Child adoption among Yoruba people: legal and traditional procedures

Abstract

Adoption is the process by which children from unrelated families become full and permanent legal members of another family while remaining genetically and psychologically connected to their birth parents. The goal of this study was to evaluate child adoption among Yoruba people, as well as legal and traditional procedures. The descriptive survey design was used in this study. Residents of Ife Central Local Government and Ministry of Women, Children, and Social Affairs staff were included in the study population. A questionnaire was used to collect data, which was then analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, and mean scores. The findings revealed that respondents have a high perception toward child adoption, viewing it as a way of providing a good home for a motherless child, bringing a new member into the family without a blood relationship, accepting another man's/woman's child without giving birth to the child, child adoption is an acceptable and government approved practice, and child adoption is a way of assisting a woman without a child. The findings revealed the respondent's perspective on child adoption practiced among Yoruba people, as child adoption is practiced without knowing the parents under statutory law, Islamic law, customary law, traditional method, and Christian faith.  It also revealed that Yoruba people do not want to adopt children for the following reasons: they may become wayward due to fear of the unknown, the child may later in the future leave or go in search of his/her biological family, lack of knowledge of the child's background, fear of any medical condition that the child may later have, social stigmatization, high premiums and the hijacking of the adoption process by middlemen, and a lack of biological/geneticial family. Findings revealed that traditional methods of adopting children of deceased siblings through foster care, customary law, and Islamic law were the most commonly used and accepted by the Yoruba. Conclusion It was suggested that lawmakers, government agencies involved in child adoption and child care, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) collaborate to revise Nigeria's adoption law in order to benefit everyone looking to adopt a child, and that effective and efficient public awareness of adoption methods be provided