The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) and USAID last Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Accra under which USAID will provide $3 million to improve child adoption and fosterage in Ghana.

The money is being sourced from the USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund.Specifically, the MoU, which will cover a five-year period, aims at strengthening the quality of social work of the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) which is under the ministry.

The Sector Minister, Nana Oye Lithur, signed on behalf of the government, while the USAID-Ghana Mission Director, Mr Andy Karas, signed on behalf of USAID.

Mr Robert Jackson, the US Ambassador to Ghana, initialed for his country.

Effective protective system 

In a speech prior to the signing of the MOU, Nana Oye said the funding would contribute to the creation of a more effective protective social welfare system and better position the DSW to activate other alternative care interventions which promote the healthy development of children, strong families and safe communities.

She said the government’s long-term policy objective for child care reform is to de-emphasise the over-reliance on care systems for children based on institutionalisation and promote a range of integrated family and community-based care services for children without appropriate parental care.

She said the reforms emphasise early intervention, effective monitoring and protection within the overall system of child protection.

Nana Oye announced that a Central Adoption Authority had thus been established to oversee all adoptions, with the view to promoting the well-being and best interest of children.

The authority also regulates inter-country adoptions.

She said the ministry had also initiated a process towards the development of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) policy which would eventually lead to the enactment of a legal and regulatory framework on the establishment and running of NGOs in the country.

Strengthening social works

Mr Karas, for his part, said the partnership would help in establishing standards for orphanages to ensure that no child lived in a substandard orphanage.

He commended social workers in the country for their efforts at ensuring that they put to good use the few resources available to them.

He said every child in Ghana deserved to live in a decent home and was optimistic that the partnership would help ensure that vulnerable children lived in dignity.

Mr Karas expressed USAID’s commitment to work with the government to ensure the security and protection of all children.

Mr Jackson, in his remarks, said many of the country’s one million orphans were living in unlicensed orphanages, and added that those children were often subjected to violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect and were not guaranteed the basic necessities of life such as food, water, education and health care.

Nana Oye Lithur, the Director of Social Welfare, Mrs Comfort Asare, has hinted that her outfit will look into circumstances under which 124 Ghanaians were adopted by citizens of the United States of America (USA) in 2013/2014 at a time when a temporary ban was imposed on adoptions.

She said this in reaction to The Finder’s question about data from the US State Department which shows that 124 Ghanaians were adopted by US citizens in 2013/2014.

Thomson Reuters Foundation published the data gathered from its investigations.

The craze to live abroad is one major reason for the high incidence of adoptions.

Over 1,120 Ghanaian children were adopted between 2010 and 2012. The majority of the adopted children are sent to the United States of America (USA) and Europe.

Out of the number, 800 children were adopted by foreigners, with the rest being adopted locally.

Mrs Asare explained that even though she has not seen the US State Department report or the publication by Reuters, her department would look into it.

She explained that she suspects that the said adoptions could have been done by Ghanaians who have obtained US citizenship and adopted their distant relatives.

The 124 Ghanaians are among 6,441 children adopted by US citizens from around the world, hundreds of them from Africa.

A Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation found that families in Uganda have been bribed, tricked or coerced into giving up their children to U.S. citizens and other foreigners for adoption.

In Africa, Ghana placed 5th on the list of top 10 countries for US adoptive parents.

Ethiopia topped the list with 716 adoptions, followed by Democratic Republic of Congo with 230 adoptions; Uganda had 201 adoptions at third position; Nigeria, 130 adoptions, at fourth position; Ghana, 124 adoptions at fifth position; and Morocco, 43 adoptions at sixth position.

The rest are Sierra Leone, 33 adoptions, seventh position; South Africa, 24 adoptions, eighth position; Liberia, 16 adoptions, ninth position; and Zambia eight adoptions at 10th position.

Worldwide, China topped the list of 10 countries for US adoptive parents in the fiscal year 2014, with 2,040 adoptions.

Others are Ethiopia at second position with 716 adoptions; Ukraine occupied third position with 521 adoptions; Haiti placed fourth with 464 adoptions; South Korea at fifth position with 370 adoptions; and Democratic Republic of Congo placing sixth with 230 adoptions.

The rest are Uganda, 201 adoptions at the seventh position; Bulgaria, 183 adoptions at the eighth position; Colombia placed ninth with 172 adoptions, and Philippines came 10th with 172 adoptions.

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