Aid groups warn against adopting tsunami orphans
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-06 09:21

Humanitarian groups warned against westerners rushing to adopt Asian children orphaned by the tsunami disaster, proposing instead that they sponsor children or continue donating to aid organizations.

Such groups have already received a number of requests on how to adopt children from tsunami-hit south Asian countries, but discourage them, saying children need the emotional support that only their own communities can give.

A young Indian boy, who lost his parents in last week's tsunami, clings onto a ball while crying at an orphan shelter in Nagapattinam. Humanitarian groups warned against westerners rushing to adopt Asian children orphaned by the tsunami disaster.[AFP]

On the other hand, relief agencies and others, including Italian officials, are encouraging sponsorship programs, in which individuals or companies ensure long-term financing for children or families hit by the disaster.

"We certainly have received a few requests on how to adopt children," said Shima Islam, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Children's Fund in London.

UNICEF recommended against the practice, she explained.

"Wherever possible, children should be placed within their own communities because that's where people know them best, that's where they have their friends, they have extended family members who can look after them," she said.

In a bid to prevent human traffickers from smuggling orphaned or homeless children out for adoption, child labor or the sex trade, UNICEF is already working with the Indonesian government to establish centers across the tsunami-hit province of Aceh to register and keep track of them.

UNICEF is also providing trauma counseling to children, as well as enabling them to return to school as soon as possible to re-establish "normality" in their lives, Islam said.

In Italy, mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni has joined UNICEF and Save the Children in calling on residents of the Italian capital to sponsor children left homeless by the tsunamis.

UNICEF's Islam said the best thing westerners could do at this stage was to continue sending funds that allow aid organizations to do their own relief work on the ground.

Instead of adoption, groups such as France's Enfance et famille d'adoption (Childhood and Families of Adoption) recommend aid that helps children stay in their home country.

"The first priority is to save these children, send money, supplies, medicine, rebuild their lives, so that, on the contrary, these children can remain in their environment," said Christiane Sebenne from the group.

In Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain, Austria, Hungary and other countries, groups that arrange for individuals or companies to sponsor children overseas have received an increase in inquiries because of the disaster.

In Sweden, SOS-Barnbyar, a branch of the Austrian Kinderdorf International organization, said it has received about 90 inquiries about sponsorship per day, compared to 15 to 20 normally.

In Madrid, Ayuda en Accion (Action Aid) said Wednesday it has received 1,548 requests for information about sponsoring children in Asia since December 27, a day after the disaster.

In The Hague, at SOS Kinderdorpen, "the telephone does not stop ringing with people who want to help us," Marjolein Lankhout said. Some were also asking to adopt children, though SOS only arranges sponsorships, she added.

In Budapest, the Baptist Church of Hungary said that more than 3,400 Hungarians had already agreed to pay for one year the cost of feeding a child, and the figure would probably exceed 5,000 soon.

In London, Action Aid also reported requests to sponsor children.

The British-based Overseas Adoption Helpline (AOH) said it had received more calls about adoptions in two days than it normally receives in a week, but said it could be because they had been closed since Christmas and it was a holiday backlog.

"However, people calling us are mentioning the disaster," said AOH director Gill Haworth.

"Some are asking specifically if they can adopt from Thailand or India because of the disaster," Haworth said. "But others who are asking about other countries are also mentioning the disaster as part of their prompt."

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