Parents and relatives giving consent to foreigners in adoption do not fully understand the meaning and its implications of adoption, a situation that permits manipulation in the adoption process.
This is one of the key observations of a 2025 Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) study amid escalating reports of alleged unprocedural international adoptions by parents and guardians.
Part of the report, shared with Nation on Sunday, states that lack of awareness and knowledge on adoption is dire among poor families.
It reads: “This knowledge gap has led to complaints over the completed adoption years later and also potential adopters taking advantage of this knowledge gap to manipulate the process. For example, most parents as they come from poor family environments expect continued benefits from the adopters after the child is taken outside the country.”
Compounding the situation is the fact that Malawi is not party to the Hague Convention which provides for collaborative assessment of adopters by their countries of origin.
“However, a new Adoption Bill was ushered into the space but has faced lack of political will to have it passed into a new law.
“Secondly, the Child Care Institution sector that contributes more children for international adoption has no regulations to provide checks and balances on adoption matters,” further reads the report.
MHRC has recommended to the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare to expedite review of the new Adoption of Children’s Bill and subsequently submit it to the Ministry of Justice.
It also wants government to effect a moratorium to ban inter-country adoption within the medium-term while waiting for the passing of the Adoption of Children Bill into law.
MHRC executive secretary Habiba Osman last week said the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs should expedite finalisation of the Child Care Protection and Justice Act (Foster Homes) regulations.
She said: “The Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should initiate and expedite the process of ratifying the Hague Convention to ease post-adoption follow-up processes for the children as well as ensure the best interest of a child in cases of inter-country adoption.”
Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Principal Secretary Nertha Mgala committed to ensure adoption of children is passed into law.
According to the Adoption on Children Act, applicants are required to state their income, wealth, businesses and any land they may own.
The subsidiary legislation-the Adoption of Children (Subordinate Courts) Rules, states that it shall be the duty of the guardian, described as the person appointed by the court to oversee the adoption, to investigate as fully as possible all circumstances of the infant and applicant.
The law also requires the guardian to establish what insurance, if any, has been effected on the life of the infant.
It reads in part: “The magistrate may make such orders as to costs as he shall think fit and may direct that all the costs of a petition under the Act be borne and paid by the petitioner.”
Malawi’s highly publicised inter-country adoption is that of US pop-star Madonna who adopted four children between 2006 and 2017.
Malawians blamed the government for being soft on the global music icon in adopting Malawian children when the laws banned non-residents from adopting local children.
