Antonio presents a memento to Fatimah. From right are Jasni, Saadiah and Saferi.
KUCHING: A clear standard operating procedure (SOP) for registering the adoption of non-citizen or citizen children must be established and applied consistently in all district offices statewide.
Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said this is vital to provide comprehensive guidelines and a coherent approach to various issues in the adoption process.
“A multitude of issues may arise during the adoption process. Therefore, we need to come up with an SOP to be practised uniformly by all district officers (DOs) in registering adoptions of children under Chapter 91 of the Adoption Ordinance,” she said when opening a seminar on child adoption legislation under Chapter 91 of the Adoption Ordinance yesterday.
“The issue on the inconsistency of the DOs’ practices in registering a child who is a non-citizen/citizen has been raised and reported. Adoption is a common thing today but it will go through meticulous procedures.”
She pointed out that varying approaches could have negative consequences.
“In the end, the wellbeing of children and their families will be affected. So let’s put our heads together to iron out the various issues and problems pertaining to child adoption,” she said.
Fatimah said statelessness in Sarawak, and Malaysia generally, posed huge problems especially difficulties in accessing basic rights such as welfare, education and healthcare.
“When a child has no proper and legal identification documents due to problems in procedure or unknown/pending outcome, they will miss out on a lot of benefits they deserve, especially those from poor backgrounds,” she said.
“As such, I hope that this seminar can deliberate and find solutions to various core issues and problems pertaining to adoption that are affecting not only children but also parents and the community as a whole.”
A special taskforce handling the issue of stateless children in Sarawak was set up early this year focussing on operations in rural areas seeking out undocumented children or students.
“Under this taskforce, we run checks on the applicants’ background, getting information and documents verified and so forth before submitting the application to Ministry of Home Affairs,” said Fatimah.
“Citizenship is a gift that we should value because without it we will not be able to enjoy the numerous benefits and get assistance for Malaysian citizens, particularly the poor who need them most.”
Among those present were state deputy attorney-general Saferi Ali; Chief Minister’s Department General Administration Unit director Antonio Kathi Galis; Ministry of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development permanent secretary Dr Saadiah Abdul Samat; and National Registration Department state director Jasni Jubli.
Some 100 participants from various government departments and agencies attended the seminar, which was jointly organised by the Chief Minister’s Department General Administration Unit and State Attorney-General’s Chambers.