South Sudan to enact child adoption policy

South Sudan to enact child adoption policy
Saturday 3 January 2009 05:00.Printer-Friendly version  Comments...  

By James Gatdet Dak
January 2, 2009 (JUBA) – The semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) resolved to workout a policy that would legalize child adoption by non-biological parent(s) in the region.
The policy will make it possible for families in need of child to legally adopt children through the consent of their families and application of the law.
It is aimed at giving chance to neglected children to be adopted through legal processes and to minimize the practice of child abduction by those who have no other legal means of getting a child.
The resolution was passed in the Council of Ministers meeting on Friday one week after five children were recovered in Pibor County of Jonglei state after they were previously abducted from Central and Eastern Equatoria states by a group of cattle raiders from the Murle community.
The Community has been widely accused of the practice of abducting children by other neighboring communities, and efforts previously exerted by the Government to halt the practice that has gone on for decades failed.
Among the recently recovered five children in the County during the visit of the Vice President, Riek Machar to the area, two of them are identified as children of a relative of Madam Agnes Lukudu Loro, Minister of Wildlife and Tourism.
NARRATION OF THE ORIGIN OF CHILD ABDUCTION BY MURLE
In their encounter with the Vice President in Pibor County, the Murle community leaders condemned the practice but defended the origin of their action and argued that they were “accepting and bringing up children rejected by certain societies” in order to give them to their childless families.
In the Pibor’s meeting the Jonglei state government was represented by the Minister of Finance who was delegated by Governor Kuol Manyang Juuk to tour the state counties with the Vice President.
The Murle particularly accused their Dinka Bor neighbors of allegedly being a party to the origin of the child trade in the state that has now become a crime widely condemned by both the Government and other communities in Southern Sudan.
To the Murle chiefs, the practice started decades ago as a free non-commercial adoption of Dinka Bor children who were rejected by their families mainly because they were initially born out of wedlock and then brought to the Murle community who accepted them for adoption for childless families.
They further explained that the non-commercial adoption gradually turned into a commercial exchange of Murle cows with Bor’s rejected or stolen children, until it became a full blown direct stealing and forceful abduction of children by the Murle from the neighboring communities.
However, the Dinka Bor community chiefs have been dismissing as unfounded the claim by the Murle community on the issue.
The policy to adopt a child and which is being processed by the Ministry of Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs before it is discussed and passed by the parliament will give chance for adoption to neglected children through legal processes and may minimize child abduction practices by those who are in need of children and have no other legal means to get them.
(ST)

Related subjects :
Society :

Sudanese bishops urge followers to be messengers of peace
Hundreds Christians converge for prayer at Juba Central Prison
Sudan government and Khartoum delegations participate in Christmas celebrations

 Comment on this article...
4 Comments
·         South Sudan to enact child adoption policy
3 January 2009 05:29, by Mr Famous Big_Logic_Boy
Good move Law will judge everything if being practice on the hands of the right people not junglese, but for the dinka children i think that there is no for complain since they sold their children to murle because of cattle. Its their business Goss does not need to put his hands on this matter. This is thesame that they are trying to trade with Equatoria with land, but we’ll never sell our land with moron kids.
Reply to this comment
South Sudan to enact child adoption policy 3 January 2009 08:57, by Gatwech
What?
Is it the well known traditional greed and slave mindedness of the Dinka Bor people that resulted to selling their children to the Murle tribe? I used to hear about this story before but I couldn’t believe it, but the people were really telling the truth. The Murle were led into this criminality by the Dinka Bor themselves and so both communities are responsible for this inhumane crime. Even the Arab child traffickers were also telling the same story that the Dinkaweed were selling their children to them, but later would cry that they were abducted by the Arabs in Bahr el Ghazal. Such people with this inhumane, barbaric and greedy weak hearts cannot build a good nation. The Dinkaweed should be told by other tribes to weed out such barbaric culture.
I also congratulate the South Sudan government for making child adoption legal so that neglected Bor children can be adopted by Murle and other communities through legal process not through Bor stealing the children and selling them to Murle or Murle stealing or abducting Bor’s and other people’s children. Weed out this barbaric culture Dinkaweed!!!!!
Reply to this comment
South Sudan to enact child adoption policy 3 January 2009 10:13, by Jacob
Stealing childern is AMURLE’S culture and they are proud of that.This culture came about due to Murle being sicked of syphis which could not allowed them to produced children of their own. There are no pproves that Dinka sold their children to them. What about these children from Equatoria related to the minister of wildlife. Who sold those children to Murle.Please those write on this wetsite give respects to other ethnic group.You will not be unkown at all when you disappeared on earth.Pleaes be constructive and work for your clans or relatives and South Sudan at large instead of diving people on tribes bases.
JK GAMR
Reply to this comment
South Sudan to enact child adoption policy 3 January 2009 10:39, by Gatwech
Jacob,
I know that truth hurts you most of times, but should be told. Unless you have not read the article as I read it, the Murle are abducting children now, true, but they said it was started as child adoption and exchange with cows between them and Dinka Bor until it developed into stealing by both sides and abduction by Murle. The Dinka Bor can be blamed for introducing this inhumane child trade that consequently made the Murle go wild to abduct children. Can you get it right, or am I reading invisible paragraphs that you don’t see?
Reply to this comment