Togo suspends child adoption

Togo has decided to suspend child adoption on Thursday due to violations in the adoption process.

An official release issued on Friday in the capital Lome said the decision was taken during a meeting of ministers' council aimed at saving the lives and interests of the Togolese children, whose security is endangered during the process.

The Togolese Minister of Social Action and Minister of Justice explained that adoption procedures were overlooked in spite of the children's law, where courts made judgment in adoption on the basis of child abandonment without conducting a social inquiry.

The government authorized the two ministers to clarify legal procedures for children's law, to settle adoption within Togo in the interest of parties outside the country, in addition to set up a better mechanism to control the procedures.