Canada bans adoption of Pakistani children
Authorities cite a conflict with Islamic law over adoption and guardianship.
TORONTO (Agencies) - Canada has stopped adoptions from Pakistan, citing a conflict with the Islamic law over adoption and guardianship.
The abrupt move, which took effect in July, has left Canadian adoptive parents heartsick and religious leaders baffled.
“I was shocked, upset and depressed,” says GTA resident Shafiq Rehman, who had been hoping with his wife to adopt a child from Pakistan.
At issue, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, is the Islamic practice of kafala, or guardianship, which is common in most of the world’s 49 Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan.
Shafiq Rehman and his wife, Rehmat Jahan, started the adoption process in 2011. A week after they got an approval letter this June from the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services confirming them as suitable candidates, Ottawa announced that it had stop accepting adoptions from Pakistan, as of July 2.
Many other countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have raised no issue about kafala and are still open to adoptions from Pakistan.
Canada has, in some or all provinces, suspended adoptions from Cambodia, Georgia, Guatemala, Liberia, Nepal and Haiti for various reasons. However, Pakistan is the only country banned due to kafala.
Immigration spokesman Glenn Johnson said Canadian families seeking to adopt Pakistani children are required to obtain guardianship certificates from a Pakistani court and then subsequently formalize an adoption in Canadian courts.
“However, legal and procedural requirements to obtain a guardianship certificate under Pakistan’s Guardians and Wards Act do not allow for subsequent adoption in the guardian’s country of residence,” Johnson explained in an email.
“Pakistan applies the Islamic system of kafala, or guardianship, which neither terminates the birth parent-child relationship nor grants full parental rights to the new guardian. This means that there are further legal incompatibilities in accepting Canadian applications for adoption.”
Michael Blugerman, one of the three licensed adoption agents in Ontario specializing in Pakistani adoptions, said the sudden move has caught parents off guard, some of whom were already halfway through the long process.
“There are all kinds of families trapped along the path. Immigration’s explanation is inaccurate and misleading,” said Blugerman, who has been an adoption agent for 33 years and does about eight Pakistani cases a year.
“Some of these parents have given up jobs, taken leave of absence to start the process abroad. It’s not the money, but their emotional investment into the process.”
To qualify to adopt, a prospective parent must undergo a minimum 10-week home study, during which the applicant is assessed by a registered adoption practitioner if considered is a suitable candidate.
The parent must complete a training course called PRIDE (Parental Resources for Information Development and Education) before the provincial children and youth services can issue an approval letter to a foreign adoption authority.
