No doubt, some nigerians are desirous of adopting a child in nigeria . Basically , the need to adopt a child in nigeria is in two fold:firstly, there are couple who seek to adopt a child in Nigeria , not because they are barren or infertile but because they want to take care of the suffering child.
futhermore , this category of people also want to adopt a child because the intend to travel abroad, so as means of assistance , they will want to travel with the children of their relative, the only way to achieve this is to legally adopt the children of their relative while the second category of people are the ones who genuinely do not have children of their own , so inadvertently they will have to adopt a child by an application to a government recorgnise orphanage.
This write-up will seek to explain the process to legally adopt a child in Nigeria. The principal legislation guiding adoption in Nigeria is the child Right act 2003.
This Act state the process of adoption in Nigeria . Order 26(1) of the Child Rights Act provide thus “that an application for adoption shall be made to the court as prescribed in form 3 and shall be accompanied with the relevant documents”. (The documents will be listed anon).
However in practice, the application is not made directly to the court rather the application is made by way of a letter addressed to the ministry of youth and social development depending on the state, and accompanied with the relevant documents. Once the ministry is satisfied with the application and the relevant document, the ministry will send all the relevant documents to the court, and the judge or magistrate depending on the case, may decide whether to hear the application in open court or in chambers- see order 26(2) of the Child Rights Act.
The court having been satisfied with the application and the relevant documents, will direct the welfare officer or child development officer to go and investigate the character and suitability of the applicant as an adopter as well as the child to be adopted. See order 26(3) of the Child Rights Act.
Once the Court is satisfied with the application and the report of the welfare officer, the court will make an adoption order. But if the court is dissatisfied, the court will revoke the adoption order. In either case, the court will make an order containing a direction to the chief registrar and appropriate child development services to file the order in the adopted children Register. See order 26(4)(a) of the Act.
The court shall also in placing the child for adoption, have regard as far as practicable, to the wishes of the parents and the guardian of the child, to the religious upbringing of the child. See order 26(5) of the Act.
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