Saturday, January 14, 2006
KEEPING ADOPTION SAFE EVEN IN EXTREME NEED
THE PLIGHT OF THE AFRICAN CHILD – CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY NECESSARY
By Nothando Zainab Migogo
A.N.D.Johannesburg: The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and, more especially sub-Saharan Africa, continues to cause havoc within social and family structures. Entire generations are being wiped out; bread winners have either passed away or are too sick to work and the biggest victim remains the African child. Is it not time that African civil societies take on a real responsibilty in as far as these children are concerned?
With over 34 million orphans in the region, of whom 11 million have been orphaned by AIDS, the future of the region is uncertain. With the child-headed household becoming a very common feature in many sub-Saharan African countries, the situation is worsened by the fact that most of these countries do not have developed health, social welfare and education systems that would ideally aid and support these children.
What remains to be seen is how the various governments plan to negate the inevitable consequences, which include collapsed social structures, diminished education statistics, hampered economic development and, most significantly, the integration of orphans into mainstream society.
The common practice of ‘adopting’ extended family, as well as the traditional and societal skepticism attracted by the embracing, by a family, of a strange child whose history and ancestry is unknown has hindered the popularity of legal adoption as a means of combating the orphan crisis in sub-Saharan Africa.
Adoption of orphans has never been part of African culture and, as such, is something that should be actively encouraged by government social structures. This is, however, not without its own dangers.
Adequate screening to prevent child abuse within the adoptive home is paramount and is a consideration that child welfare departments would have to pay very close attention to, ensuring as far as is reasonably possible, that a prospective adopter would be highly unlikely to abuse the child, whether emotionally, physically or psychologically. It is for this reason that incentives, financial or otherwise, encouraging those able to adopt to do so would be unadvisable. [ED: Hmmm....seems the US could learn something from Africa.]
The encouraging of the adoption of orphans within African society, with the aim of every able family taking on at least one child, is one way of ensuring that more children are integrated into mainstream society. Social awareness campaigns should actively promote this aim, highlighting the fact that even if these children continue to be ignored today, they will not disappear and will still be here to haunt us tomorrow. In the same way that the issues that placed these children in the situations they find themselves are the responsibility of society and government, the solution must come from the authorities as well as the communities.
A.N.D.Africa
By Nothando Zainab Migogo
A.N.D.Johannesburg: The HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and, more especially sub-Saharan Africa, continues to cause havoc within social and family structures. Entire generations are being wiped out; bread winners have either passed away or are too sick to work and the biggest victim remains the African child. Is it not time that African civil societies take on a real responsibilty in as far as these children are concerned?
With over 34 million orphans in the region, of whom 11 million have been orphaned by AIDS, the future of the region is uncertain. With the child-headed household becoming a very common feature in many sub-Saharan African countries, the situation is worsened by the fact that most of these countries do not have developed health, social welfare and education systems that would ideally aid and support these children.
What remains to be seen is how the various governments plan to negate the inevitable consequences, which include collapsed social structures, diminished education statistics, hampered economic development and, most significantly, the integration of orphans into mainstream society.
The common practice of ‘adopting’ extended family, as well as the traditional and societal skepticism attracted by the embracing, by a family, of a strange child whose history and ancestry is unknown has hindered the popularity of legal adoption as a means of combating the orphan crisis in sub-Saharan Africa.
Adoption of orphans has never been part of African culture and, as such, is something that should be actively encouraged by government social structures. This is, however, not without its own dangers.
Adequate screening to prevent child abuse within the adoptive home is paramount and is a consideration that child welfare departments would have to pay very close attention to, ensuring as far as is reasonably possible, that a prospective adopter would be highly unlikely to abuse the child, whether emotionally, physically or psychologically. It is for this reason that incentives, financial or otherwise, encouraging those able to adopt to do so would be unadvisable. [ED: Hmmm....seems the US could learn something from Africa.]
The encouraging of the adoption of orphans within African society, with the aim of every able family taking on at least one child, is one way of ensuring that more children are integrated into mainstream society. Social awareness campaigns should actively promote this aim, highlighting the fact that even if these children continue to be ignored today, they will not disappear and will still be here to haunt us tomorrow. In the same way that the issues that placed these children in the situations they find themselves are the responsibility of society and government, the solution must come from the authorities as well as the communities.
A.N.D.Africa
# posted by Senior Mom @ 2:19 PM 
