Adopting a Child

There are many reasons why people choose to foster or adopt a child. The main reason being that they are medically unable to bear their own children (ie infertility or medical conditions that prohibit a safe pregnancy).

If you are considering fostering or adopting a child, it is important to understand the requirements and responsibilities that entails the decision. This is to ensure that you are capable of providing the child a stable and healthy family life.

Fostering

In Malaysia, a couple has to first become a child’s foster parents before they can seek to adopt the child. Fostering is providing a temporary, safe home for a child in crisis, eg the birth parent is unable or unwilling to care for the child. Foster parents are not the child’s legal parents. Application for a foster child can be made through the nearest District Welfare Office with the following requirements:

• The couple must be Malaysian, aged 25 to 60 years.
• Legally married for at least 5 years.
• Older couples married for less than 5 years are able to adopt if there is fertility problem, complications on reproductive health or late marriage which hinders pregnancy.
• Single persons can be considered as foster parent but the differences in age must be more than 21 years.
• Single male can only apply to adopt boys, while single women can apply for both boys and girls.
• Couple must be in good health, both physically and mentally.
• The couple should be in a good relationship and financially stable, so that they can provide the child with an ongoing stable family life.
• The couple holds no criminal record.
• The couple is able to provide a healthy environment for the child to grow and develop.
• Practice the same religion as the child.

Adoption

Adoption is to become the parent for a child who cannot live with his or her birth parents. Adoptive parents are granted the rights and responsibilities of a legal parent. The process for adoption can be made after 2 years under the Registration of Adoption Act 1952 through the Registration Department (for muslim couple and non-muslim), or 3 months under the Adoption Act 1952 through the Courts (for non-muslim couple only).

The challenges

As a foster or adoptive parent, you need to provide unconditional love and care for the child, attending to his/ her physical, emotional and educational needs, and ensuring a safe living environment. You need to guide as well as support the child’s development.

Besides handling usual parenting situations just like any other parents, you may need to cope with emotional, behavioural or medical issues associated to the child’s past experiences, eg abuse, neglect and separation.

Sometimes you may also face sensitive remarks or questions from people. However, by and large, fostering and child adoption has slowly gained acceptance in today’s society.

Adoptive or foster parents indeed face challenges that biological parents don’t usually face, and have more to learn and cope with. Nevertheless, the joy of parenthood can be as rewarding as raising your own child.