Child Adoption: Expert advocate special fertility centres
Child Adoption: Expert advocate special fertility centres
By Chinyere Nwachukwu
Adoption
Lagos, Sept. 14, 2018 (NAN) Mrs Iyanaoluwa Ojo, Lecturer, Department of Nursing, University of Ibadan, has called on the Federal government to establish special fertility centres around the country to curb baby factories and reduce the stress of child adoption.
Ojo made the call in an in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
According to her, such fertility centres will improve the chances of couples seeking biological children and therefore spare them the stress of the bureaucracy of adoption.
She noted that aside the stress of adoption, the stigma associated with the practice was equally an issue to contend with in the country.
“Firstly, we must understand the whole concept of adoption, which is simply getting a child as a single parent or as couples, who is not your biological child, to cater for.
“Now, because of our cultural and social background, deep down in our hearts, even after adopting a child, still feel we do not have our real biological child.
“The issue of stigma is another fear of the unknown that tends to stare both the person adopting and even the child being adopted.
“If government should establish these centres and go ahead to subsidise already existing ones by making medical help less expensive, it will go a long way in bringing more relief to couples and reduce issues of stolen babies all over the place,” she said.
Mrs Magaret Ibem, a prospective foster parent, said the bottleneck bureaucracy in adopting babies in the state was part of the reasons behind the booming baby factories scattered all over the city.
According to her, months after official registration at the right place, she is still not having any positive response from those in charge.
“I wanted to assist my own sister who has been married for over 15 years without a child to adopt a child here in Lagos and I did not want to do anything illegal because I know it must have its consequences.
“I went to the ministry in charge of that to register. I presented all that was required and since then, that is over eight months now, nothing has come out of it.
“I must confess to you that the stress involved in the whole of this adoption thing is part of the reasons why some desperate couples resort to the easy way out.
“They rather visit and pay prostitutes to carry babies for them and after giving birth, they take the child away.
“Some others visit illegal baby factories and pay stipends and carry a baby sex of their choice, rather than go through the legal way,” she said.
Ibem added that government must reconsider the adoption process in the country by making it affordable to all as well as reduce the long waiting days.
Dr Francis Falako of Department of Arts and Social Science Education, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos, said that the issue of adoption has been an age long practice, which can also be traced to in the holy Bible.
Falako said culturally nothing was wrong about it but that today’s society unfortunately does not welcome such whole heartedly.
“We in the church, as an Anglican priest too, encourage childless couples to adopt.
“We even have some churches that run orphanages.
“But be that as it may, some culture does not still want to encourage it. There are several roadblocks to contend with in trying to adopt a child into any family.
“Even when a child is adopted, some family members still find it hard to integrate such child fully in their affairs and this is a major challenge.
“Government on its part too should find a way of sensitising the public in both the adoption process and stigma,” he said. (NAN)
CCN/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola