‘Consider fostering older children too’
Couples urged to give these kids a chance
KUCHING: Couples who are looking to adopt can consider fostering an older child for up to two years instead of choosing only to adopt babies.
This will provide a period of adjustment for both the child and the prospective parents and give older orphaned children an opportunity to be adopted, says state Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.
She said most couples preferred to adopt babies as they felt it was easier to bond with them compared to older children.
“We understand that when the child is older, his or her character will have been formed and it is more difficult for the adoptive parents to raise them,” she told reporters after presenting minor rural grants at her office here yesterday.
“But we also have children up for adoption who are teenagers. We greatly encourage childless couples or even those with children to foster these children for two years.
“If there is a good fit, they can decide to adopt them. So, there is an adjustment period and hopefully during that time there will be bonding.”
Fatimah was commenting on The Star’s front-page report yesterday about older orphaned children who are overlooked for adoption while younger ones find homes.
According to Fatimah, the state Welfare Department’s Rumah Kanak-Kanak Toh Puan Hajah Norkiah here has 94 children under its care while Rumah Kanak-Kanak Datuk Ajibah Abol in Sri Aman has 19 children.
Of these, only five children – aged 15 years, eight years, two years, one year and nine months – at Rumah Kanak-Kanak Toh Puan Hajah Norkiah are up for adoption.
“Not all of them are up for adoption because they may have been placed there by court order in cases of abuse or neglect.
“In other cases, their parents may be going through a divorce or are too poor to look after them, so they are placed temporarily in the home,” Fatimah said.
She also encouraged childless couples to adopt babies from unwed pregnant mothers as a way to reduce baby dumping.
Sharmila Sekaran, chairman of child rights advocacy group Voice of the Children, said couples looking to adopt must remember that when they take in an older child, they are investing in a child who needs someone to make that investment.
On why children above the age of five find it hard to be adopted, Sharmila said there was a stigma attached to these children – that they come with behavioural issues.
“A child’s first five years are crucial. Forming of relationships happen when a child is under two years old, and things like discipline are taught at this age.
“Children raised without emotional support from families have fewer synapses in the brain compared to a child from a nurturing family, and therefore face difficulties forming relationships,” she said.
Adoptive parents are also said to shun older children as they could either have a stronger attachment to their biological parents, or shoulder the burden of a traumatic and possibly abusive past.