Foster Parents Flout Regulations

http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=56161

Foster parents in Kabarole district are flouting the adoption laws. Records at the district probation department show that twenty children under the age of 10 years have been adopted since the beginning of this year. Last year, ten were adopted. Majority of the adopted children are from homes which look after abandoned and orphaned children. Part viii of the children’s act cap 59, provides that once a child has been adopted, the adoptive family should ensure that the child is provided with the basic necessities like clothing, food, education and good medical care.   

However, many of the families flout the law, which has forced the homes to take back the children. Records at Divine Babies’ home in Busoro Sub County indicate that out of the eight children who were adopted this year, six were returned to the home, because of poor care in their new homes. Beatrice Katusabe, the matron Divine Babies’ home says that some of the children who were returned to the home were poorly fed, lacked proper medical care and some had been turned into maids.

Katusabe cites three children aged 13 years who were taken by a family under the pretext of taking them to school, but spent two years doing domestic work.
 
//Cue in: “the families…

Cue out: “…they should be in school.”//

Faith Ngonzi, the matron Hosana Babies Home blame the problem on probation officers, who she accuses of failing in their roles. She says this gives room to foster parents to flout the rules. Ngonzi says the officers are supposed to monitor the state of the adopted child during the fostering period. According to the Children's Act 1997, probation officers are supposed to monitor and record the progress of the adoptive family during the 36-month fostering period, before endorsing the final legal adoption process.

Ngonzi says that the officers have left the work of monitoring to the babies homes. She says that for the past five months, they have not received any information from the probation office regarding the progress of adopted children. Shamillah Kakunguru, the Kabarole district probation officer says that monitoring is not done because the department lacks funds. Kakunguru explains that the probation office is allocated only 5 million shillings every financial year, which isn't enough for monitoring.

Kakunguru also says that some adoptive families relocate to other places and don’t inform the probation office. She says this makes it hard for the probation officers to monitor the families. In June, during the celebrations of the Day of the African Child, the Parliamentary Forum on Children proposed tougher adoption laws. The forum called for the amendment of the Children’s Act, in which the forum will bring out the stand on adoption.