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There are over 143 MILLION orphans in the world today, according to UNICEF.
That means that there are more children on this planet without families then the whole of the population of France and Spain put together!
Asia has the highest number of orphans at 65 million.
And Africa has the greatest proportion of children who are orphans, 34 million in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Due to the horrific ravages of AIDS in Africa this number is expected to rise to 42 million by 2010.
China has a million orphans in 1000 orphanages across the country.
Russia has over 760 000 children in state care.
What is an orphan?
The definition of an orphan differs depending to what reference is used. The word comes from the Greek 'orphanos' which means 'bereaved'. Originally it meant a child whose both parents are dead. In today?s complex society it has a wider use: Orphan is used to refer to a child under the age of 16 who has: lost one or both of their parents; who are deprived of parental protection or advantage; who is found in a particularly vulnerable situation; and those who are alone, abandoned, lost, neglected, forsaken for any reason.
How does one become an orphan?
There are a number of varying reasons why a child would loose their parental care:
In very small cases it is due to tragic accidents;
to a larger extent through wars or conflicts that continue in many countries;
poverty and a lack of social security infrastructure mean that many parents are simply unable to afford to bring up their children;
some government policies, like China's one child policy, mean that children get abandoned for fear of reprisals;
Illness is a factor, the child's own if, for example, born with congenital diseases he/she may be left at the hospital, or the illness of the parents - no more prevalent then with the scourge of AIDS in sub Saharan Africa;
massive natural disasters like earth quakes and the Tusnami have destroyed thousands of lives and created thousands of orphans;
and then there is parental abuse where for the child's protection parental rights have been relinquished and they are taken into care.
What happens to orphans?
Once a child looses his parental care he or she usually comes under the guardianship of extended family, charitable organisations or the state. These organisations care for these children by placing them in orphanages, foster care, children's homes, care centres, or through adoption.
A full and comprehensive list of all the orphanages in the world is at www.orphanage.org
What is the situation in the United Kingdom?
In the UK there are 79 600 children who are in care. Most children without parental care have been placed in foster homes or in care homes. Fortunately the recent policy is to promote adoption.
In 2000 the Blair government promised £66.5 million to improve adoption services, with the aim of increasing the rate of adoption 40% from 2700 in 2000 to 3700 this year.
The website http://www.adoption-net.co.uk/ provides comprehensive information about adopting in the UK.
However potential parents must be aware that they are only able to adopt children who have the same ethnic mix as themselves, the average 5 year available for adoption has already been in 5 foster homes, and the UK policy is one of 'open' adoption where birth parents have legal rights to access to their children.
The most recent figures for adoption show that although things are improving Adoption is slow:
England: 61 100 children in care - 3700 adopted in 2003; Northern Ireland: 2510 in care - 174 adopted in 2002; Scotland: 11 675 in care, 468 adoptions 2003; Wales: 4315 in care ? 237 adopted 2003
More information on domestic adoption can be found at the British Association for Adoption and Fostering at www.baaf.org.uk
How many UK Potential Adoptive Parents (PAPs)?
It is estimated that 1 in 7 couples in the UK are having some sort of fertility problems, according to http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk.
This means that approximately 1,750,000 couples in the UK are unable to conceive children. With IVF success rates hovering at about 25% it means 1 312 500 couples will be unable to fulfil their dreams of completing their families, unless they adopt.
Adoption is often considered a last resort in this country, but the United States has a different story. In the US adoption is considered a positive alternative for completing one's family. The government supports it with tax rebates and November is designated Adoption Month. 2.5% of all households in the US have an adopted child with the total number of 1.6 million (US census bureau) adopted children. In 2004 there were 21616 foreign adoptions.
Foreign adoptions in the UK are becoming more popular. On average over 300 children from other countries are adopted into this country each year. It is still very small, but the numbers are growing. More information is available, it is becoming more socially acceptable, the demand is increasing, and people are seeing adoption as a positive choice for completing their families.
How long does it take?
The average adoption takes 3-4 years. That is from the initial call to the local authorities to bringing a child home.
Again our American cousins have an easier time where adoptions there take on average 15 months.
There are many reasons for the delays and most of it has to do with the fact that international adoption is mostly about paper - documents about you and your child. These documents must be gathered from various sources from your local authority, to the police, to the government.
The Home Study, which is the first document that you must get, takes anything from 6 months to 18 months to complete. Then your documents get passed to the Department of Children, Schools and Families which issues a Certificate of Eligibility, which can take anything up to 6 months.
Only once you have received the Certificate of Eligibility can you then look into the country that you are adopting from.
Once your documents are recieved in country then the matching with your child begins. This can take anything from 3 months to three years (as with the present situation with China).
After you recieve your 'referral' then depending on the legal relationship to the UK (designated and undesignated countries) you have to fulfil the legal requirements of that country, before you can bring your child home.
How much does it cost?
International adoption is not cheap. The costs alter depending on which country you adopt from and the route that you choose to adopt.
What comes as a big surprise to most potential parents is the costs involved in this country. To have a Home Study - which is where a social worker comes to assess you as a potential parent - is now costing up to £6000 in London, it is slightly cheaper in the home counties. To adopt domestically, for the same service it costs nothing.
Other costs involved are agency fees, legal fees, translation costs, travel expenses. China is the 'cheapest' country to adopt from as it is on a government to government level and Russia is probably the most expensive with costs averaging £20000 but it can be done for cheaper.
Are the children healthy?
This is one of the main questions that concern people. Of course there is a certain amount of risk with inter-country adoption, or infact any adoption.
Institutional children do not have the early stimulation that they need for development, so there is some delay. The experts calcultate that for every 3 months in an orphanage they are 1 month behind developmentally. But this is a temporary delay. Once children are home they 'catch up' within the first few months and after about 6 months home they are on target with all areas.
Children in foster care may have attachment issues or other issues but most of these are surmountable, with careful parenting, professional help and support.
There are real some real issues like FAS (feotal alcohol syndrome), but if you do your homework, are careful, check the children by an International Adoption medical specialist, then you have an exceptionally high chance of getting a very healthy and mentally fit child.
Emotional stress
Inter-country adoption is stressful. It is emotionally draining, frustrating, taxing, unfair, mindless, invasive, confusing and heart breaking.
Often one feels that even if you could walk on water you will not be good enough for some social workers.
You will come across incompetence that you never knew existed, you will doubt yourself all along the way, you will loose any sense of reality, your hopes will be raised and then dashed, you will forget that the whole thing is about children. You must be strong and have fortitude.
There will be many times that you will feel that you want to give up because the paper chase is never ending. No one knows anything and you will be told conflicting advice, people that you have been working disappear into the ether, paper gets lost, letters don't get signed, important documents are left in the outbox for weeks.
You no longer are a private autonomous individual, you are now part of the state and every section of your life is poked and proded. Minitue becomes the order of the day and you can no longer talk to friends and family about it. Sometimes you will feel so alone you will doubt your decisions. But the rewards are worth every minute. 'Hanging in there' will become a daily mantra.
But we are here to help you to reach that goal of becoming parents.
International Adoption Guide will guide you through the process, support you and ease the path.
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS WITH REGARD TO THE CHILD LEGAL ASPECTS
a). International level.
The United Nations concern for the right of child had began since 1946 when the Temporary Social Commission of the Economic and Social Counsel insisted that the Geneva Declaration of 1924 made under the auspices of the League of Nations should be binding on the peoples of world even after the end of Second World War. The five points that were adopted by the League of Nations is in the form of Geneva Declaration of 1924 are as follows. 1
1. The child must be given the means requisite for its normal Development, both materially and spiritually.
2. The child that is Hungary must be fed; the child that is sick must be helped. The child that is backward must be helped, the delinquent child must be reclaimed, and the orphans and the waif must be sheltered and succored.
3. The child must be first to receive relief in times of distress.
4. The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood, and must be protected against every form of exploitation.
5. The child must be brought up in the consciousness that its talents must be devoted to the service of its fellow men.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights had stipulated under Para 2 of Article-25 that child hood is entitled to special care and assistance. The above principle along with other principles of Universal Declaration concerning the child were incorporated in the declaration of the rights of child adopted by the General Assembly on November 20 1959. The International covenant on civil and political rights under Article 23 and 24 and the International covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights under Article 10 made provisions for the care of the child. In a number of other international documents it was stated that the child show grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding, although Principles were proclaimed for the care and development of the child. These principles were not binding on the states. It was therefore realized that a convention is prepared which should be legally binding on states.
The convention on the rights of the child was adopted by the General Assembly by consensus, on the 3oth Anniversary of the Declaration on November 20, 1989, which came into force on Sep 2, 1990. As on January 8, 2002, the convention had 191 states parties, the convention has 54 articles and is every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
b). RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
A number of rights have been stipulated in the convention which includes the following
a) Right to Life (Art 6.Para 1).
b) Right to acquire nationality (Art.7).
c) Right to freedom of thought conscience and religion (Art.14 Para 1).
d) Right to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly (Art 15.Para 1).
e). Right to Privacy (Art.16).
f) Right to family environment (Art.20).
g) Right to education (Art.28 Para 1).
h) Right to benefit form social security (Art.27 Para 1).
i) Right to standard of living and adequate for the child?s physical, mental, spiritual, and social development (Art.27 Para 1).
j) Right to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health (Art 24, Para 1).
k) Right to protection of the law against arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, hones, or correspondence (Art.16, Para 1).
l) Right against exploitation of child Labour (Art.32).
m) Right against sexual exploitation (Art.34).
n) Right against abduction, sale, or traffic (Art.35).
o) Right against other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspect of the child?s welfare.
c). OPTIONAL PROTOCOL
On May 25, 2000 .Two Optional Protocols to the convention on the right of the child were adopted in New York which are as follows.
?Optional protocols on the involvement of children in armed conflict. In the armed conflict of recent years, children have featured centrally as targets of violence and occasionally. Even unwillingly, as perpetrators. They have been directly affected by armed conflicts, many of them uprooted from their homes and communities, maimed or killed. In order to prevent children from being targets in armed conflicts, a protocol was concluded whose objective is to seek limits on the issue of children in armed conflict and in particular to raise the minimum age limit for the recruitment and to limit the actual participation of the persons under 18 years in hostilities.?
d). WORLD SUMMIT FOR CHILDREN 1990
The world summit for children was held on Sep 29 and 30, 1990. In New York to bring attention and promote commitment at the highest political level, to goals and strategies for ensuring the survival, protection and development of children as key elements in the socio-economic development of all countries and human society. The summit adopted the world declaration on the survival, protection and development of children and the plan of action for implementing the world declaration.
While the declaration is a moral and joint commitment the plan of action is a practical guide for national governments. International and Non-governmental organizations to ensure the implementation of declarations specific principles. The action plan sets specific goal for children and development in the Neut-decate (1990-2000). Some of the goals are as follows.
a) Reduction of Maternal Mortality Rate by one-third or 70 per 1000 live births, whichever is less.
b) Reduction of Maternal Mortality Rate by half.
c) Reduction of severe and moderate malnutrition among under five children by half.
d) Universal access to safe drinking water and to sanitary means of excrete disposal.
e) Universal access to basic education and completion of primary education by at least 80 percent of the primary school age children.
f) Improved protection of children in especially difficult circumstances.
Since the historic world summit the world has achieved by the year. 2000 significant progress in meeting goals for helping children.
e). SPECIAL SESSION ON CHILDREN
The General assembly for the first time decided to hold a special session on issue relating to children from September 19 to 21.2001. In New York. The conference was to make review of progress made since world summit for children where governments committed to specific and time bound goals on child survival, protection and development. However, the conference was postponed due to terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001.
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