Uhuru’s Cabinet bans child adoption by foreigners
The Cabinet has announced an immediate ban on adoption of Kenyan children by foreign nationals.
A special Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection to formulate a new policy document to regulate the adoption of children by foreign nationals in Kenya, according to a dispatch from PSCU.
The ban comes a day after Baby Kiano, who is in the center of a vicious adoption battle between the government and his guardians, was handed over to the latter.
Baby Kiano was handed back to the couple, Daisy and her husband Matt, on Wednesday after a meeting that was held at the Child Welfare Society of Kenya offices.
The meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Nelson Marwa, Kabete OCPD George Seda and DCIO Francis Wanjau.
The baby made headlines after Detectives from DCI stormed the residence of the guardians and forcefully took the baby away.
GUARDIANS
Before he was handed back to the guardians Baby Kiano was at a home in Waithaka where he had stayed in the past four months as the court battled unfolded.
Daisy and her husband were granted legal guardianship of the child by the Nairobi’s Children Court in April 2017.
Following a review of the adoption process by the Technical Assessment of the Legal Provisions and Practices of Guardianship, Foster Care and Adoption of children by the Government of Kenya and UNICEF, an adoption moratorium on foreigners was placed by the government in December 2014
The review showed there were weaknesses in the legal, which was subject to manipulation leading to commercialisation of adoptions.
Besides the moratorium, the government also revoked the licenses of adoption agencies. In 2015, the government appointed an expert committee to implement the objectives of the moratorium.
In 2017, the Committee, in a report presented to President Kenyatta, recommended the freeze to be maintained and that all the Charitable Children’s Institutions (Homes) be closed down.
As a result, the government is not renewing the licenses for the children’s homes, nor licensing new ones.