BY YIJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE

Child adoption is a major issue in Nigeria and many people, even educated ones, have fallen prey to illegal adoption procedures leading them to avoidable problems. Indeed, few people have a full understanding of the process.

For anyone that wants to adopt a child in Nigeria without flouting laws, there is the need to know what the Child Rights Act 2003 (CRA) stipulates as this is the major law regulating adoption.

Marital status, age and gender: Anyone that wants to adopt a child in Nigeria must not be less than 25 years of age and must be at least 21 years older than the child. When the applicant is unmarried, he or she must be at least 35 years and the child to be adopted must be the same sex with him or her. The law does not allow cohabiting couples to adopt children.

Character: The applicant should be a person of unquestionable integrity

Basic steps in the procedure:

Finances: The applicant must have the necessary financial capability and means to take adequate care of the child.

Pre-approval from the State welfare agency: There must be a formal request to the state government through approved government agency which interviews the intending parents to ascertain their suitability as parents.

After approval is granted, the adopters will then search for an adoptable child in a government approved home and the child is allowed to stay with the intending adopters for three months.

The general law is that application for an adoption order must be submitted to the registrar of the court and the court orders investigation to be conducted by state social welfare officers to assess the suitability of the applicant and of the child to be adopted.

The court assigns a ‘guardian ad litem’ for the child as representative in the adoption proceedings and this representative investigates the circumstances of the proposed adoption and files a report to the court. The guardian ad litem represents the child’s interests until the judge questions the prospective adoptive parents and grants the adoption order giving legal custody to the adoptive parents.

During the three months trial, the social welfare officer visits the home of the adoptive parents until the officer is satisfied that the child is settled, and the prospective adoptive parents can look after him or her. Then, the social welfare officer submits a positive recommendation in writing to the court.

The court will then meet the adoptive parents to confirm their suitability and issue or deny the adoption order in the best interest of the child.

After the adoption order has been issued, adoptive parents will obtain a new birth certificate for the child listing them as the child’s parents. For couples migrating after the adoption, the adoptive parents must obtain the court’s permission to remove the child from Nigerian jurisdiction, temporarily or permanently.

Also, the social welfare officer might be required to submit a letter to the Nigerian immigration office, stating that the adoptive parents are now the legal parents of the child to enable them to apply for a passport to take the child out of Nigeria.

Every action that occurred in an adoption proceeding and its final outcome must be entered into the Adoption Register. (Nigerian Tribune)

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