Sarawak to tighten child adoption rules
By JACK WONGKUCHING: Child adoption in Sarawak will come under closer scrutiny and stricter procedures under proposed amendments to the law.
The Adoption (Amendment) Bill, to be tabled in the State Assembly next week, will introduce provisions requiring applications for adoption to be made on prescribed forms, and submitted with other documentation or evidence, to the district officer for the district where the natural or adopting parents reside.
The proposed amendments come in the wake of widely publicised police investigation into possible illegal sale of babies involving Indonesian women.
Police detained several pregnant Indonesia women and babies during raids here about four months ago. Similar operations in Sibu have led to the rescue of six infants kept in different locations.
Under the Bill, the district officer may require the natural parent or adopting parent or guardian to produce a medical report from a medical practitioner or a doctor in a government hospital on the health of the child.
He may also ask the state Welfare Department director to examine the child or interview the natural parent or the adopting parent, and to submit to him a report on the child's welfare or the social, financial and personal background of the natural parents or guardian.
These measures are to enable the district officer to determine if the adoption would be in the paramount interest of the child.
It will be an offence for anyone to make a false statement related to child adoption. The penalty is a fine up to RM5,000 or a jail term of up to 18 months, or both.
Another provision outlines the specific procedures for the re-adoption of an adopted child.
The Bill also seeks to empower the district officer to issue a notice asking any person to furnish him with information concerning the natural parent or adopting parent or guardian.
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