Where are they left?

Today there are approximately 150 million orphans in the world (UNICEF). To often many of these children are left to the streets, the lucky ones are placed into orphanages, where most of their basic needs are met, and where often they await adoption from loving families, if of course the country is open to adoption. Every country has to face the fact that children will be abandoned, they will loose their parents, or simply their families do not have the means to support them, thus they become orphans.
Each country has their own feelings on what happens to these children. Some countries have government-funded orphanages, group homes, and some, no resources at all. The countries most plagued with high numbers of orphans today are the developing nations of Africa. Though Africa is home to the highest number of orphans in the world, currently only four countries are open to international adoption; Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Liberia. Although it is happening in other countries it is extremely frowned upon, very difficult, and or illegal. As for domestic adoption, it simply does not happen frequently or even exist at all. Cultural standards do not see adoption highly. “Why adopt when you could have your own children, one that has your blood, and one that looks like you,” a statement from one Senegalese student at l’Ecole Normale Superior. Again adoption of any sort seems to be highly frowned upon, whether it be domestically or internationally.
The number of abandoned children remains important in Senegal.” (Kergal). With approximately 560,000 orphans, Senegal has a pressing issue to address and fight. Two resources available to house orphaned children in Senegal include; The Rescue orphanage and The Pouponniere. In Senegal Islam is behind the vision of both structures, yet is not a priority when admitting children. While these two institutions do not have the same objectives, they share a common feeling, to come to assistance of abandoned children. The founders of each structure had unique, yet alarmingly similar experiences that inspired each to dedicate their lives to the well being of these children.
The Poupenierre of Medina started a longer time ago in 1955 by four French sisters. These sisters were requested by influential Muslim leaders, and began by assisting in the pediatric departments of hospitals. Working there and seeing children abandoned day to day in front of the hospital fueled their work and visions in a different direction. Their work at the hospital evolved into creating resources for children abandoned on the streets, and places to house them in times of need. Eventually abandoned children became the minority of children admitted into The Poupenierre, instead most are fathers surrendering their infants when the mothers became deceased. “They are poor and do not have the time or resources to deal with these infants,” stated one sister. What differentiates the Poupenierre of Medina from other orphanages is that its main priority is to reintegrate children back into their families, and they are very resistant towards adoption. “We believe in keeping children with their families, no matter what it takes. If one family member is unable to care for their children, then another family member will assume responsibility. We believe in family and helping one another, terranga. That is why we are so against adoption” explained Mbacke Fall another student at the University in Dakar. Yet, sadly children are still often left without any family members at all, or forced to be given up because sickness or economic means of a family are unable to support the child, and that is where the Poupenierre and the sisters step in.
One of the largest focuses of the Poupenierre is to house infants and children whose mothers are sick, and or hospitalized. Once the mothers are healthy and able, the children are reintegrated back into their families. While children are still surrendered, they make up only 15 % of whom the Poupenierre houses. The Regional Court of Dakar entrusts these children that are found on the street to the sisters. The children are only permitted to stay at the Poupenierre for the period of one year, during which the family keeps in contact with their children with required visits every two months, but many more come for weekly visits. Thus when time for departure comes, the children are easily integrated back into their families. This year is to simply allow the family to get back on their feet, and find the means to provide for their children. For two years after reintegration the families are permitted to return to the Poupenierre to receive food assistance. Disabled children are surrendered permanently because most families have no means of caring for them properly. Along with disabled children, if families miss so many monthly visits and do not return after one year; then only are the children applicable for adoption. Thus adoption within Senegal is very difficult, and only 18-20 children are adopted from the Poupenierre each year, and not without a lengthy process.
Aissatou Diagne founder of The Rescue Orphanage in Dakar started her Islam based orphanage project in May 2005 after a gruesome experience, which changed her life forever. “Six years ago, I was changed. I saw a dead infant, intertwined in a plastic bag. This baby was not just anywhere; it was in front of a house.” Unlike The Poupenierre, Diagne’s orphanage or rescue home is only able to house 25 children at a time, being newly established its finances and infrastructure do not allow for any more. The children are admitted from 0-5 years of age and remain until they are 18 years of age. “We signed a convention with the state. Once here, it is obligatory that we keep them until they are no longer adolescences” (Diagne). Thus within this orphanage children are not eligible for adoption. They are educated from early child hood to maturity, in order to one day become productive members of Senegalese society. Daigne exclaims; “The objective is to prepare them to become autonomous. They will receive an academic laic instruction of quality. Some of them will reach the higher realms of the State. One of them will become perhaps president of the Republic!”
The Rescue’s vision is to help these children thru out the span of their life. They highlight not only immediate needs, but emphasize on their future. If we help them only at the beginning of their existence, we do not know what they become, nor what their families do”, insists the director. Again adoption does not exist for this orphanage, for they want to provide an entire education until 18 years of age. Unlike the Poupenierre where most families entrust the children with the sisters, the children of The Rescue are children from the streets brought to the orphanage by the police force or people who know of the orphanage. Yet similar to the Poupenierre, the Rescue wants to reduce the amount of abandoned children, thus it set up an assistance council for women in distress. Diagne states that “women should not be giving up or killing their own children, if they are, then there are serious problems, and we want to address those.” As you can see both The Poupenierre and The Rescue have their own objectives, but both are available to help the needs of children, mothers, and families. Equally each would like to see children remain within their families, hence the assistance each organization gives to mothers and families. But with most organizations in developing countries both are suffering from underdevelopment and underfunding.
For The Poupenierre the majority of funding comes from private contributions from various foundations and companies. The state allocates a certain amount of money, but it isn’t even enough to cover electricity costs. With The Rescue it is the same situation, “the state does not give any subsidy, city hall gives us rice bags, but it is not sufficient.” The rest of the funding again comes from various private organizations. Thus these orphanages are lacking in funding, which makes it difficult to give the children the appropriate care. I wonder if adoption would open more opportunities up for these children? Despite the fact that I commend these organizations and the state of Senegal for wanting to keep families together, and allow these children to be educated in their own culture, I wonder if the children from the Poupenirre will end up in the same situation after assistance stops. Also should any child have to live their entire lives without a family? If family is so important, a main reason for the resistance toward adoption, then why do the children at The Rescue live years with no real family? I asked these questions to various Senegalese students and got mixed answers.
Some responded by stating that possibly orphanages like The Rescue are replica’s of families, “one big family” (Mamadou Faye). Pape Fall believes that families will do all they can to support their children and keep them, with the assistance provided by these two organizations-families are able to do just that. He does not believe that after the assistance ends the children will go back to the homes, because he thinks that with the time away the families truly do everything to create means. I asked the students if they believe adoption should be more emphasized and his response was mixed. “Every child deserves a family, a mother and a father, but every family also deserves a child of their own, thus I am torn” (Mamadou Faye). After learning about these organization and listening to the feelings of Senegalese students, I believe the only real way to know what is wrong and what is right, is to hear directly from the children experiencing these things. If adoption is an option, currently it is difficult, and only extreme circumstances permit it.
The two procedures are l’adoption pleniere and l’adoption simple-both created by the family codes of Senegal. With l’adoption plieniere families and children must fulfill several requirements, and the adoption is irrevocable-under all circumstances. L’adoption simples is less constraining then the prior. Children always have ties back to the family of origin-and the family always has the rights to gain back custody of the child. The procedures for both are very different, plenary adoption being a much longer and grueling process, and simple by the name of course being faster and simple. Neither of these adoptions being allowed internationally.
A couple requesting l’adoption pleniere must have been married for 5 years, and one of the two being at least 30 years of age, and both must have a 15-year difference from the child. You mustn’t have children already if you want an adoption pleniere. When the adoption is complete the family of origin has only 3 months to retract the adoption before it is final, after the child has all the same rights a legitimate child would have. L’adoption simple has none of the same perquisites as the prior, yet the adoption is and will never be final. At any point the family has the right to retract their child with justification at any age below 15, if the child is 15 or old retraction is only permitted on serious and justified grounds. “Justification is vague.” Because of the stigmatization and poor perception of people not having their own children, formal adoption is very rare within Senegal.
As you can see with cultural differences, governmental restrictions, and stigmatizations, adoption and orphans are a sensitive subject to Senegal. It is never praiseworthy for a country to admit that there are children on the street without families, but sadly it is a fact all over the world. With only few resources, and no government funding for orphanages or support for adoption-many children are left without families, begging on the streets to survive. With little cultural belief in domestic adoption, I believe international adoption is important for every country. It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that if adopted internationally a child might lose their culture- but the benefits have to be weighed over the costs. Working at an orphanage for the last weeks I have seen both the benefits and the costs to international adoption. Most families want and hope to maintain the child’s culture, but also have come to terms with the difficulty of doing so. What is most important is giving these children and happy and healthy life-with a loving family, how can anything else take priority? I believe that is an opinion that is deep down shared by every person in the world, even if at this point it is difficult to see.