Ghana Orphanage Trafficking and Doing Due Diligence
You will always hear a lot about due diligence on this blog, because risk assessment is paramount as you enter into the international adoption process. As countries strengthen screening and approval processes in international adoption, people will turn to countries with programs that seem “easier,” such as Ghana, with fewer regulations. This latest Ghana trafficking story may be the first you have read about, but in fact we at REFORM Talk were not surprised at all to see it.
http://news.myjoyonline.com/news/201101/60207.asp
[Asempa News 1/28/11 by Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona]
“Peace and Love Orphanage was rocked by child to child abuse due to adult negligence; massive and chilling child abuses by caregivers at Osu Children’s Home were caught on tape a few months back, and the latest is child trafficking at Hohoe Christian Orphanage. “
Ghana Trafficking
To help understand adoption in Ghana, you first must recognize where trafficking occurs from. Like other countries, orphanages serve as one of the “fronts.”
Statistics for Ghana were described a few months ago. “OrphanAid Africa is aware of the existence of 148 orphanages in Ghana, and has data on children living in 95 of these orphanages. Approximately 85%, of the children in orphanages in Ghana are not orphans and have living family.”
This organization actually changed the focus of their mission in 2005 to support and re-settling children with their families after doing on-the-ground due diligence.
[Sep 7, 2010 Ameya Debrah]
Agencies
Part of due diligence is assessing the quality of the adoption agency. Unlike when you are researching consumer product companies, the length of time an agency has been in business is NOT always an indicator of its quality. Many agencies move to new countries after dashing out of previous ones, leaving behind the victims (children and families) of the trail of corruption. A quick search of who is operating in Ghana right now reveals at least these the following agencies are setting up operations or already are in operation:
- Children’s House International
- Life’s Vision International
- One World Adoptions
- Wasatch International Adoptions
- Adoption Advocates International
- Adoption Ark
- About a Child
- Before signing a contract, ask the potential agency about which orphanage the agency is working with. Then, do an internet search on the name. Many times agency websites do not reveal where they are working.
- Take the time to learn what countries these agencies have previously been in and see how they operated. This will give you one piece of the puzzle. A good place to start is to go to http://poundpuplegacy.org/. Plug in the name of the agency and facilitator and US personnel into their search engine and see what connections the search brings up. A second place to go is Schuster Institute at Brandies University and search on agency names, countries and people http://www.brandeis.edu/investigate/gender/adoption/index.html
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