Ugandans Adopt

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adoption The Adoption Panel Uncategorized Video

FOSTERING UGANDAN’S CHILDREN IS OUR CALL

 WHY WE SHOULD ALL FOSTER UGANDA’S ABANDONED CHILDREN.

Doreen with one of the children in her care
Doreen at home  with one of the children in her care

At her home in the suburbs of Wakiso, Doreen Kyomugisha cuddles and rocks four months old Anita who is making innocent baby noises without a care in the world. Before long, she is asleep and is taken to bed. 8 months old Peter wakes up almost immediately, “that is their sleeping sequence,” Kyomugisha says while emerging from the bedroom with him. Peter is a very bubbly baby who doesn’t cry for all the time I am there.

The social worker who I go with to Kyomugisha’s home is surprised that Peter no longer cries, “he used to cry a lot, I’m surprised he is calm now,” she quips.

Looking at these two babies, you could think they are Kyomugisha’s children, until you hear their plight, a plight no one would want to have.

Anita’s mother left her at a witch doctor’s home, she came on a boda boda, entered the house and asked for 5,000/= to pay the boda boda cyclist, the witch doctor’s daughter who was home told her she didn’t have money, Anita’s mum then asked to leave Anita with her for a short time so that she could go to her friend who lived in the neighbourhood and get money to pay. She told the same story to the cyclist, Anita’s mother never returned. Peter was left at a verandah in Wakiso at 10:00p.m in the night. Peter is believed to have been five days old because his umbilical cord hadn’t fallen off yet.  

Whereas the babies thrived health wise when they were brought, they were not coping up socially, Peter would throw a lot of tantrums while Anita was too withdrawn. Kyomugisha took them on under the short term foster care programme that was being piloted at Ugandans Adopt.

Short term foster care                    

For years Ugandans have Many abandoned babies end up in institutional care and orphanages which are potentially harmful to the mental and physical development of such children.

According to UNICEF statistics, as many as eight million children are spending their precious and irreplaceable childhood in institutions. In most cases, the children are receive food, clothes, a cot or bed, an education and a roof over their heads but they never get the love, support and sense of identity that only a loving family can give. Family life is critical to a child’s healthy development. Without it, children suffer great harm and are deeply damaged.

According to Immaculate Atwine Byaruhanga, a Transitional Care Manager, short term foster care or emergency foster care  is where abandoned children are placed with loving families who provide temporary care in a real home and family. “The organization continues providing for the child’s basic needs like education and health, all one has to do is provide a home and love for the child, so that they don’t have delayed milestones,” she adds.

While a child is being cared for in this way, social workers will try and trace their relatives and reunite the child with their family, if those attempts are unsuccessful, a child can go on to be placed permanently with loving Ugandan adoptive parents.  Whatever the outcome, whether resettlement or adoption, in the meantime the child will have been loved, supported and nurtured in a real family. The child will have started to form secure attachments which they can continue to develop when placed with a permanent family.

Where as Long-term foster care is when neither family resettlement nor adoption are a viable option, long-term fostering gives a child the chance to grow up loved in a family until they reach the age of 18. In some cases, children have family but, due to child protection issues, cannot be resettled with them. In this instance, the next best option is finding an alternative family to bring them up as their own

Mr JK
”It also provides an opportunity for foster parents considering adoption to stay with a child and see if they are compatible’ , says Mr. James Kaboggoza Sembatya on Fostering and adoption.

According to James Kaboggoza Ssembatya, the Assistant Commissioner of Children’s Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development the concept of Short Term Foster Care ensures children are not subjected to institutional care. This enables the child the child to grow up in a family setting. ”It also provides an opportunity for foster parents considering adoption to stay with a child and see if they are compatible”, he adds.

Could you provide a loving home?

Ugandans Adopt is piloting a short term foster care programme. Though abandoned, these children deserve to grow up in a family setting, rather than be raised in an institution without a family. Short term foster care makes a significant and lasting difference to a child’s health and happiness, giving them the best possible start in life and a happy yet healthy future.

You can give an abandoned child the love and care they need until a loving family is found for them. If you have room in your heart and home to provide an abandoned baby with a loving family, Ugandans Adopt would love to hear from you.Ugandans Adopt is calling upon all Ugandan families and individuals who are able and willing to care for abandoned Ugandan children for short term foster care to reach them.

Who can foster?

Almost any adult over 21 can apply to be a Foster Carer, but as with any career, some people will be more suited than others. You do not need any formal qualifications to become a Foster Carer. However, you do need skills and experience that will enable you to meet the needs of a child. You can apply to foster regardless of your marital or residential status. Your suitability will be independently assessed and vetted by a Government panel.

Below is a video that sheds light  on Short Term Foster Care

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJRVjqbgyJE

For more information contact us on:

Contact them on; Phone: 0776110304 or 0776110303

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://ugandansadopt.ug

Facebook: https:www.facebook.com/UgandansAdopt

Follow Ugandans Adopt on twitter

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adoption Video

SUCCESS STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS: THE KR FAMILY.

THE KR FAMILY.

Meet the KR Family! As ministers within Uganda, this family had long worked with Loving Hearts Babies Home , helping to volunteer their time and effort to make Loving Hearts a great place for babies. Loving Hearts Babies Home provides babies short term temporary care while we look for permanent, loving homes for them. Permanent homes include:reunification of the baby with its birth family if it is safe,Short and long term foster care within Uganda and adoption.

After more than a year of volunteering almost every day, Mrs. KR fell in love with one of the babies at our home. As newly-weds with a new baby already on the way, the KR Family started praying about adding a second baby to its quickly growing family.Shortly after giving birth, they adopted Baby K, who gained not only a family, but a younger sister as well.  To watch this beautiful story, click on the link below:

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adoption The Adoption Panel Uncategorized

KEEPING UP WITH MY TWINKLETOES-RUKH-SHANA ON HER ADOPTION JOURNEY SO FAR

Rukh-shana serves Twinkle toes cake on her third birthday

We asked Rukh-Shana, adoptive mother and Ugandans Adopt heroine, to give us an update on her adoption journey. In her own words, she tells us how Twinkletoes is keeping  her on her toes:

                                KEEPING UP WITH MY TWINKLETOES-RUKH-SHANA

Rukh-Shana serves Twinkle toes cake on her third birthday at a babies home
Rukh-Shana serves Twinkletoes cake on her third birthday at the Babies Home where her birthday was celebrated. .Photo courtsey of Ugandans Adopt

The date is 30th March 2015. It’s 10:30am and I should be dashing for my morning cup of tea but I am stuck at my desk neck deep in routine stuff attempting to pull together a report that should have been submitted the night before. Even as I am propped up behind my desk, my mind racing a mile a minute with all the things I need to get done before the new month, my mind wanders off to a happy place. It is my little girl’s birthday today and we had a tantrum-free morning, can’t quite recall what that felt like, so I am delighted with her. My mind wanders further off to what seems like a distant time.  A time when I prided myself in being nimble and swift on my feet, a busy body with never a dull moment in my life, always colliding with time…then came Twinkletoes, and in the blink of an eye I was a snail dragging my shell on the race track of life alongside this toddler who was suddenly in an insane rush to go places; to see the big beautiful world through her twinkling eyes.  I have since then been trying to keep up with my Twinkletoes.

 

And speaking of the world, my rather controlled world has never been the same since she flung the doors wide open and came waltzing in. Twinkletoes was just four months when we met on that beautiful Monday evening. Well I think it was a Monday because on a Friday I dressed up for my big day with the adoption panel-all butterflies in my belly and with knees of jelly. My prayer was simple that morning, “Lord may Your will be done!”  I still muse at just how our plans can take a twist for the better. Now, when I set on out on my adoption journey in 2012, I had it all figured out. She had to be between 8 and 12months old – young enough to bond quite easily and old enough to fit it into my crazy work schedule.  My life needed to maintain a semblance of sane balance as I knew it…I suppose I was simply being ME – in control. But in came Twinkletoes, a sparkly sunshine, a voluble wind turning my structured world sweetly topsy-turvy. One moment I was grounded and the next, I was knocked off- balance falling flat on my face in a fit of joy with outbursts of tears and the momentary tittering on the brink of insanity.

 

Twinkletoes gives Mum Rukh-Shana a peck
Twinkletoes with Mum. Photo courtesy of Rukh-Shana Namuyimba.

Three years on, ours has been a beautiful journey of watching her grow from this shy, thumb- sucking child to a very persuasive, independent and absolutely crazy thumb-sucking toddler who decided at the age of two that she mostly preferred to wear little dresses instead of the shorts and tees her over bearing mother had filled her closet with. Yes, I was a tom boy after all and I didn’t quite have the luxury of defiantly pouting at my mother if she suggested I wear some hand-me-down boyish shorts. So I was quite taken aback when my Twinkletoes proved to be tenacious in getting what she wanted. My mother says I may not have been a tenacious tot but I most definitely turned out to be as tenacious as they come later in life so I should cut Twinkle some slack. So for the most part I have cut her some slack, perhaps too much, and as a result she does mostly get what she wants. I suppose she has found a soft spot and is quite intent on milking it for what it’s worth.

 

Speaking of soft spots Ma Petite, as I sometimes refer to her has a soft spot for hurting people. I have watched as she has, through the years, blossomed into an expressive and caring little girl especially around other children; quick to offer hugs if that is what it takes to make someone else feel better.

Rukh-shana
On motherhood Rukh-Shana says,”And speaking of the world, my rather controlled world has never been the same since she flung the doors wide open and came waltzing in”. Photo courtesy of Rukh-Shana NamuyimbaT

This morning, as I reflect on the year gone by, my heart swells with pride at the little milestones of awesomeness we have reached together. The day we went shopping for nursery schools and when we finally settled for her current school she was a fit of delight. Every day till the first day of term we fought over her insistence that she wear her uniform at home and carry her little rucksack to the door as I left for work. This would almost always end with a tantrum that quietened down with me promising she would start school the next day (yes I lied but what do you do with a tenacious 2 plus year old who will not take ‘wait a little longer’ for an answer?) …and when we finally showed up on the first day of school, I was a weeping mess and she was only too delighted to mix and mingle with the other little kids. Then came the first time she randomly said, “I love you mummy”. We had just had a ‘fight’ so that totally threw me off balance and I could not hold back the tears, her response was a shocker: “Mummy you’re kwaying (read crying) for nothing.” That was the beginning of my transformation into a crying mummy.

I have since shed a tear or two during her first swimming lesson; her first mumbled prayer with a resounding AMEN; her first Sunday school session; her first attempt at brushing her own teeth; her first bicycle ride.  But the most treasured of our milestones is her learning my full name, probably from watching TV and her daddy’s name. She still cannot say her daddy’s without almost biting her tongue but whenever she does it is with such a sweetness like nothing else really matters in her little world. And perhaps nothing really does to my Twinkletoes and many like her. Nothing really matters but that they have unconditional love and a family to call their own.

The end.

To wrap up this heart warming story, Rukh-Shana talks about her adoption experience and why more Ugandans should consider opening their hearts and homes to Ugandan children in the video below:

Could you be the next Rukh-shana? We would love to hear from yo. Call us on 0776110304/0776110316 or send us an email @ [email protected]

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adoption open day Video

CHRISTIAN CHILDCARE CONFERENCE HELD IN KAMPALA.

On Thursday 19th February, Church leaders and faith based Child Care Institutions were hosted to a one day Christian Childcare Conference at Gaba Community with the theme: “Take this child and nurse him for me”.

The Conference, drew a cross section of church leaders, Directors and Staff from different Churches and Child Care institutions across Kampala and Jinja. The conference was organised by the church as a platform for the Government to talk about the developments in childcare especially in terms of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children(OVC) situation, legal framework and Alternative Care Framework and the operational plan to mobilize the Framework. It also a forum for the churches and faith based organisations to give their views on the Alternative Care framework.

Stella Ogwang Principal Probation Officer at Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in her presentation urged the participants to focus on family based solutions for children based in institutions and orphanages . Other key note speakers included Jack Matsiko  former Director of Compassion Uganda, Gad Mfitundinda a Police representative who discussed on Child protection and trafficking and the Host Pastor Peter Kasirivu of Gab Community Chuch. The conference also included a panel session with the members sharing personal experiences of success stories and challenges in adoption, running homes and from a donor perspective.

The Panel in session
The Panel Session from Left to Right: Immaculate Atwine (Home Manager, Malaika Babies Home), Josh Caldwell (with microphone, Linelife Ministries USA, Donor representative and International Adopteer), Sarah Kigozi (Head Child Welfare, Watoto), Pastor Mark Kigozi ( Domestic adopter ) and Fred (Moderator, Uganda Christian University )

“We have the heart, we have the people. It is our job, so then what do we need to do? We have the largest network on the earth. “ said Host, Pastor Peter Kasirivu speaking about the Church’s ability to in offer community based solutions as regards to childcare in his closing speech.

The Conference was organized by Gaba Community Church, Africa Renewal Ministries, CARNACC, Child’s i Foundation and Lifeline Ministries. The Conference is planned to become an annual event.

In the video below,  Pastor Peter talks about the  importance of family from the Church’s perspective:

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adoption The Adoption Panel Video

LOVE TRIUMPHS

Recently James a special boy from Ekisa Ministries  went home to love and a family,  thanks to the hard work of the Ekisa Team and  his mother’s unrelenting love.   Ekisa Ministries provides those living with disabilities in Jinja, a place of understanding and assists them in their physical, mental, and spiritual growth. In Luganda, the local language of Uganda, Ekisa means “Grace.” Emily   Ekisa Ministries’s Founder and Director tells us the story below in her own words:

I remember the day we brought James to Ekisa. He was a shy, quiet little boy clearly in need of care. Over the months, we saw James come out of his shell and transform to the feisty, spunky boy he is today. During this time, Rosemary, one of our care takers at Ekisa, was by his side the whole time. She expressed interest in taking on James as her own son, and of course we were excited.

We started to prepare to bring the case to  the Adoption Panel , while Rosemary fell more and more in love with James everyday. Rosemary has a minor physical disability, and has spent much of her free time working on the community level to empower people living with special needs in Uganda. It was a natural step for her to decide to adopt James.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sCUn4xJnuts

Rosemary went to Panel in April 2014, and was approved to proceed in her adoption of James. In August 2014, James officially went to live with Rosemary!  We are so thankful for Rosemary’s heart and her willingness to open her heart and home to James. We pray she may inspire more families to come forward and adopt children with special needs!

James seated on Mum’s laps with his siblings
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adoption open day Video

VIDEO: BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE UGANDANS ADOPT CAMPAIGN

We bring the very first behind-the-scenes video of the Ugandans Adopt campaign through the eyes of our  Communications Officer. For the  first time since the campaign began in 2011,  we are giving our supporters an exclusive  to see first hand the effort that goes into making this  incredible campaign.

 

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adoption The Adoption Panel Uncategorized

OUR LATEST PROJECT: THE POST ADOPTION/ PLACEMENT SUPPORT SERVICE

_MG_9318
Adoption and Fostering in Ugandan families.

Why the Post Placement support service?
In the past, Ugandan families looked after children from within their kinship network and sometimes these children were ‘adopted’. In other circumstances, people took on the care of non-kin children and made these their own. These children were also referred to as ‘adopted’.

As such, there are a good number of Ugandan families who have ‘adopted’ and yet the children have grown up believing they are biological children of their families. Telling a child they are adopted has majorly been considered a taboo, something one cannot and is not permitted to disclose leave alone talk about. More people are becoming aware of formal adoption and many people will or have already started considering the need to tell their child their adoption story or the story could be accidentally be let out by someone else. However, they lack the ‘knowhow’ to do this. This is where the post placement support service comes in.

In addition once a family adopts according to Ugandan law, the family is closely monitored and supported during the 3 years of fostering before adoption. During this period, a family has regular contact with their social worker and placing child care agency. However, we realized that there is a gap in support and service provision after the 3 years period has elapsed. Families will have often felt isolated, abandoned and unsupported. This is likely to create opportunities for placements to break down causing significant emotional damage for both the child and family involved.
What is the Post placement Support Service/Center about?
On behalf of the Government of Uganda (Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development) through the Ugandans Adopt campaign, The Post Placement Support Service is an initiative by  Families For Children (an umbrella of over 150 Ugandan NGOs working with vulnerable children) and Child’s i Foundation through Ugandans Adopt .It is going to be  jointly facilitated Staff members of these two child welfare organizations and the Ugandans Adopt team. Its activities will be  reported to the Ministry of Gender Labour Social Development. The Post placement support Service / Center will begin operations in August 2014

Where we are right now.

The Post Placement Team attends a training by Child Psychologist, Sarah Mirembe .
The Post Placement Team attends a training by Child Psychologist, Sarah Mirembe .

In April and May we held discussions about the service and had meeting with our partners. In June 2014 we had a number of trainings of key staff on specialist areas of support. This month we will have a Workshop with MoGLSD to create awareness and then the service will be launched in August 2014

Through this service we aim to provide ongoing free support and become a ‘one stop shop’ for both fostering and adoptive families and their children in areas of need such as;

  • What next the child is finally home
  • What support to expect from their social workers
  • What support to expect from the probation service
  • Where to go for: counseling, behavioral management, emotional health issues, legal support
  • Family does not get the social work service they deserve or don’t get along with their social workers
  • They are worried about their child
  • Where to get training
  • etc

The service will empower foster and adoptive families with the right information to manage their situation(s).

Who is the service for?

  • A national country wide service
  • Adoptive Parents- local and international
  • Adoptees
  • Relatives/friends of adopters
  • Foster carers
  • Social workers
  • Foster children.
Individual office or home visits

What services are being offered?

  • Support with adoption order application
  • Support with care orders
  • Support finding a good trusted specialist – Lawyer, child psychologist etc
  • Support with Probation Office issues
  • Independent social work support
  • Telling a child they are adopted
  • Telling families and friends about an adoption
  • Life story work and memory book/box
  • Sign posting to Counseling for adoptees
  • Sign posting to Counseling for Adoptive Parents
  • Parenting skills support
  • Behavioral management guidance for parents
  • Link for any issues relating to adoption and fostering
  • A helping hand to navigate the adoption and fostering process
  • The support when agency social work support comes to an end after fostering period
  • Resource centre for information; books; journals?, testimonies, surveys, research etc.

How do I access this service?

  • On the Ugandans Adopt campaign website and Face book page.
  • Post adoption chat room/ask a question online
  • Our hotline: + 256 (0) 776110315/07020606876
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Visit our offices at: 245 Sentema Road Mengo Bulange/ VIVA CRANE behind Namirembe Catherdral.
  • We will make Individual home or office visits upon booking of appointments.
  • Group training, discussions

How will it work?

A child or family in need will make an enquiry through the avenues listed above.

a member of the PPS team will immediately respond to the enquiry.

Our hotline is a dedicated phone line, which will be available, will be answered at any one given time.

There will be a web portal (online resource bank) accessible by all dedicated members of the PPS team for use whilst on duty.

 

Categories
adoption

Christine an adoptive parent tips others thinking of adopting.

We recently caught up with the lovely Christine an adoptive parent since April 2011. During our conversation,she offered some tips to others thinking of adopting a child.This is what she had to say:

Prepare yourself for the new child and prepare your family and your friends. Go into it wholeheartedly just as you do when you give birth to a child. This child may be adopted but she is the same in your family as a child that you give birth to.

When I gave birth to my first child, my mother told me that this child is totally dependent on me for everything. When you adopt a child know that the child is totally dependent on you for everything and they are yours for ever just like the children you give birth to.

It is important to remember that children are a gift from God and that we have a responsibility to God to take care of them and give them the best foundation that we are able to, so that they can have a bright and productive future.

Children are a blessing and little angels in our homes.

To read the full interview with Christine, please go to our section of  Real life Stories.

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adoption Uncategorized

The Adoption Panel Meets

The Adoption Panel in session

Last week the Adoption Panel met to vet prospective Ugandan adoptive families. The panel comprises of Nandi Ketty from the Ugandan Police Child Protection Unit, Caroline Bankusha, consultant, Rogers Mbazira from Families For Children, Christine Sempebwa , an adoptive parent, Ruth Matoya, a child psychologist from Healing Talk, Stella Ogwang and Mark Riley from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and Sue Allan from Child’s i Foundation. Jenette Davies, an experienced adoption panelist from Cumbria, UK came to observe the session.

Currently at Malaika Babies Home we have 21 children in our care out of which one baby boy  is available for adoption . The social work team are in the process of  working with families to resettle or find permanent foster care families for the rest of the children.

We are reaching out to other childcare institutions in Uganda to invite them to attend  Panel if they have children who are available for adoption so the Panel can match them with our waiting list of Ugandan adoptive parents. Please contact [email protected]if you would like further information.

Together we can place more children into loving families in Uganda.

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adoption Video

Katie’s Journey

 

The cute Katie

Katie is a very special child, her will to stay alive despite being abandoned just a few hours after birth is inspiring. However what is more inspiring is the instant bond that she developed with her adoptive mother, Namara.

Namara opened up not just her heart but also her home to this special child by choosing to adopt and love Katie like her own. What Namara has given Katie is much more than just love and a home, she has given her an identity because adoption by Ugandan families ensures that the children preserve their culture and grow up in a setting they can identify with.

 

Ruth our carer at Malaika Babies Home taking care of Katie

Research has clearly shown that institutions like orphanages are not the right environment to raise a child. According to the Working Paper publication;Families not Orphanages by John Williamson and Aaron Greenberg, Orphanages are especially damaging to a child because the young children do not experience the continuity of care needed to form lasting attachments, hence these children have difficulty forming and maintaining relationships throughout their childhood, adolescence and adult lives. In addition for every three months that a young child resides in an institution, they lose one month of development, how disturbing.

 

That is why at Malaika Babies Home our priority is family, when an abandoned baby is brought to us. The first thing we do is search for the mother or relatives, while the baby is being given the best possible medical and general care at Malaika Babies home. The home is a transitional home and is equipped to offer temporal shelter and care for a maximum of 25 babies as we aim  to re-unite them with their family and in the event that this is not accomplished, then we proceed with domestic adoption just like we did with Katie.

 

Namara and Katie bonding.

The first media campaign that we ran in 2011 resulted in over 150 potential adoptive parents making contact and to date 30 of our children have now been adopted by Ugandan families. We are hopeful that this year 2013 more Ugandan families are going to open up their hearts and homes to the children currently resident at Malaika Babies Home.

                                      ” For there are no unwanted children, just unfound families”

To watch Katies’ story please view the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kda-EoQOs4U&feature=youtu.be