By Neo Kolane
In 2006, journalist ‘Marafaele Mohloboli, of Qoaling in the capital Maseru and community members of Ha Thamae retrieved a three-month old baby girl from a latrine pit.
The baby was covered with faeces and maggots. It was suspected that she had been discarded and left to die by her mother.
Baby dumping, like induced abortion, is an old and common crime in Lesotho and is invariably perpetrated by women who have gone through an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.
Mohloboli recalls that she did not initially have plans to adopt the child, but to help reunite her with her parents.
An intriguing turn of events ensued including the biological mother openly telling a court of law that she wanted nothing to do with the baby. This subsequently saw the mother of two taking a bold step – adopting the baby who she would go on to raise as her own.
“The baby’s mother came forward on the same day. We went to the police and then to court. She repudiated the same, saying she did not want her. She was sentenced to jail.
“The court ordered that the child be taken to an orphanage. Sadly, no orphanage could accommodate her as they were all full.
“Mind you, the child was not yet cleaned up at the time. I pleaded with the court to grant me provisional custody of the child and it concurred,” she said.
At the time, Mohloboli was still harbouring hopes the child would one day be reunited with her real family. In spite of numerous efforts to reach out to the family, who included the child’s grandmother who was based in Thaba Tseka, never bothered to come and fetch the child.
Seventeen years later (in 2023), the baby – now an exuberant teenager – died, leaving the adoptive mother shattered and grieving for the lass she had high hopes for.
“When she was 15 years old, the child began asking those awkward questions like, ‘Mummy, people say you are not my biological mother; they say I have a loud mouth and I was adopted’.
“My world fell apart as I had been waiting for her to turn 18 before I could explain everything to her. I had no choice but to tell her the truth.
“Naturally, she had many questions and want to get to the bottom of her circumstances. She told me ‘Mummy, I want to go to Thaba Tseka, I have many questions for my mother’.”
However, this never came to pass; the child’s family even ignored efforts by the Thaba Tseka police to reunite with their own blood and flesh.
Then one day the girl ran off, leaving Moloboli a note saying she did not want to be found.
She was eventually found in Thaba Tseka by social workers and police, and she told them that she wanted her family back in Maseru.
Mohloboli’s experience is one of many that illustrate the emotional rollercoaster associated with adoption.
According to the Foster Care and Adoption Procedures and Practice Guidelines issued by Lesotho’s ministry of social development in August 2012, adoption offers permanent substitute family care for a child and establishes a legal parent-child relationship which provides for the well-being of a child in a comprehensive and holistic manner that targeted at his/her physical, psychological, social, spiritual, health and ethno-cultural development.
The guidelines underscore the fact that adoption is a personalised life plan for a child and must be determined on the basis of a study of his/her psychological, social, spiritual, medical, ethno-cultural and legal status and that of his/her family of origin, whenever possible.
The ministry of social development’s child protection officer in the alternative care unit, Tiisetso Mohlabi told this publication that it is not every child that the ministry declares adoptable.
Mohlabi says when a child is abandoned, there are processes which have to be followed before adoption.
“When a child is abandoned, that amounts to a crime. The police therefore, need to institute criminal investigations to find out who the person responsible.
“Social development then conducts its own investigations to determine the child’ next of kin. If the two parties do not succeed, a child is declared adoptable,” she said.
Mohlabi explained that if a parent declares that they do not want the child anymore, such a parent relinquishes their rights and gives the child away.
She told theReporter this week that Basotho are now warming up to the practice of adoption, citing that the ministry has adoption cases dating from as far back as 2014.
Mohlabi revealed that her department processed 13 adoption applications in 2023 and eight the year before.
Children who were declared adoptable were all adopted, in Lesotho and two internationally, hence it was a success, she noted.
She also indicated that in the past, people used to apply for adoption when they were around ages of 50-60 which was not ideal but after popularising adoption, people now come as early as age 35.
“According to the law, anyone above the age of 25 can adopt. There are two types of adoption: relative adoption and random adoption.
“In random adoption, a child is taken to a hospital and that requires money, in addition to costs of engaging a lawyer. With relative adoption, which involves relatives, the process is done by the high court, lawyers are engaged and money is required.
“Local adoption does not cost more than M8 000. For a person to adopt, they should be able to provide for the child’s basic needs – shelter, food, clothes and medical care,” she explained.
Mohlabi emphasized that when it comes to adoption, the department gives Basotho’s applications first preference.
Meanwhile, a social worker from local orphanage Beautiful Gate, ‘Makatleho Likotsi, said last year they admitted 16 children. Two were adopted locally and seven internationally. Ten went back to their homes.
Likotsi said when the adoption process has been completed with the ministry of social development, the orphanage facilitates a meeting between the prospective adoptive parents and the child.
“This gives the parents and the orphanages an opportunity to interact with one another, with a view to sharing information on integrating the child into its new home,” Likotsi pointed out.
Beautiful Gate is home to orphaned, abandoned and other vulnerable children. The centre was established in 2001 by a Zimbabwean couple, Ray and Sue Haakonsen. It started with seven abandoned babies and has cared for over 600 children.
More than 250 of these have been adopted in Lesotho while others have found new homes in the Netherlands, United States of America, Sweden and Canada. About 150 were reunited with their biological parents.
The centre currently provides shelter, food, clothing, education, medical care, and psychosocial support to 75 children aged up to 10 years.
Social development guidelines add that the child-study shall be prepared by professionally qualified social workers or other experienced social service professionals recognized under the Lesotho Association of Social Workers.
The report forms a basis for matching with prospective adopters and assist them in making a decision, assist with the child’s need to know about his/her biological family at the appropriate time and support the adoptive parents understanding of the child and have relevant information about him/her including ethnic, socio-cultural and religious upbringing.
