21 Jun 2005

Review of adoption laws urgently needed in Samoa, says NGO

7:41 pm on 21 June 2005

An NGO in Samoa says parliament must urgently review the law regarding adoption.

Mapusaga O Aiga deals with domestic violence and abuse in women and children on a daily basis.

Spokesperson Faoliu Tupua Wendt, says the recent case of an infant dying in the care of a nanny working with an adoption agency has raised concerns about the welfare of children being put up for adoption.

She says when the Infants Ordinance Act was passed back in 1961, it was designed for inter-family adoptions and not adoptions to strangers.

"A lot of children have been collected from Samoan parents, the less fortunate ones, [then] put [with] a nanny to await for adoption by people overseas and this is a big concern for us. When we think of the convention of the rights of the child, this is where the convention comes in as our government has already ratified this."

Faoliu Tupua Wendt of Samoa's Mapusaga O Aiga

Samoa's attorney general plans to table a bill in this sitting of parliament to amend the law on adoption.