A new home, a new family

People who face problems having children as well as some others who have their own children sometimes opt for adoption in a bid to add meaning to their life while giving someone else a future. Rosanne Zammit looks into the procedure couples wanting to adopt have to go through, the changes planned to current legislation as well as the experiences of a couple who recently adopted two girls and another couple who are on the waiting list.

Both Francesca and Helenia were born last September. Their exact birthdays are unknown but parents Frans and Diane Ellul of Lija have chosen September 8 to celebrate their coming into this world.

The two happy girls have lit up their parents' lives since their arrival. This is the story of how a new family was formed:

The girls, who are of different mothers, were found abandoned at birth in separate areas of Addis Adaba, the capital of Ethiopia.

Helenia had to spend three weeks in hospital since she was found after being left out in the cold for a whole night. Francesca, meanwhile, was kept warm by being wrapped in blankets.

Mr and Mrs Ellul were married on July 19, 1996. She was then 24 and he 26. Their desire to have children was strong, so they agreed that if they had a problem having their own, they would adopt...

When it turned out that they could not have their own children, they applied to the Social Welfare Department for adoption. To adopt, couples have to have been married for five years and one of the partners has to be over 30.

Some time after the couple applied, they were asked to follow a six-week course. Such courses are attended by 10 couples at a time and four of the couples in their course have since adopted children from Ethiopia.

Mrs Ellul said that although they had always wanted two girls, boys would still have been welcome. Neither were the couple choosy about the country of origin.

Once they had been through the technical process with the Welfare Department, they decided to apply for adoption from the first country that provided the opportunity.

Ethiopia had been open for private adoptions and the couple were given the name of another couple who had successfully adopted from there - Martin and Marita Micallef of Siggiewi, from whom they received a lot of help and assistance.

Mr and Mrs Micallef gave them the names of Maltese nuns Ludgarda Camilleri and Camilla Zammit, who worked at an orphanage in Ethiopia. Mr and Mrs Ellul wrote to Sr Ludgarda and asked for two girls - one aged a year and a half, the other a baby.

But when Sr Ludgarda realised that the enquiries were being made by a young couple, she told them that she had two babies whom she would like to have adopted together...

Mr and Mrs Ellul then had to send a Maltese nurse over to Ethiopia to examine the girls and after obtaining the required approval from Malta's health authorities, the couple left for Ethiopia.

They arrived at night after a long flight via Dubai and immediately headed for the orphanage where they would stay throughout their visit. On their arrival, Sr Ludgarda let them peep at the children, who were lying awake seemingly waiting for their new parents.

"The joy I felt on that day was as if my wife had given birth. Life had once again given us something to look forward to," Mr Ellul said.

Even though they were extremely tired, they barely slept that night.

At 7 a.m. they went downstairs and the nuns, who regularly woke up at 5 a.m. to get on with their day's work, were waiting for them. Immediately, they were handed their two little angels.

A bond was immediately formed between the parents and children... the girls, again, seemed to recognise their new parents.

From then on and throughout their stay in Ethiopia, Diane looked after the babies while Frans took care of technical matters.

The couple had to sign the documents prepared by the nuns, the contract of adoption, turn up in court to receive approval and apply for their Ethiopian passports and Maltese visas. The court decision had to be translated and birth certificates issued.

Asked how costly the adoption process had been, Mr and Mrs Ellul said it was definitely not as much as adoption from other countries had cost some people. The most expensive part of the process, they said, were the air fares.

Both agree that the arrival of their girls has changed their life for the better, and it is now full of love and happiness.

"They have given our life new meaning," they said.

Francesca and Helenia will be told they are adopted and their parents will try to let them live their culture as far as possible. They took a lot of pictures in Ethiopia, which they are arranging in a scrap book. The girls were baptised in the traditional Ethiopian dress and the couple have removed their ornaments at home replacing them with artefacts which they brought with them from Ethiopia - for the children to grow up in an environment as close to home as possible.

When the children turn 10, Mr and Mrs Ellul would like to take them to visit their home country and if, when they grow older, they would want to look for their natural parents, Mrs Ellul is willing to help them with the process, even though this would be very difficult, since the girls were abandoned.

Mrs Ellul believes the fact that both girls were abandoned close to schools meant that their mothers loved them and wanted them to be found and get a better life than they could offer them.

Francesca is daddy's girl and she asks for her dadda, whom she has been named after. Helenia, named after her late maternal grandparents Helen and Antonio, is the "vain" one. She already loves the mirror.

Asked whether they feared their children would be bullied as they grew older because of their skin colour, Mrs Ellul quickly pointed out she had been bullied at school and she was white.

"People who want to call you names will do so irrespective of your skin colour," she pointed out.

The first glimpse Diane and Frans got of their babies was last December when they received photographs of them. They went to Ethiopia for their children on January 22 returning with their bundles of joy last February 6.

The family also foster a Russian girl, Anna, who cannot be adopted. She lives with them for four months each year. If their finances permit, they would like to adopt a third child in future, if possible from Ethiopia too...

A law in the making

An Adoption Act, as well as a Fostering Act, are in the pipeline, according to the Ministry for Family and Social Solidarity. The Civil Code is the legislation that currently governs adoption in Malta.

The underlying principle behind the new acts will be the best interests of the minor, the ministry said.

The amendments look towards the incorporation of the Hague Convention on inter-country adoptions and the setting up of an Adoptions Board.

It is also the ministry's intention to legislate clearly regarding the role and function of the central authority and of initiating the establishment of accredited and licensed adoption agencies.

The underpinning principle remains that of safeguarding, as far as possible, the best interests of the person to be adopted and the rights of both the birth and adoptive parents.

Asked if the new law will make adoption easier for Maltese couples, the ministry said clearer procedures would undoubtedly make the process easier. The process will become more transparent, and more safeguards to the rights of all those involved will be provided. The ministry said that consideration was currently being given as to whether private adoptions should continue to be allowed.

"The practice of private adoptions has frequently caused reason for concern. The amendments under consideration will empower applicants who will have a clear procedure ahead of them, and in future they may also avail themselves of any accredited agencies which may be set up. This would also strengthen the element of accountability involved."

Asked why such a law was deemed necessary the ministry said that while the current provisions of the Civil Code could have been adequate for the time when they were enacted, they were not considered to cater for the needs of today's society.

The amendments are envisaged to update local legislation bringing it in line with legislation in other countries.

The law will also reflect developments made in the field of adoption throughout the past years. Children and their interests will be the priority in this law.

Living in hope

Rita, 34, and John, 39 (not their real names) have just gone through the bureaucratic process that will enable them to adopt a child.

The couple have been married for 11-and-a-half years and started trying to have children after three years of marriage. After two miscarriages, the couple decided two years ago to go for adoption.

Their families did not accept their decision immediately but this could be because they originally mistook adoption for fostering. Rita appealed to families of couples wanting to adopt to embrace the couple's decision and rejoice with them.

The couple want to remain anonymous until they adopt their much wanted child. Their preferred countries of adoption are Russia and Bulgaria but they would adopt from anywhere in Europe, they said. They believe that if their child has a different skin colour, he or she would face problems in Malta, since they see the country becoming more racist.

How would I cope if my child came running to me saying, "Mummy, I was called a nigger," Rita asked.

They would like their child to be younger than a year-and-a-half. While Rita would prefer a girl, John would love a boy. The couple claims local legislation is grossly unfair, since it grants only five weeks of parental leave to adoptive parents, as against the 14 weeks for other parents.

"We are going to be parents so we should be treated in the same manner. We have to spend a lot of time travelling and like other couples, we also want to enjoy our baby," Rita said.

In fact, to make sure she will do so, Rita, a receptionist, has just refused a promotion which would have seen her working daily, rather than on a day-in day-out basis.

The adoption process

People wanting to adopt a foreign child have to register with the Department of Family Welfare, Malta's central authority.

Social worker Laura Agius said that in October, Malta signed the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children, which came into effect last February.

Foreign adoption by all signatories has to be done through a central authority. Applications for the adoption of a child can be submitted by couples who have been married for at least five years, with one of the partners being older than 30 but younger than 60, or by single persons. However, a single man cannot apply to adopt a boy.

Applicants are then put on a waiting list for a pre-adoption course of six sessions - one two-hour session each week.

Ms Agius said that if, following the course, applicants still want to adopt, a home study is carried out by the department in which a social worker visits the applicant or applicants six or seven times.

Through these visits, the social worker gets a fuller picture of the applicants' background, lifestyle, support network, strengths and vulnerabilities.

Once the home study report is drawn up, it is discussed by the Adoption and Fostering Panel, which includes a social worker, a doctor, an adoptive mother, a foster carer, a teacher and a marriage counsellor.

The panel make a recommendation and the process can proceed.

Once parents are given the go ahead, they choose which country they would like to adopt from and make the necessary contacts. The popular countries for adoption at present are Ethiopia, Bulgaria and the Russian Federation.

Ms Agius said that many people who opt for adoption do not have children although there are others who have their own children but still want to give another child a better life.

Asked how much the process cost, she said one cannot give a figure since this depended of the fees incurred for the legalisation of documents, their translation, legal fees and donations requested.

Once the adopted child is in Malta, the department follows up the process by drawing up regular post adoption reports.

The department, Ms Agius said, also encourages parents to let their children know they are adopted. Parents are encouraged to build a life story book for the children which would include information and pictures of the country they were born in.

The adopted children can choose to look for their natural parents on reaching 18. In such instances, the department will assist if necessary but for a meeting to be arranged both the child and the parents must agree to it.

Moreover, it had to be the child who sought out the mother and not the other way round.

Problems of a different kind

The Sisters of Charity in Pakistan currently have an eight-month-old girl who is up for adoption but although all the papers are ready, the Maltese authorities are not yet satisfied.

Sr Mary Ann Mallia said when contacted that contrary to what has sometimes been stated, the Pakistanis do not throw their children away but children are sometimes given up for adoption if born to families in difficult circumstances - if the family is already very big, for instance, or if the mother is unmarried.

She said that when children were being adopted by new parents, it was best that they were taken when as young as possible to prevent uprooting them from an environment they would have gotten used to as they got older.

Facts and figures

There has been a total of 245 adoptions between 2000 and last year - 55 in 2000 and 2001, 33 in 2002, 32 in 2003 and 70 last year.

The adoptions last year were: local, 24; from Ethiopia, 18; Pakistan, six; Romania, five; Albania and Kenya, four; Russia, three; Morocco and the United Kingdom, two; and Latvia and Ukraine, one.