Egypt's fostering campaign finds orphans homes

Yasmina El Habbal kisses with her 7-month-old Kafala daughter Ghalya, at their apartment in Cairo, Egypt. Photo: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

Yasmina al-Habbal always wanted to take in an orphan but only did so last year after Egypt's government eased regulations over who could do so and campaigned to change public attitudes, enabling her to take home baby Ghalya.

Formal adoption - where people permanently adopt a child, give them their surname and make them their legal heir, is not accepted in Islam due to the importance of respecting lineage, and not practised in Egypt, although people are encouraged to sponsor children or foster them.