Over 5,000 want to adopt children

Nadira Gunatilleke

There are about 5,000 Sri Lankan couples and 600 foreign couples in the waiting list to adopt Sri Lankan children. Annually around 1,000 children are for adopted by locals and about 50 children are adopted by foreigners, Probation and Child Care Services Commissioner Sarath Abeygunasekara told the Daily News.

Abeygunasekara said that usually the children below the age of five who had been rejected by parents and abandoned are given for adoption.

The demand is very high but there are no adequate children to be given for adoption.

Majority of the local couples consider many facts when adopting a child such as skin colour, race, background etc and this is one reason that they have to wait in the waiting list for a long time to adopt a child.

But foreign couples do not consider such facts when adopting a child.

According to Abeygunasekara when local children are adopted by foreign couples, the department obtains a full report from a relevant institution of that country.

This report includes the medical history of the couple, social, financial, education details and all the other relevant details. Only after considering the report the couples are allowed to adopt the child.

Lack of awareness in the society on this topic leads to various crimes such as abducting children for adoption and selling children to couples for financial gains.