International Adoption Controversy

Lucy Hoffen — Thu, 03 May 2007 10:20:14 GMT

Adoption controversy has come to the fore recently in part due to celebrities such as Madonna. I was in Malawi last week where Madonna's act of removing a child from his home environment and culture has outraged those locals I spoke to. In some instances international adoption can of course mean removing a child from a negative environment into a loving home. However, as well as the question of whether it is detrimental to a child to be placed in an alien country and culture, the process also provides opportunities for child trafficking. Some nations are trying to implement measures to prevent the adoption of stolen children. However, the practice is still an increasing problem in many developing countries. The question of the best measures to take for orphans and those who do not have a biological family to care for them is a complicated and controversial issue which needs to be urgently addressed.

taking steps early on

Lucy Hoffen — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:00:10 GMT

A UNAIDS 2002 study estimates that by 2010 there will be 107 million orphans worldwide, 25 million of these due to AIDS. The traditional practice of putting orphans into institutions receives, justifiably, extensive criticism. The word orphanage brings to mind images of the thousands of starving, unloved children discovered locked up in state institutions in Romania - just one example of why orphans should not be institutionalised.

Africa faces unique challenges due to being more heavily affected by HIV/AIDS than any other region in the world - in 2001 there were around around 35 million orphans in Africa, over 30% of them due to AIDS. The majority of these children will have become infected from an HIV-positive mother during pregnancy or through breastfeeding.

There is growing evidence that providing infected mothers with antiretroviral drugs reduces the mother to child transmission of the drug significantly. The following link is an interesting initiative in Haiti, which focuses on preventing children from becoming orphans in the first place by providing HIV-positive mothers with ARV drugs so they can survive to raise their own children:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/rxforsurvival/series/champions/paul_farmer.html

Although it is too late for many orphans, taking preventative measures early on, such as this, is just one step of many needed in the long fight against AIDS and its devastating consequences.

Lucy Hoffen's Blog

International Adoption Controversy

taking steps early on