Dear Editor,
On November 13, 2014, I filed an application with the Child Care and Protection Agency to legally adopt a 16-year-old child, who’s biological father had abandoned her since she was a two-year-old baby. Her mother and I had gotten married a few months earlier, and I wanted the child to feel the love and security of having a complete family. Our home was visited by a case worker, and all relevant documents submitted to qualify my suitability for the responsibility I was undertaking.
The First Order was granted by the Chief Justice on July 17, 2015 and a copy of same, together with a copy of the summons file, was served to the Adoption Board. I was subsequently informed by the Childcare and Protection Agency that although my interview with the Adoption Board was scheduled for September 30 (the Board meets on the last Wednesday of each month), this may not occur as members of the Board were likely to be replaced. Out of concern due to the already long delay of this process, I sought clarification from Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence during the budget debate in Parliament. She assured me that, although it is true that the members of the Adoption Board will be replaced, she will instruct the old Board to meet once more as scheduled on September 30. I felt relieved as this adoption process has been dragging on for almost a year, and I was beginning to feel frustrated.
Finally, I thought, this ordeal would be over, and our daughter Maria would have something she wanted all her life but never had ‒ a father.
But this relief was short lived when I was advised that the new Board members were unable to meet as scheduled for the September meeting, and that my interview with the Adoption Board was definitely rescheduled for the following Wednesday, October 7.
I’ve waited all this time, surely another week wouldn’t hurt much, I thought. Then one day before this long awaited meeting with the Adoption Board, on Tuesday, October 6, I received a call from Ms Jardin, Administrative Manager of Adoption, who apologetically informed me that once again, there would be no board meeting.
I then called Minister Volda Lawrence’s office, and was told by her secretary that the Minister was out of the country. When pressed for an explanation, the Minister’s secretary then said, “Because of her busy travel schedule, there is no update as to when the board will be commissioned.”
Editor, Minister Lawrence knew that the Adoption Board members were to be replaced. She also knew that on September 9, she gave me a firm commitment to have the old Board sit once more on September 30, the last Wednesday in September as scheduled. There was more than enough time to commission the new board if for some reason, she had already dismissed the old board. Yet she abandoned and neglected those children waiting to be adopted, because she had no time in her “busy travel schedule” to commission the new Adoption Board before she left Guyana.
The new board members are not without fault either. These are people who will sit in judgement of others. The decisions they make will hopefully, positively affect the lives of many children. But if the members are not committed enough to serve or fulfil the duty given them, and fail to recognize that it is a privilege to be given the opportunity to positively impact the lives of our children, then they are unworthy and should be replaced.
There are many applicants waiting to be interviewed by the Adoption Board; I am not alone. During my employment with the Ministry of Education, I attended many school functions where fathers were mostly absent and played little or no part in the educational activities of their children. Many fathers in Guyana neglect their own children, and a man who marries a woman already with a child is not often likely to go the extra mile to legally adopt that child. Any man who is prepared to give that child the extra security, personifies true family values and should be celebrated and encouraged.
I am very disappointed in Minister Volda Lawrence. There is nothing more important than the welfare of our children. The old Adoption Board should not have been dissolved without first ensuring continuity to protect the welfare of our children as guaranteed under the constitution. After all, the last meeting of the old board was on August 26. Surely there was enough time for new members to be appointed and the new board commissioned. But like the economy, everything else seems to be on hold while ministers of government spend taxpayers’ money on over 26 overseas trips during the first 140 days in office.
I wish to make it emphatically clear, that I have tremendous confidence in the Director of the Child Care and Protection Agency, Ms Ann Green and her staff, and commend them for being thorough and professional throughout. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Social Protection needs to do a lot more to rebuild public confidence, lest some of us to lose faith in the adoption process.
Yours faithfully,
Harry Gill, MP
