he maintained.”
Sierra Leone: Beneficiaries Plead for HANCI, Information Minister Says No
[Concord Times 4/18/12 by Ibrahim Tarawallie]
Our previous four posts on the Sierra Leone/MAPS case can be seen here.
REFORM Puzzle Pieces
Update:There are a several new articles about the HANCI investigation that has re-opened. We also found an article from 2009 that states the details of how the adoption proceedings and signoff occurred.
First the 2009 article: Child Trafficking: HANCI Boss Confesses [Sierra Express Media 11/12/09 by Donstance Koroma]
“Dr. Roland Kargbo, executive director of the controversial Help A Needy Child International (HANCI) organization has, after being grilled by human right activist Emmanuel Hindowa Saidu of Foundation for Democratic Initiative and Development confessed he engaged in child trafficking and blamed former Attorney General Tom Carew whom he said did not ensure that the biological parents were informed prior to the children being taken abroad.
In a more radical approach to human right issues in Sierra Leone, Mr. Saidu yesterday met with Dr. Roland Kargbo to further investigate claims that children from Makeni have been sold to childless couples abroad by his organization.
Following the meeting which took place yesterday, Sierra Express Media was informed about the outcome. According to information gathered, Dr Roland Kargbo agreed that he had indeed engaged in sending kids abroad for adoption to childless couples wanting children. The HANCI boss had also informed the human right activist that the issue of adoption started back in 1996 during the height of the war when one of his British partners had helped him establish an orphanage in Makeni, but had advised him to look for another partner to take up the running cost.
Kargbo said that after numerous searches he was able to contact an adoption agency in the United States known as the Maine Adoption Placement Services, MAPS, which he said expressed an interest in seeking families in the US ready to adopt the kids through an “inter country adoption and orphanage programme.”
Dr. Kargbo confessed that he had indeed sent 23 children to the United States for adoption but failed to mention if the parents were informed about the nature of this type of adoption. He however said as a form of apology that all the people who adopted the children are whites and therefore when the kids grow up they will realize that their foster parents are whites and will therefore ask to know their biological parents. “In the long run these children will notice the difference in complexion and will ask questions about there origin,” he said.
He stated that before the children were taken off to the United States, a hastily convened supervision court order was provided by the Magistrate Court in Makeni after the adoption agreement was read in the presence of the parents whom he said were asked whether or not they were willing to give their children to foster parents.
It is upon this consent that the then Attorney General Tom Crew signed a release letter handing over the children to HANCI with full authority to take them anywhere they please, Dr. Kargbo said.
However, having realizing that the idea of just reading an agreement in English to a mostly illiterate assembly of parents shows there was some dubious deal involved, Dr Roland said. He further regretted why the then Attorney General did not call on the biological parent of these children in informing them that all enquires about their children should be done at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs as stated in the agreement.
Responding to Mr. Hindowa Saidu’s question as to how far HANCI has done in clearing his organization’s credibility, he stated that he has written to the Ministry of Social Welfare two weeks ago for their intervention but to no avail as there has not been any answer from them or even an acknowledgment in receipt of the letter.
The HANCI boss further noted that year in year out the foster parents of the children send parcels to the Social Welfare Ministry, with a recent photo of children attached, but that neither the parcels nor the pictures ever meet the biological parents.
Meanwhile, Mr. Saidu in an exclusive interview revealed that investigations so far conducted expose HANCI as having corruptly manipulated the biological parents who are all illiterates in understanding that it is not an adoption program but rather a child care unit and that all the kids will be residing in Makeni in the home established by HANCI.
One of the aggrieved parents has meanwhile stated that Dr. Kargbo should be in jail as that is the only way he will speak the truth. “We were fooled into handing our children to him and he is now telling us that because it is white men and women to whom our children were sold, they will grow up and ask for us, but in case these white people lie to the children that all their parents died in the war, what will HANCI do?” he queried angrily.
The parents have meanwhile vowed to continue the matter and they will seek the services of an international lawyer to make a fresh case in the law courts. “Dr. Kargbo is a child seller who is not fit to be in civilized society but should instead be among criminals in the Pademba Road where he rightly belongs,” one parent informed Sierra Express Media.
Dr. Kargbo is yet to be seen as he is reported to be hiding from the aggrieved parents.”
HANCI issues official statement on April 16, 2012
Official statement from HANCI-SL in response to Sierra Leone government press release [Sierra Express Media 4/19/12]
“In response to a press release from the Office of the Sierra Leone Government dated 13th April 2012: We are unable to comment on the ongoing legal investigation following the circulation of the recent Government White Paper addressing the critical issues and recommendations of the Justice Showers Commission of Inquiry into the HANCI-MAPS adoptions. We would though like to take this opportunity to place on record our immediate and 100% commitment to supporting the further investigation contemplated by the White Paper. We will support all true efforts to establish the circumstances by which these 29 children were adopted to the United States of America.
However, we are shocked by the Government’s decision to suspend our current operations, which bear no connection whatsoever to the historic events considered by Justice Showers. Most importantly, our current work benefits the lives of thousands of the nation’s most vulnerable children and their families. It is these vulnerable Sierra Leoneans who stand to suffer from this suspension. And it is their plight that we feel it is our moral duty to highlight to the Government and the nation.
There is a vast difference between the operations of HANCi/SL 2012 and the HANCI of the 90s. Since that time, HANCi/SL, like our nation, has grown in measure and stature beyond all recognition; we have new management (staff), new trustees and an entirely new mission. With that in mind, we believe that we are perfectly able to continue our operations without causing any complications to this investigation whatsoever.
‘HANCi 2012’ is recognised both nationally and internationally as a leader in its field. For example, in the field of street children, HANCi is the only organisation with extensive operations in each of the nation’s provinces. And only last Thursday, one day before our suspension was announced, we released the results of unique national statistical research on street children – a project that we organised alongside the Government with international donors and consultants and that attracted serious coverage globally due to its innovative nature.
Most importantly of all though is the fact that the only impact that is guaranteed from the suspension of HANCi’s work is that the thousands of children currently benefitting from our projects will suffer.
As of 16th April, all of this work has stopped – and with every day that passes, it becomes more likely that our work will be permanently affected by the suspension of our activities.
We of course understand the importance of carrying out a thorough investigation into the 29 adopted children now living in the United States of America – but it is the welfare of thousands of Sierra Leonean children and families that we urge the Government to balance against the benefits that might arise from suspending our activities in order to facilitate that investigation.
The impact of our suspension must not only be viewed in terms of these 14,692 beneficiaries but in terms of how it will affect the country’s development tomorrow. Our funding for future projects is intimately bound up in our credibility and our track-record of success. The implication of this suspension has the potential to destroy those foundations – our credibility and our success are both brought into question. Our donors are mainly international. They have a choice of countries as to where they donate. They will justifiably question their commitment to Sierra Leone and their support will most likely be lost. This is not speculation, this is what our donors have already told us.
It is vital however for the Government to understand that it will be the country’s children who will most feel the impact of a suspension of our activities – that whilst we are wholeheartedly committed to fully co-operating with this investigation, we have grave concerns for the impact that any suspension will have on the development of Sierra Leone’s most vulnerable.
I want to reiterate HANCi’s absolute commitment to supporting the Government’s ongoing investigations. But, also state that we are convinced that continuing to run the vital work that we are currently engaged with will in no way hinder our ability to immediately and fully comply with those investigations.
HANCI is therefore appealing that the Government of Sierra Leone reconsider the suspension of our activities while we work alongside them in complete compliance of all investigations. The motive for this is humanitarian – to avoid the disaster of thousands of children having their support cut short, thus being forced to leave school or return to the streets.
HANCi believes this is a child-friendly Government. The vigour with which the Government has set up the Showers Inquiry is just one demonstration of this. We also know this from our own fruitful Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs and Family Support Unit partnerships.
We pray that we can be allowed to continue to work together and move beyond this juncture – to build the brighter future we both crave for the most vulnerable of the nation’s children.
Statement from: Help a Needy Child in Sierra Leone (HANCi- SL)
Contact: 49 Pademba Rd, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Kelfa Kargbo
Executive Director
HANCi/SL
HANCI’s second response in an “article” that really is more of a press release as actions are described in first person from May 3, 2012.
Overview of the HANCI/MAPS Investigation [Sierra Express Media 5/3/12]
“Help a Needy Child in Sierra Leone (HANCI-SL) is a local, child focused, non-religious, non-governmental, non political organisation, founded in 1994 and registered with relevant government ministries, including: the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development; the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children Affairs; and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. It operates in all four regions of the country. Over the years, the organization has supported over 8,000 children and families. We are currently working with very close to 14,692 beneficiaries including 150 teachers going through formal training programmes.
Since 2004 HANCI-SL has been working with boys and girls affected by the Sierra Leone civil war and their families by reintegrating them back into their communities and supporting extremely poor families in rural communities towards attaining self sufficiency. In the last four years, HANCI-SL has shifted its focus to work with children who are no longer directly affected by the war in terms of stigma and rejection but might be suffering the indirect consequences of its impact, particularly poverty and the breakdown of traditional family and community support structures.
HANCI-SL works with boys and girls (some babies) that live and work on the streets of the capital and district headquarter towns. In rural areas HANCI-SL works closely with primary and secondary schools to improve on the quality of education through rehabilitation of schools and training of teachers. In particular HANCI-SL seeks to address the situation of vulnerable children through access to basic education and retention in school.
During the period 1994 the organisation came in contact with Maine Adoption Placement Service (MAPS), an adoption centre based in the state of Maine in the United States of America. MAPS is a well established and codified adoption centre that focused on international adoption. We entered into a partnership with MAPS which led to the installation of the Child Survival Centre for international adoption located at 3 Mission Road in Makeni.
Those who took their children to 3 Mission Road were those who opted for international adoption. The families were registered and the social history of their wards were taken down by HANCI social workers, particularly John Gbla; after the registration process, the parents and HANCI Programme Manager Henry Abu went to the Ministry of Social Welfare regional office in Makeni where they were interviewed by the probation officer Mr. Abdul Aziz Kamara and later to the Makeni Magistrate Court with the intention of establishing parental consent and to obtain a Supervision Court Order.
Initially there were thirty-three children for international adoption at the centre but only twenty-nine were eventually adopted by MAPS. The reduction was due to the fact that a biological parent decided to remove their four children from the process.
From this point, my organisation hired the service of a solicitor, Fio Chrispin Edwards Esq., who applied to the Social Development Officer at the Social Ministry, Mr. Jawara, for our solicitor to be granted permission for the process to be looked into by the High Court. At High Court, senior justices including the current Chief Justice looked at the matter and granted unequivocal permission for HANCI to handle international adoption on behalf of the children and their families.
HANCI fully facilitated the adoption process and saw the departure of fifteen children from Lungi International Airport in 1998 whilst, for the remaining fourteen, the adoption process was initially facilitated by HANCI but later completed by MAPS with Charity International acting as their local partner. This was due to the fact that HANCI had called off the partnership with MAPS that year in order to fully concentrate on other existing partnerships.
Following the end of the war the biological parents of these children mobilized and reported to the Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police (FSU), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the court of Sierra Leone alleging that Dr. R.F. Kargbo, the then Executive Director of HANCI, and two others had trafficked their children without their consent. On this ground, the three were charged on twenty-three counts of child trafficking. In all of these allegations, they were not found guilty on any count and were therefore acquitted and charged.
It was at this point that the commission was set by the President to further investigate the HANCI/MAPS adoptions, purely in order to establish whether parental consent had been granted. HANCI is committed to fully and wholeheartedly support the police in their investigation.”
The local journalist that has been investigating this case responds after HANCI’s statement in an article April 19, 2012.
HANCI white paper question [Sierra Express Media 4/19/12 by Donstance Koroma]
“As a journalist that has investigated the issue of Help a Needy Child International (HANCI) in relation to the 29 Sierra Leonean children whose adoption was arranged and facilitated by the NGO and taken to the United States during the war period, I see the white paper and the government recommendations as one sided.
It stands as an indisputable face that no organisation can facilitate adoption single handedly with the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Sierra Leone Judicial court.
According to legal findings of the commission, it says the adoption process was fundamentally flawed in many respects and was therefore not transparent because the practices of the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs, were to interview parents in accordance with the law to ensure that they understood the nature and effect of adoption prior to the parents giving their consent for adoption of their children. This was not done, which means it was a deliberate attempt by the Ministry of Social Welfare to deceive the parents, an unprofessional behaviour that should have warranted a ban on the said individuals from holding any position of trust.
It is hard to believe that no single person from the ministry was mentioned in relation to the crime, but the updates of children that were coming from the United States were all addressed to the Ministry of Social Welfare.
It is also important to note that MAPs, the adoptive agency, told this medium that they are not in a position to answer any question in relation to HANCI and the adoption as the country’s Ministry of Social Welfare was much more involved in the entry process, but why did the Commission allowed the Ministry to enjoy impunity?
Another point worth noting is that the High Court gave approval for the adoption of some of the children in the mistaken belief that the requirement mentioned in paragraph (a) was followed, can be challenged easily by nay rational owing to the fact that the reason for the approval was solely on the face of personal interest and not a mistake at all.
It could be recalled during the seating of the Commission at the Miatta Conference Center in Freetown, the ex-director of Help a Needy Child International, Dr. Roland Foday Kargbo, tendered before the Commission a document bearing the signature of the Chairperson of the Commission Ade Elizer Showers when serving as an high court judge in relation to the said matter, but no punishment was allocated to her because one cannot asked the dog to bite its tail.
The United States Embassy has records of over 200 Sierra Leonean children taken out of the Country illegally without going through the due process of the law. The Justices Showers Commission of Enquiry has indicated that the minister of Social Welfare stands responsible for the many illegal adoptions that were going on in the country but still allowed those senior officers in the ministry that were using illegal adoptions as money making to remain unexposed in the recommendations and government white paper.
Coming from a non dispassionate point of view I will recommend the police to kick start the investigation that will help bring to light the names of any sole of Adam that aid or abet illegal adoption in the ministry and the judicial system.
The recommendations and government white paper does not in any way solve the problems of illegal adoption because the two key players, that is, the Judiciary and the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs seems to enjoy impunity and it will take until they are named, shamed, and punished before they can desist from such habit.”
Finally, the US has published a brief story that doesn’t delve into any of the specifics of the corruption and downplays the investigation.
Sierra Leone Parents Support Adoption Inquiry
[ABC News 5/8/12 by Associated Press]
“Parents in Sierra Leone who claim their children were adopted without their permission in the late 90s say they support a new commission of inquiry set up to investigate the accusations.
In a statement released Monday the parents of the 29 children said they will aid police in an investigation to determine if more children were adopted without proper consent.
Sierra Leone’s government on April 13 mandated police to reopen an investigation into the adoptions of children placed at the Help A Needy Child International center during the war. The government said police are now able to bring criminal charges “against any person responsible for the plight of the children.” Some parents claim they left their children at the center for a better education and safety during the conflict, not for adoption.”
Update 2: An extended Associated Press article was published later Tuesday May 8, 2012.
“The police, using their professionalism, will now be at liberty to proffer criminal charges against any person responsible for the plight of the children, especially their movement from Sierra Leone to a foreign territory,” the April government statement said. The decision was made by the government in response to recommendations by a Commission of Inquiry set up in 2010 to investigate the parents’ claims.
The parents in Sierra Leone said they had left their children at HANCI for a better education and safety during the war. HANCI contacted Maine Adoption Placement Services to foster U.S. adoptions, and MAPS says it placed 29 of the 33 children with adoptive parents in the U.S. HANCI maintained the parents gave informed consent.
MAPS had said it had no knowledge of any wrongdoing on the part of their Sierra Leone staff, and that they were fully cooperating with any investigations.
In 2004, HANCI’s director and two of his employees were arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate adoption laws. Those charges against them though ultimately were dropped and the case disbanded, according to court records.
On Monday, many of the parents in Sierra Leone gathered at a press conference to respond to the decision to mandate criminal investigations.
“The commission has proven to be credible and transparent in the dispensation of justice by bringing out the perpetrators of this heinous crime to light,” the parents’ statement said. “We say thanks a million.
“Even though the commission has worked tirelessly hard to unearth the truth, there are discrepancies as to the number of children trafficked by HANCI,” it said. “We are outrightly ready to aid the Sierra Leone Police in their investigation to ascertain the validity of the number of children involved in the saga.”
A government white paper in April also gave police the mandate to access all documents used by the commission during their investigations. It gave police six weeks to conclude investigations.
Parents had told The Associated Press in 2010 that the children were adopted in 1998, but their statement Monday and the commission’s inquiry said the 29 children were adopted in 1997.
The HANCI adoption case in Sierra Leone began amid the country’s devastating decade-long war that ended in 2002, a conflict dramatized in the film “Blood Diamond.”
Rebels burned villages, raped women and turned kidnapped children into drugged teenage fighters. Tens of thousands of civilians died and countless others were left mutilated after rebels cut off body parts with machetes. The U.S. State Department says 134 children were adopted between 1999 and 2003, the year after the war ended.”
Sierra Leone parents of kids adopted in 90s back new inquiry that could bring criminal charges
[Washington Post 5/8/12 by Associated Press]
Update 3: EJ says “When I heard the news, I called Dawn Degenhardt, the founder of Maine Adoption Placement Services (MAPS), who had originally worked with HANCI to bring the children here. “It’s shocking that [HANCI] would knowingly do that,” she said, sounding genuinely bewildered by the news. “It’s just amazing. How tragic. How tragic. I just am astounded. They told us these children were abandoned and orphaned and free for adoption.”
The Makeni families’ vindication is unusual. I’ve covered fraud and corruption in international adoption for several years now. Other wrongful-adoption investigations and prosecutions have taken place in countries as disparate as China, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Vietnam, and the United States. But I cannot think of another in which a determined group of birth families have agitated until they were told officially that their children were wrongfully taken—and that justice must be done.”
EJ also contacted Judith Mosley, one of the adoptive parents whose child is affected in this corruption. “I’d originally started investigating the Makeni children’s adoptions because I was contacted by Judith Mosley, who had been stunned when she read an AP report about the Makeni families—which quoted her son Samuel’s birthfather asking where his son had gone. Judi, who now lives in Manila, had had two earlier brushes with fraud in international adoption. When I emailed her the commission’s findings, she emailed back, “I do think this is amazing, in one sense for the Sierra Leone families, but in a broader sense that maybe, just maybe, this could be the catalyst that helps transform international adoptions. … [T]he birth families … as we all know are more often than not, voiceless & powerless.” When I asked whether she intended to bring Samuel to Sierra Leone to meet his birth family, she wrote that, to her regret, it wasn’t financially feasible for the family just now, but she hopes to bring him when they can afford the trip.”
[Slate 5/14/12 by EJ Graff]
Update 4: In the midst of this investigation, Sierre Leone re-opens international adoptions. See DOS notice dated April 30, 2012 here and pasted below
“Alert: Suspension of Adoptions Lifted in Sierra Leone
On April 13, 2012, the Government of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs lifted the suspension on intercountry adoptions that it enacted on May 21, 2009. Official information states at this time that any new intercountry adoptions will take place under the country’s existing legal framework outlined in the country information sheet for Sierra Leone on adoption.state.gov. An interagency committee established by the Ministry continues to work on new adoption laws and procedure and the situation remains fluid. We strongly encourage prospective adoptive parents to read all information regarding intercountry adoption procedures for Sierra Leone prior to beginning the process of intercountry adoption.”
Update 5: “Dozens of parents in Sierra Leone say their children were given up for adoption in the United States without their consent, during the west African country’s horrific civil war in the 1990’s. The results of a government inquiry may reunite them with their children.
Mariatu Mansaray says she is still crying and suffering because two of her children, Adama and Mustafa, were taken from her in Sierra Leone. She wants them to know she never intended to give them up. Mansaray is just one of 40 parents in the rural Makeni area who say they never authorized their children to be adopted.
Abu Bakar Kargbo, a spokesperson for the parents, says none of them speak English and that made them easy targets.
“These are poor, illiterate and defenseless people. They live in villages,” he explained. “They came to advocate, hundreds of miles, for the government to intervene and they are ready to testify, to contest they did not consent any adoption. ”
The parents say they left their children at the Help A Needy Child International Center during the war temporarily, so they would be safe and get educated. The Center then apparently contacted Maine Adoption Placement Services, which placed 29 children with parents in the United States.
Their anguished pleas say they want to see their children.
That may happen. Sierra Leone Deputy Minister Sheka Tarawalie was in Washington D.C. in early May for discussions on how the adoptees, now in their teens, might meet their biological parents.
“These kids have a right to know the truth,” Tarawalie said. “We should pursue this as a responsible government, so kids can re-establish contact with biological parents.”
The minister’s visit was in response to the Commission of Inquiry that recommended the adoptions be investigated, saying it was clear these parents had no knowledge their children were being given up permanently.
Sierra Leone’s government ordered local police to further investigate the matter, which could lead to criminal charges.
“Well, we are seeing what we call alleged trafficking,” said Sierra Leone Human Rights Commission spokesperson Henry Mustapha Sheku. He welcomes the investigation.
“If they did not go according to procedures under our laws in terms of what should transpire for adoption, then yes, international laws can go with that; child trafficking, cruelty to children,” he said.
In 2004, Help A Needy Child International Center founder Roland Foday Kargbo and two of his employees were arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate adoption laws. They were found not guilty and the case was dropped.
Kargbo still denies all allegations. He says the parents signed adoption documents with their thumbprints.
“They got a copy,” he insisted. “It amazes me not one single parent produces a copy we gave them.”
Kargbo thinks the parents may be after financial compensation because they believe Help A Needy Child International is receiving money from the adoptive parents. He insists it is not the case.
“We did this adoption in good faith with clear motivation to help children in difficult circumstances during the war,” he noted.
Maine Adoption Placement Services has stated it has no knowledge of any wrongdoing. The group did not respond to requests for further comment.
Meanwhile, Mariatu Mansaray says she is just hoping to know the truth about her children. And keeps faith she will one day see them again.”
Sierra Leonean Parents Fight Non-Consensual Adoptions
[Voice of America 6/1/12 by Nina DeVries]
Update 6: “For years, parents in the West African nation of Sierra Leone have claimed their children were adopted without their consent during the country’s civil war in the 1990s. A police investigation was concluded recently regarding their claims. And staff from the agency that handled the adoptions have been charged with 32 counts, including human trafficking.
“Whenever I go to bed I see their faces, whatever I’m doing, normally my mind will drop to them,” said Abu Bakar Kargbo as he recalled his two siblings who were allegedly adopted illegally.
For 15 years he has been determined to find out where they are and let them know it was never the intent of their parents to give them up.
He is also the spokesperson for 29 other parents who claim they never gave up their children.
The parents say they left them at the Help A Needy Child International Center, or HANCI, during the war temporarily, so they would be safe and receive education.
HANCI then apparently contacted Maine Adoption Placement Services, which placed 29 children with parents in the United States.
Mariatu Mansaray explains in her native Krio language that she is glad the five staff members from HANCI were charged.
She says she hasn’t seen her children Adama and Mustapha for 15 years. And would just love just to hold them again.
Roland Wright is a lawyer representing the HANCI staff. He says a preliminary investigation will determine whether or not there is enough evidence to bring the matter to trial.
According to Wright, the HANCI staff did everything legally. And the parents who handed over the children to HANCI knew that. “It was known and quite clearly established that any child that went there was a potential adoption case,” he explained. [POTENTIAL is the key word.]
He is confident HANCI will be proven innocent.
This isn’t the first time the agency has been charged. Back in 2004 several members from HANCI were charged with violation of adoption laws but the matter was dismissed due to lack of evidence.
Anti-trafficking organizations in Freetown are also feeling the effects of the HANCI case.
Janet Nickel works as a technical advisor for an anti-trafficking program with World Hope International. She says communities they work with are confusing adoption and trafficking. They think it means the same thing.
Nickel explains some do not realize that trafficking involves exploitation. “So you explain that and then people say oh yes, that is happening, it’s going on in our community and they can start naming cases where somebody has been exploited but they never thought of it as trafficking, as they thought trafficking is adoption,” she stated.
She also questions if the trafficking charges are even accurate. “If there’s no exploitation, if it’s not for criminal purpose, it doesn’t fit the definition of child trafficking,” she added. [That doesn’t make it ethical/right though. The REAL point is that these families want contact with their kids. Regardless of whether the charges stick or not, WHO is going to help with reunification?]
No one from the police unit was available to comment on their report and if they found evidence of exploitation.
Nickel adds one young woman adopted through HANCI has come back and met her biological father. She says there is no evidence of any exploitation of the adoptee.
Another recent report from the Associated Press says a 17-year-old woman named Michaela DePrince, also part of the HANCI adoptions, grew up to become a professional ballerina living in the United States, and travels internationally to perform.
As for Abu Bakar Kargbo, he says he does not know of this young dancer but is searching for more answers to see if her family may still be around.
When asked if the biological parents are seeking financial compensation, he said it’s not about money. Rather that they just want their children to know that they are alive and establish a relationship.
In the meantime, he says he will continue to push for answers as to what really happened during the adoptions.
The next court date is set for August 10th.”
Sierra Leone Parents Say Children Adopted Without Consent
[Voice of America 7/23/12 by Nina DeVries]
We covered the adoptee ballerina story earlier this month in this post.
Update 7: “Three Prosecution witnesses Isatu Sesay of Mohamed Bangura Street, Makeni, Sulaiman Moseray Summah of Sylvanus Street in Makeni and Momoh Kanu of Back Bone Road in Mile 9, have testified before Magistrate Komba Kamanda of Court No 2 on Tuesday 28th August 2012 on the ongoing trials of Child Trafficking involving HANCI, a Non Governmental Organization.
The witnesses told the Court that Ronald Foday Kargbo former Executive Director of HANCI, John Kapri Gbla, Henry Abu, Peter Lamin Dumbuya and Peter Brima Kargbo employees of HANCI arranged for an adoption of their children abroad without their knowledge and consent.
According to Prosecution Witness (PW1) Isatu Sesay, she told the Court that she recognized the accused persons as HANCI employees. She further told the Court that, she knew HANCI as an organization that takes care of children. Isatu testified that she could recall sometime in 1997, when the accused persons met her at her house and requested for her child so as to enroll him in school and support him financially until he completed university studies. She furthered testified that she willingly gave them her biological son Sulaiman Kargbo, on condition that, they (accused persons) should never attempt to hand over her child to any third party nor should they take him out of the country. She told the crowded Court that the accused persons agreed to her conditions and it was at that stage she released her son Sulaiman. She revealed in court that, up to date she has not seen her son neither heard from him. She said on several occasions she had approached the accused persons but they have been giving her conflicting stories which she described as lies. She later reported the matter to the Police.
Standing in the dock, PW2 Sulaiman Moseray Summah acknowledged that he knew the accused persons as HANCI employees when questioned by the prosecution representing the state. He further told the court that he could recall sometime in 1997 when the accused persons visited his home and informed him that there was an educational programme that his children could benefit from. He said they persuaded him to allow his daughter to be part of the programme. Suliaman Summah explained that he told them (accused persons) that he would only release his daughter if they adhere to certain conditions; that his daughter should not be handed over to any other care giver other than the accused persons, they should not take her out of the country and he should have access to visit her at any time he wished. He revealed that the accused persons promised to adhere to the conditions and it was on that basis he handed over his daughter, Mabinty Summah to them. He further told the court that all efforts to trace the whereabouts of his daughter through the accused persons proved futile. He concluded that as there was no sign of tracing his daughter he reported the matter to the Police.
The accused persons were granted bail and the matter was adjourned to 18th September 2012.”
[Awareness Times 8/29/12 by Michael T. Kamara]
Update 8:““There is no compelling evidence for this matter to be committed to High court,” were the exact words of one of the most seasoned magistrates in the Sierra Leone legal system – magistrate Kamanda on the HANCI adaption case before his court.
In his ruling, Magistrate Kamanda told the court that the evidence before his court proved that the accused persons observed the legal procedure and all the court orders presented where issued and stamped by the Sierra Leone court including the high court. He revealed from his findings that the parents where cognizant of the process and after 15 years they decided to take another action. He granted bail to the accused persons in the sum of Le40 million which was approved by the Master and Registrar.
It could be recalled that the non-governmental organization facilitated the adoption process of 29 Sierra Leonean kids to the United States of America (USA) through the leading adoption organization in the world – Maine Adoption Placement Services (MAPS) located in the city of Maine in the USA.
The parents who the organization alleged that they willingly gave their children for the adoption alleged that the organization trafficked their children without them knowing. This disagreed clue created rift between the organization and the parent.
To address this, the Ernest Bai Koroma’s government setup the Justices Showers’ Commission of Enquiry principally aimed at finding as to how the process was done. The commission came out with its results and the government through the Justice Ministry came out with a White Paper. The White Paper stated that: the matter be sent to court, HANCI which then had 14,000 beneficiaries should stop operation immediately and the account of books of the organization should be audited.
The action of the government led to a massive demonstration from beneficiaries in all major towns in the country. This action increased public opinion of which the overriding opinion centered on out of court settlement. Government through the then Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, Shaka Tarawallie on behalf of his government commenced diplomat talks with MAPS which many believed would have been the best way to connect the children with their parents.
From the time the commission was designed and to the ruling yesterday, many parents were able to establish connection with their children. Among them is Pa Alimamy Kamara in the picture – father of Adama Kamara, Ramatu Kargbo daughter of Mr. John M. Kargbo etc. It is worthwhile to notice that Michaela Deprince the only black ballet dancer in the world who had twenty four hours news coverage from BBC and other international media outlets was also adopted by HANCI.”
HANCI adoption case goes high court[ Sierra Express Media 2/5/14]
Update 9:“Parents of dozens of children taken from Sierra Leone nearly twenty years ago are threatening legal action.
They have accused Help a Needy Child International (HANCI) of trafficking their children during the height of the country’s rebel war. The organisation, which is now banned, has denied the allegations and says that it only dealt with genuine adoption cases.
One of the children living with her adoptive parents in the USA has spoken out.”
See the video here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0418lqd[BBC 7/12/16]
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