Lawsuit: Child in Family Focus-Kenya
“Hundreds of children living in homes are flown out of the country every year for adoption by foreigners, a suit filed in court claims.
The suit filed in the Judicial Review Division of the High Court of Kenya has brought to light some of the secretive operations undertaken by organisations charged with the responsibility of caring for abandoned and lost children.
The court heard that if the relatives of such children fail to claim them, it is possible for the management of the orphanage to unwittingly conclude that a child has been abandoned.
According to the suit papers, some of these children are adopted locally while others are adopted by foreigners – mainly from Europe and North America.
For instance, court papers show that between 2005 and 2013, one agency alone oversaw the adoption of 330 Kenyan children overseas.
There are several homes, mostly foreign owned, that are licensed by the Department of Children’s Services to conduct international adoptions from Nairobi since 2005.
The information is contained in Judicial Review Suit No 164 of 2014 filed by Child in Family Focus-Kenya (CFFK), which is seeking a prohibition order against an order by Cabinet Secretary for Labour, Social Security and Services Mr Kazungu Kambi last year. In the application filed under a certificate of urgency on May 28, CFFK seeks a prohibition order against a gazette notice No 106 of October 17, 2013, published by the CS.
Through the Legal Notice, the Cabinet Secretary exempted the Child Welfare Society of Kenya from Section 117 of the Children’s Act 2001 that provides for registered adoption agencies to seek annual renewal of registration. In the application, the CFFK says the exemption of one agency was discriminatory against others and would violate the safety and rights of children.
“The Exemption Order is capable of abuse due to the 6th Interested Party (CWSK), operating under an illegal exemption issued by the second respondent (Cabinet Secretary) and carrying out functions of an adoption society while not registered as such,” CFFK says
However, in her replying affidavit, CWSK executive director Irene Muriithi said her organisation was exempted upon application to the relevant ministry. She said the application by CFFK is only aimed at intimidating CWSK from advocating against the international adoption of Kenyan children.
“The applicant will not suffer any prejudice if the stay is not granted. The issue here is not the rights of children but selfish economic and commercial interests in which the applicant and some interested parties consider the 6th interested party (CWSK) a spoiler for conducting free adoption services” she said though her lawyer, Mr Ken Ogetto.
CWSK is a state corporation while CFFK is a non-profit organisation.
“In the circumstances, it is not the 6th interested party who is against the best interests of the children of Kenya, but those in the business of adoptions to make big money… the applicant is a member and a partner in a group of agencies who are involved in the business of selling Kenyan children outside the country in the name of international adoptions,” Ms Muriithi said.
The Hague Convention to which Kenya is signatory says children should be adopted in permanent homes or in familiar cultural surroundings.
and that the option of change of citizenship through foreign adoption should be the last resort.
Ms Muriithi said the law and international conventions on adoption practice places favour local adoptions over foreign ones in order for children to grow up in a familiar environment. She said most adoption agencies focus more on international clients who pay higher fees for the service.
“It is the foreign nature of the operations of the applicant and its allies that is likely to expose Kenyan children to child-trafficking. The same cannot be said of the 6th interested party whose operations are entirely local”.
Children are declared available for adoption after staying in children homes for long without family or kin coming forward to claim them.
An adoption order granted by the court grants complete parental rights and responsibilities over the child to the adoptive parents.”
How deserted children are ending up in foreign homes[Daily Nation 8/23/14 by MUCHEMI WACHIRA]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Recent Comments