I was sad to hear that Judge Esmie Chombo rejected the adoption on grounds that Malawi laws require prospective parents to live in the country for 18 to 24 months.
The judge said in the ruling.“Whilst there is a felt need to open a window for inter-country adoption there is a caution and clearly some felt tension between the rights of the child to adequate welfare and the need to protect the subject of the adoption,”
I was surprised with the ruling because in reality Malawi has no proper laws governing the adoption of kids be it by foreigners or Malawians themselves. So far the laws are by far outdated and irrelevant to this day and age.
The issue is to safeguard the well being of children and prevent trafficking of vulnerable children. This is a different case all together in that Madonna has adopted already in Malawi the most famous Malawian kid so far, namely David Banda. All eyes are on Madonna and evidence so far shows that she is looking after him well and now she wanted a Daughter to play with David. As much as I understand they want to protect children from exploitation by traffickers, the records show there were 4 other kids adopted to America from Malawi. I wonder under what circumstance they were granted those adoptions.
Judge Chombo should have put the welfare of the child first, because yes Madonna is single but, is it not better than having no mother at all? The issue of parents living with the child in Malawi for 18 to 24 months is a non starter for one thing people have to earn a living and this should only apply to people residing in Malawi. Oh yeah Just remembered Muluzi adopted Kids when he was President I can not remember them kids living with Muluzi for 18 to 24 months before being adopted. Why was that not done? Probably because Muluzi was the president and an exception was made. Should it not be the case here to make an exception after all Madonna has already adopted another child under the same laws?
The issue at hand should be starting a debate on the way forward. Personally I would say let this kid (Mercy) go with Madonna but the country should now look into changing its laws on adoption to reflect this day and age. Do you really think that 18 to 24 months is a problem for pedophile? This is what they pedophiles do, they groom kids for years. A pedophile can come and stay with the kid in Malawi and not show their true colors knowing fully well that they are being monitored. Once in their home country they can start showing their true colors. This law has loop holes and really does not protect kids from harm.
It's high time the government change the laws and get all the stake holders involved. Furthermore the government needs to create relationships with outside countries with robust child services. A child services department if not in place already should be there to liaise with other child services in foreign countries. The government needs to do enhanced back ground checks of any prospective parents in their countries through the police, social services and any other stake holders in those countries. Save the children UK can be one of such stake holders since they are in a lot of countries and they care about the plight of all children. Follow ups should also be done on adopted children to see how they are doing. There is more that needs doing and these are just some of them.
I hope for the sake of the child (mercy) Madonna will appeal and i hope the child's welfare will be considered carefully. Now a guy claiming to be Mercy's dad has come up and say he wants his daughter. In the first place this girl should go no where near this guy. If it is true that he impregnated a minor he should be prosecuted for statutory rape for sleeping with a minor. Where has he been all this time? I for one hate rapist of any kind and this guy if he is what he says he is need to be put away before he does the same thing to some other unsuspecting girl. It is a shame that poverty and ignorance as far as the law is concerned is costing our country of these young girls. They are induced by monetary rewards that these chidya makandas (paedophiles) offer them. some only offer them as little as a bar of soap some just a meal like chicken and chips. For now i will leave it there because it is beyond the scope of this discussion.
No comments:
Post a Comment