On Friday April 17, Judge James Zotaa of Criminal Court “A” angrily proclaimed in open court that the Ministry of Health (MOH) illegally removed 35 children from the Adoption Home of WACSN – the West African Children Support Network in Sinkor on March 26, 2009, without a court order and placed them in the Don Bosco Home for street children in Chocolate City, Gardnerville.

This action by the MOH upon the WACSN children was reckless and a blatant violation of their human rights. The Ministry of Justice needs to be more concern with the basic human rights of the Liberian Child. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) must see the necessity to shift the working paradigm from one of criminal sanction on the providers to that of human rights promotion of the children.

The Ministries of Health and Justice, and the private adoption agency WACSN were brought into court by the Independent Human Rights activist Melvin Page under a writ of Habeas Corpus to answer questions as to the whereabouts of 3 children illegally snatched by the MOH from the care of WACSN. The 3 children were the Kerkula boys who were among the 35 children unlawfully removed by the MOH from the WACSN compound in Sinkor. Due to the forceful and unlawful manner in which the children were removed, the MOH had no mechanism in place to determine the names of children, their medical history, and levels of social, psychological and behavioral competence and performance. In short, the MOH did not and still does not know the children which they illegally removed from WACSN’s care. 

WACSN is rightfully claiming that the 35 children in its care that the MOH illegally removed and took to the Don Bosco Home were relinquished by their parents for the sole purpose of adoption. The agency maintains that it is not an orphanage, and the children in its care did not come from any orphanage and do not know urban life, as they come from homes with parents, authority and Christian upbringing. Many of these children came from rural and semi-rural settings and do not know the city lifestyles of street children which Don Bosco primarily cares for. The WACSN children are not street children. They came from a well-managed WACSN home, entrusted by their parents, cared for by professional home 'mothers' in a home setting that provided them love, caring, food, clothes, shelter, education, religion, and healthcare services. Consequently, placing a person who has learned to survive by victimizing others and becoming a criminal, no matter the tender age, with children that are innocent and protected has certain disadvantages.

Don Bosco Home does not provide the necessary protection, security, treatment and care for the WACSN children. A policy reversal is needed for the sake of parents who do not understand the politics and power play of Monrovia and the pettiness of bureaucrats who are determined to advance their careers on the backs of innocent children. In reviewing the services of Don Bosco, this author finds that WACSN is correct. The Don Bosco Home does no more than what WACSN does. In fact, this author finds that the Don Bosco Home is a bad fit for the WACSN Children. The Director of WACSN’s Adoption Program, Mrs. Willette Urey said recently, that our children are our most valuable resource and most vulnerable citizens. Hence, the Ministry of Health cannot in good faith place our children in a ramshackle, dilapidated, shabby place just because it says it is being run by Don Bosco. Our children are sleeping on mats on the floor at Don Bosco. Mrs. Urey angrily says, this action by the MOH is not fair. It is not right. She wonders why Joseph Geebro, Lydia Sherman and Eva Morgan are playing politics with the lives of innocent children.

 According to the Don Bosco website, the organization only service children who live on the streets of Monrovia. These children are deprived of family care and protection, many between the ages of about 5 and 17 years old. Their population includes children who might not necessarily be homeless or without families, but who live in situations where there is no protection, supervision, or direction from responsible adults. Many of the street children in Don Bosco’s care, while living on the streets were engaged in contracts to fetch water or wash dishes and carry loads at a short distance for people for money, whereas others simply stole to earn a living, or to eat one square meal a day. When these children are not in the care of Don Bosco, they sleep in unfinished buildings, market stalls, abandon cars, soccer pitches and just any available place they can find regardless their safety, they are largely self-supervised.

The Don Bosco children’s home website further states that the negative impact of street life on children in Liberia is enormous. Accordingly, many street children in Don Bosco’s care lack basic rights such as education, family love, health care, good food & safety. Other disadvantages include exposure to drugs, the risk of being knocked down by uninsured cars, harsh punishment for little offences. Also, these conditions and behavior brings early arrival of adulthood, association with the wrong people & criminals and a loss of family ties. Another big problem with children at the Don Bosco Children Home is that they have been exploited by adults who hire them to work but often do not paid them for the work they do.

The Don Bosco website further states that, these children allegedly face more attacks and abuses from law enforcers than they face from civilians. As such, protection/advocacy groups determinately engage law enforcers in a dialogue to try and establish a working relationship with them to care for these vulnerable children. In past years, it has been WACSN, who provided food and medical supply to street children, ex-combatants and war-affected youths. Madame Diana Davis, former president of the union of orphanages in Liberia said, it has always been WACSN who have come to the aid of orphanages and street children by supplying critically needed food, clothing and medical supply for children. Over the past 11 years, it has been WACSN who we all turn to for assistance.

There are about 95 registered orphanages with many informal group homes caring for Liberia’s over 60,000 homeless, abandoned, and orphaned children. Orphanages are usually under funded receiving erratic government funding of about US$4.00 per orphan per month; thereby, relying primarily on private donations. Orphanages throughout Liberia have difficulty providing basic sanitation, adequate medical care, education and appropriate diet for children. The government does not support adoption homes or other children centers. According to the March 2009 UN Report entitled, “Human Rights in Liberia’s Orphanages”, children living in Liberia’s orphanages are denied basic rights, ranging from the right to identity, family, leisure, education, adequate sanitation and hygiene, health and participation in cultural activities. The report concludes that the lack of these basic rights have an incremental and lasting effect on the development of the Liberian Child.

In another related report compiled by IRIN, malnutrition will kill 74,000 Liberian Children by 2015, if nothing is done about the current situation of severe hunger and health amongst children. The IRIN report also states that currently in Liberia 37% of all children under 5 suffers from chronic malnutrition. With these critical and vexing issues clawing at our national doorstep, with our president tirelessly, persistently and frustratingly making every effort to effectively deal with the UN millennium development Challenges, why then are individuals like Deputy Minister Joseph Gebroo and his associate, Lydia Sherman doing all they can to sabotage and hold hostage the president’s cardinal effort to protect and dignify the Liberian child?  

Where is this new dispensation headed with the democratic election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president? One would have thought that this new dispensation was to change the face of Liberian life as many ordinary Liberians have come to know it for generations.  Many Liberians truly believe that the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would evolve a democratically driven society where the personification of integrity, honesty and a deep sense of purpose would be achieved. Instead, certain close-minded individuals in this government have been allowed to roam around Monrovia with nothing much to do but harass and torment the lives of productive citizens trying to make a difference in the lives of children. 

Our country will never change with this backward mindset. Will someone inform these individuals that Inter-Country adoption is not an avenue to build individual bank account?  Inter-country adoption is a good thing for Liberia. It exposes our children to resources and opportunities not currently available in our country after 20 years of social devastation and economic dislocation. It allows children to grow up as kids during their formative years.

J. Eben Daygbor, can be reached at ebendaygbor@yahoo.com /Cell: 001.231.644.9267