CDA frustrates child adoptions

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I hope to awaken the minds of the readers on the issue of child adoption in Jamaica.

The child-adoption process in Jamaica is controlled by the Child Development Agency, whose colourful website at http://www.cda.gov.jm deceivingly gave me the impression that forces behind the scenes were really actively facilitating the adoption of kids by suitable families.

My wife and I, and other couples we know, have made our applications for adoption more than a year ago and we have not seen any movement on this, save for the confirmation of receipt of our application forms. When one tries to get some feedback regarding the status of the application, all roads lead to two persons:

Mrs Camille Lewin-Lambie and Mrs Carothers, who are two individuals that are hardly ever in office and who are averse to responding to emails. Overwhelmed with the frustration of my situation, I ask myself a series of questions: Why would persons who are apparently busy attending to other aspects of their job not create the environment where concerned applicants can get feedback from other members of their office?

Why when I Google 'child adoptions in Jamaica', I see that 59 children in Jamaica were adopted in 2010 by parents from the US? Why do Mrs Lewin-Lambie and Mrs Carothers have a vice grip over this process, delaying its flow (at least for Jamaican applicants) and thus preventing the formation of happy family units, which we all concede is the nucleus of any society?

Enough is enough!

HOPEFUL PARENT