Parents of illegal adopted children blast CID
The Biological parents of acclaimed illegally adopted children facilitated by Help a Needy Children International HANCI during the heat of civil war in 1997 to 1999 have accused the Criminal Investigative Department of the Sierra Leone Police Force of playing games with a matter that is politically sensitive and that if not treated with neutrality and sincerity will cause the incumbent APC to loose some amount of popularity in Makeni where the bulk of the children and mothers hail from.
This long drawn-out matter was ignited by a community base organization Foundation for Democratic Imitative and Development FDID who lunched an investigation into the processes that led to the adoption of 29 Sierra Leoneans children that were kept in an Orphanage at No. 3 Mission Road, Makeni called the child survival center which according to an account of the Executive Director to the Minister of Social Welfare dated 9th December 2009 were malnourished children whose parents wanted their children to be given out for inter-country adoption in case willing adoptive parent were identified. The account further stated that the wishes of these parents were reported to social welfare regional office.
The Director for Foundation for Democratic Imitative and Development Hindowa Saidu whose aim is to introduce a more radical approach to human right issues in Sierra Leone noted that some time last year during the cause of there investigation in Makeni a senior staff who has spent a considerable number of years at the social welfare regional office in Makeni told his Organization that no form of adoption case had ever been handle by the regional office as all adoption cases are above the regional offices and magistrate court.
According to the parents they never asked HANCI to look for adoptive parents for their children but handed over the children to HANCI to care for them in terms of food, shelter and education since the war had left them with nothing to continue with. The account of the Executive Director for HANCI makes mention of another Orphanage Center called the children’s home at back of Birch Memorial Secondary school with over 60 children whose internal adopted parent wanted HANCI to care for them until their true parent were located when the war shall have been over and are reunited with there biological parents. However, the account deliberately or otherwise failed to produce evidence of how many children were reunited with their biological parents and those that they could not reunite with there biological parents.
The matter has been dragged to the Criminal Investigative Department for investigation for the second time. Unbelievably, the 2004 file of the same matter that was investigated by CID and charge to court was discovered missing in one of the shelves of the police. As a result new statements were attainted from individuals concern and fresh investigation lunched by the CID. During the course of the investigation, HANCI promised to bring one of the said adopted children so that CID can interview him about the whereabouts and conditions of the others. Inside source from CID confirm that the boy, name withheld; who had spent above ten years was unable to express himself in English as even his physical appearance does not in any way reflect someone that had live in the United States as claimed. Ironically, none of these parents was able to identify the boy.
Further; source stated that the American Embassy does not have any information about the boy in its data base.
Responding to the allegation HANCI noted that they as organization did not go to the Embassy but the police and the boy only and that the outcome was not communicated to them. But they however hold the view that the boy was from America and is one of the said adopted children. Parents of adopted children have expressed strong disappointment at the government for allowing HANCI to continue to operate when investigation is on going as tendency for HANCI using their office to interfere with investigation. The snail pace in which the investigation is going is another worrisome concern to these parents as they all are waiting for the case to be charged to court for the second time. When contacted the police superintendent officer Samura in charge of media in the Sierra Leone Police said he had nothing to say as the investigation is on going.
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