Ugandans Adopt

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Amelo and Sasha.

 

“Adopting is a personal decision”,  says Amelo an adoptive parent .Below we bring you the rest of the interview with this inspirational single mother

Adoptive parent Amelo with her beautiful daughter at Malaika Babies Home third birthday

My inspiration to adopt was influenced by my mother during my childhood. She worked as a Nurse at a hospital and took us to visit the orphans there, a number of times, when she was taking clothes she sewed at home for them. I vowed then that I would adopt a child and I am glad that I was able to fulfil it.

How is your adoption experience so far, has the experience been a good one?

I must say the adoption experience was not as traumatic as I thought it would be. This was because of Malaika Babies Home’s efficient structured approach to the process – assignment of social worker, brief of the process, assessment for adoption approval, follow up and assistance in the legal process, pre-bonding month with baby at Malaika Babies Home and a couple of day and sleep-over outings, handover of the baby and periodic follow-ups to check on baby and mother progress. It may sound like a long process; however, with all the requirements ready from my side, it took less than two months to complete the process.

How did the other siblings (if you have children) take to the new adopted child.

Sasha Mayowale Oluka came home at 3 months old, she has settled in well and is a very happy child. It is now one year since she came home. She was given the name ‘Mayowale’ by one of my friends and it means ‘you bring joy home’ in Yoruba language and living up to her name!

Was your family happy with your decision to adopt a child?

Yes, my family and friends were happy with my decision to adopt.They have been and still are very supportive in all ways, and so has Bishop Erwau of Soroti Diocese, Church of Uganda, whom I consulted prior to the adoption for reassurance of the Church’s position on it, and after the adoption, participated in the Christening Service. 

Bishop Erwau of Soroti christening Sasha as Mum looks on.

 In what ways has your social worker been helpful? Do you feel well supported by your social worker?

My social worker has been very, very, very supportive. I now see them as friends and not as ‘the people with stern faces on the other side of adoption paperwork’. I appreciate the time they have taken to attend Mayowale’s 1 year Birthday party and her Christening Celebration, outside the formal adoption visits.

What advice/tips would you give to other people who are thinking of adopting a child?

Adopting is a personal decision.

While you seek advice from family and friends, look for it outside family and friends, in order to get a balanced view, and help in making your decision.

Below is a video of Amelo and Sasha/Mary, it  follows  the   adoption process  from beginning to end through Child’s i Foundation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gqlPZcumzqU#t=0

 

 

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Six Common Adoption and Fostering Myths busted by Ugandans

We have received a lot of feedback from our  Ugandans Adopt  supporters and have put together the 6 common myths  that we have encountered over time. We  do understand that there are lots of reasons why you might feel that adoption is not an option for your family or worries you might have about getting the support you need to adopt a child.Here are some of the most common adoption and fostering myths – and the truth behind them:
1. Only Foreigners can adopt.

Our adoption wall

Our very existence dispels this myth. The 35 Ugandan families who we have helped to adopt a child as well as the overwhelming response and support we have received from Ugandan families is proof enough. We however  do consider  foreign nationals  who have been in the country for 3 years or more as  legally they are considered as Ugandan residents.

2.     Adoption is expensive

Some prospective parents mistakenly believe that it is costly and therefore only attainable for the rich. In fact, we charge no fee for our involvement in and facilitation of the adoption process. Our goal is that every child is placed in a loving and secure family. Although we charge no fees, however, there may be charges incurred through third party agencies including  Probation Officer and other legal professionals, covering transport, interview time, and paper work/official certification. If you have any concerns, our social work team is able to offer guidance when it comes to any additional costs.

3.      Adoption is a lengthy process

Some parents have come to us expecting to be given children as soon as possible. While we always aim to resettle children quickly, it is important we follow a thorough process. This includes an initial assessment, appearing before an adoption panel as well as spending time to bond with the child they will eventually adopt. We always advise our parents to look at the period leading up to the adoption as the “pregnancy” period. Just like it takes a mother nine months to carry a baby to term prospective parents should be willing to wait for these special children. This waiting period actually makes the experience extra special.

4.      Only married couples can adopt

One of the many single Mothers who have adopted from us.

Single people who are Ugandan residents can apply to adopt, as long as they are 25 or older. Single parents will be matched with children of the same sex, for example, a single Mother will be matched with a baby girl and vice versa. It is important the home you plan to share with your child is stable, that you have a strong family network as well as a stable source of income or job. For more information on the adoption requirements see: https://ugandansadopt.ug/faq/

5.      Adoptees can’t learn anything about their biological families until they are 18

Once your child is secure in your care you should let them know they have been adopted into your family. You may also wish to talk through some of the issues around their particular background if this is appropriate. Tackling the issues can sometimes seem daunting but it is better that the child grows up regarding adoption as an act of love instead of being told by someone else when it may come as a greater shock. Our social workers can help and advise you on the best ways to talk to your child about their origins and help them understand what adoption means

6.      All adoptees will have emotional or developmental problem

All a child needs is love.

There are some cultural perceptions surrounding children in the orphanages or children’s homes. There is no guarantee that a child from an orphanage or babies’ home will turn out problematic. How the family nurtures, loves and brings up this child will determine how normal and healthy this child is. Research actually suggests that development outcomes for most adopted children are similar to that of children in the general population. That is, adoptees do not show a high incidence of problems either in childhood or later in life. In some instances they turn out have a high self-esteem compared to their peers because of growing up in a stable and loving family.

We strongly believe that Ugandan Children belong with Ugandan families. It is important that our children grow up secure in their identity and traditions. To find out more about how you can join us please send an email to [email protected]  or call us on 0791777319

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HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY MALAIKA BABIES HOME

On Wednesday the 15th May 2013, the children and Staff of Malaika Babies Home celebrated their third birthday with an open day.  Malaika Babies Home in Mengo has provided emergency short-term care to over 130 babies. Over the past three years they have successfully found families in Uganda for 100 of these children through resettlement and domestic adoption. Their Social Work team put a lot of time and resources into tracing families and as a result 66% of these children have been resettled with their extended families.

Birthday Cake

 

 

 

 

The open day which was crowned with the cutting of the cake by the children at Malaika Babies Home was attended by  many guests including staff from other babies’ homes around Kampala, the Police Child Protection Unit, Probation officers, Social workers and adoptive parents who bought their children along to the celebration.

Nandi Ketti (carrying the baby) a Police Officer, Zainah a senior probation Officer and a guest at the Open day

Among the well-wishers was Barbie, Bobi Wine’s wife who donated an assortment of items to Malaika Babies Home. “It has been a wonderful day and we are very grateful for all the support of our supporters, the Probation, Police and other children’s homes” says Immaculate Atwine, the Manager of the Babies Home “Only by working together we can find families in Uganda for abandoned children

Barbie at Malaika Babies Home.

To see The New Vision’s article on the above, click on the link below:

Ugandans Adopt 100 babies

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A Social Worker’s Perspective

Maureen Orogot  (pictured) is a Family Placement Social Worker with Child’s i Foundation. Child’s i Foundation runs Malaika Babies Home a short-term transitional care center for abandoned babies in Mengo. This is what Maureen had to say:

I believe that the best place for a child to grow up is in a family or community setting. Years of research has shown that children who stay in an institutional setting for any longer than 6 months can sometimes be damaged psychologically if they do not receive proper care. In a family setting, children learn to love and be loved and feel part of a family.

I would like to encourage all Ugandan Families to open up their hearts and homes to children. Especially to the children who have no one. In this way they will grow up with an identity, a home and a sense of culture and belonging.

Most people are apprehensive when it comes to adoption. Some of the prospective parents mistakenly believe that it is costly and takes a lot of time. There are also cultural

perceptions surrounding children in the orphanages or children’s homes. There is no guarantee that a child from an orphanage or babies’ home will turn out problematic.

Some prospective adoptive parents are sometimes reluctant to answer sensitive questions. These questions are a very important part of the adoption process. We have now processed 32 adoptions and so far we have not had one placement breakdown and I believe this is because we do such thorough assessments. We need to find out as much information to ensure parents can meet the needs of a child and we support the parents every step of the way.

Some parents come to us expecting to be given children in the shortest period possible. Some drop out when we explain the whole process because it can take up to 6 months. We follow a process that includes assessment, appearing before an adoption panel and time to bond with the child they will eventually adopt. We always advise our parents to look at the period leading up to the adoption as the “pregnancy” period. Just like it takes a mother nine months to carry a baby to term prospective parents should be willing to wait for these special children. This waiting period actually makes the experience makes the experience extra special.

Adoptive parents sometimes tend to withhold vital information during our assessments. This information is very important especially when it comes to matching them with the right children.  As social workers we do understand Parents’ fears . It is our duty to cater for both the parents’ and child’s interests in this case.  Whereas the child’s best interests are priority we also take the prospective parents’ interests are equally into consideration.

On some occasions we note that its only one party interested in the adoption. At times the spouse or family members are not interested and yet it is important for an adoptive parent to have strong support network which usually strengthens their ability to nurture a child whether adopted or biological.

Children are a gift and bring joy to a family regardless of their health status or nature of growth. Parents come to us asking for a normal child health. The most important thing is how the family nurtures, loves and brings up this child will determine how normal and health this child is.

It’s important to all Parents to know that children are a gift from God whether biological or adopted. Most adoptive parents ask for a particular age for a child which at times becomes an issue because when the process is being carried out the social worker is able to find out what age is appropriate for a certain family and where a child suits best. Because it’s always about the child’s best interest first.

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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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Child’s i 2012 Media Campaign

 

Our Adoption & Fostering campaign billboard in Kampala

 

Although adoption is slowly becoming more common in Uganda, there is still a great need for new foster and adoptive parents, especially for older children and boys.

The aim  of 2012 media campaign was to increase our number of potential adoptive parents, as well as introducing the concept of short and long term foster care to Ugandans with the hope that we would be able to recruit 2 long term foster carers for children who have outgrown Malaika Babies Home.

I came out from the UK for 6 weeks to produce this campaign, and started negotiating with companies as soon as I landed, trying to ensure that we could agree advertising deals as soon as possible.

We were lucky enough to have the amazing Limehouse Creative team on board for this campaign. They designed both of our billboards free of charge, and did a great job. We organised a photo shoot with Kampala based photographer Anne Ackermann, and spent a stressful few hours on the roof of a local shopping centre trying to capture images that would work for our campaign.

 

Joey, the first child to be adopted from Malaika was our billboard star, appearing on both billboards, and we have had lots of comments from people who’ve seen his face looking down at them whilst they are stuck in traffic on Jinja Rd telling us how powerful his image is.Ad Concepts kindly gave us 2 months advertising space for free, and the 8 metre by 10 metre billboard is in a great location.

For the first time we  decided to advertise on digital billboard screens – one at the large Oasis shopping mall, and one in one of Kampala’s busiest taxi parks.

Emmanuel with Rogers at Radio Simba producing our radio ads for the media campaignWe also produced a television advert to run on NTV, featuring family support worker Lydia and her family. Lydia has adopted her two youngest children, and the whole family got involved in the filming of our advert, with the youngest two boys fascinated by our camera equipment!

[youtube=http:www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aVjqnxiCZc]

Although most of the content for our media campaign was produced in English, we decided to run a series of adverts in the local Luganda language on Radio Simba. We’re grateful to Rogers Mugerwa and his team for their continued support of the work that we’re doing.

 

We produced a Talk Show to run on national tv station NTV, and our amazing panel of guests, James Kaboggoza the Assistant Commissioner for Children, social worker Barbra and adoptive parent Christina Sempebwa debated issues connected to foster care and adoption as well as taking viewers calls. Presenter Ben Mwine did a great job, and the whole team felt extremely proud once the programme came off air.

Early in this trip I was asked to produce a documentary for the Ugandan government exploring Alternative Care. Myself and media volunteer Emma Hegarty spent a week working flat out on this projec

t and the finished documentary aired immediately after the Talk Show.

The first media campaign that we ran in 2011 resulted in over 150 potential adoptive parents contacting us, and to date 30 of our children have now been adopted. They are enjoying the chance to grow up in loving supportive families and we very much hope that this year’s campaign will result in similar outcomes for more of the children currently resident at Malaika Babies Home.

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Government Statement on adoption

The Ugandan government believes that it is best for all children to grow up in families. Assistant Commissioner for Children James Kaboggoza explains why…

“We believe that the best place for a child to grow up is in a family, in a community setting. Too many children are growing up separated from their families or orphaned, living in child care institutions.

If children grow up in institutions, they lose the meaning in their life. If they grow up in a family they learn how to love, they learn how to live with one another, they learn their duties and become responsible citizens of tomorrow. They have a sense of belonging.

We encourage Ugandan citizens to open their hearts and homes to children who have no families of their own and ,
make a place for them within their own family.” James Kabogozza, Assistant Commissioner for Children

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A Huge Thank-You!

We Couldn’t Have Done This Without You!

There are hundreds of children across Uganda in need of loving adoptive families.

Child’s i Foundation has this week launched a campaign to promote domestic adoption in Uganda, with the simple aim of trying to find new Ugandan families for children who desperately need them.

Over the next few months we will be advertising on billboards, radio and television, and will also host a live debate show to discuss the issues surrounding adoption.

A lot of people have given their time and generosity to help make this campaign a success, and we would like to say a huge thank you to the following…

Dave Wartnaby
George and Desire Barugahare
Gordon Roberts
Jessica and Stijn
Martha Oringo
Jo McCrostie
ANPPCAN
Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development

Our campaign will use television, radio and billboards to promote the important issue of domestic adoption, and we would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank our media partners.

NTV Uganda, Capital FM, Radio Simba and Alliance Media

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Interview with James Kaboggoza

To mark the launch of our media campaign to promote domestic adoption, Assistant Commisioner for Children James Kaboggoza talks about the importance of finding new families for the many vulnerable children in need.

Child’s i Foundation is proud to be partnering with the Ugandan government on this important campaign, and we hope that over the coming months many new adoptive families will be found.

[youtube dZ85e2k8ESE]