In an interview with FMT, the founder of Kami Sanggup Ambil Anak Angkat (KSAAA), Hamidah (not her real name), slammed those who used the adoption process as an excuse to buy babies from baby-selling syndicates.
She was commenting on claims made in an Al Jazeera expose on baby selling in Malaysia last week. In the expose, some had claimed that many turned to baby-selling syndicates due the tedious adoption process.
“These people are just lazy or impatient. The process for adoption is not difficult. It is designed to ensure the baby is protected.
“If people really cared for a child, they would go through the process, which is guided by laws aimed at protecting the baby.”
The process
Hamidah explained there were two forms of adoption in Malaysia, namely open adoptions and adoptions through the welfare department (JKM).
“An open adoption is when a couple want to adopt a baby directly from someone who wants to give up theirs.”
For this, she said both the couple and the biological mother (biomum) would discuss specifics of the pregnancy and confinement plans, as well as the child’s upbringing, in accordance with the rights of the child, adoptive parents and biomum in accordance with the law, including a biomum’s rights to visitation.
Then, she said both parties should go to a commissioner of oaths and sign a statutory declaration (SD) on the agreement to adopt the child.
“Once the child is born, the child is to be registered with the biological mother’s name on the birth certificate and not the adoptive mother’s name.
“When it is done illegally, the adoptive mother’s name is put as the biological mother.”
Once mother and child are discharged, both adoptive parents and biomum need to go with the SD to the relevant authorities, including the police, National Registration Department (JPN) and JKM.
JKM, Hamidah said, would then interview the adoptive parents and make unannounced house visits to the adoptive parents’ home once every three months for the next two years to ensure the baby is taken care of properly.
After two years, the adoptive parents can get a certificate from the JKM called “Sijil Anak Angkat”, which will allow the child to have a bank account and passport.
Then the adoptive parents and biomum will sign another SD at the JPN to reinforce the first SD which was signed before the baby was born.
In the case of adoptions through JKM, where the adoptive parents never meet the biomum, the process involves adoptive parents registering with the JKM.
“Once the JKM finds a child for them, the process of interviews and home visits will begin. The vetting process is more stringent, but this is to ensure adoptive parents are competent and able to look after the child.”
The non-Muslim dilemma
Hamidah says the various processes of legal adoption are not the problem, rather, it is the issue of supply and demand.
“According to the law, Muslim babies cannot be adopted by non-Muslims, but there are fewer non-Muslim babies up for adoption. So, for non-Muslim couples, it can take some time to find a child to be adopted.”
However, Hamidah said people should be patient rather than try to get babies from syndicates.
“People should not treat babies like commodities you can purchase. If you think babies can be bought, then it shows you are not in the right frame of mind to be a parent.”
Last week, Al Jazeera’s award-winning current affairs programme 101 East blew the lid off the baby selling trade, showing several rackets involving traffickers, doctors and government officials, all profiting from pregnant women and children.
The show discovered that prices for the babies were determined by the race, skin colour, gender and weight of the baby.