Number of abandoned children in the UAE on the rise

Abu Dhabi: The number of abandoned children or the children with unknown parentage increases annually in the UAE with an average 3-4 children monthly; that is 48 cases per year, said Sultan Al Samahi, Federal National Council (FNC)’s rapporteur of health, labour and social affairs committee.

Al Samahi added: “The committee found that the number was increasing as more nationalities entered the country: more single workers meant more illegitimate children.”

He pointed out: “After consultations with experts, the committee amended the article to state that the child should be taken to either the nearest police station or to a health institute, depending on their health status.”

Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs (ZHOFCSN) is the institution that cares for orphans or abandoned children in Abu Dhabi.

“We currently have 54 children received through the public prosecution and the presidential court,” Salem Al Kaabi, ZHOFCSN, director general told Gulf News.

“We have several programmes planned for them. We either arrange for each to live with an Emirati family that we chose carefully, or assign a foster mother to care for a small group of seven or eight depending on their age,” he added.

On January 2, the FNC discussed a new law to protect children of unknown parentage many of whom are abandoned because they have disabilities, are born out of wedlock, or are the result of an unwanted pregnancy.

The law would create an efficient system to provide needed care for these children, and also highlights the criteria and process by which foster families will be chosen.

According to the law, foster families should meet certain criteria. The first is that the family should be a Muslim and Emirati. The family should be a married couple whose age is no less than 25 years old and should be free of contagious, mental and psychological diseases.

The law permits woman to foster the abandoned children provided that she is no less than 35 years old, if unmarried, or divorced or whose husband is away from her intermittently.

According to the ministry of social affairs, once the system is introduced, the ministry would have a ready database to go by.

“At present, citizens can apply to local government authorities to become foster families,” said Mariam Al Roumi, minister of social affairs.

According to the law, the abandoned children in the UAE are eligible for Emirati citizenship.

“The law would guarantee the child’s best interest in terms of child-related measures that may be taken by courts, administrative authorities or social welfare institutions, public or private,” said Al Roumi.

Al Roumi said police have to be better equipped in order to be able to document the child and collect details. “The law is to ensure the protection of the person who found the child,” she said.

In other provisions of 24-article law, the ministry and the FNC members agreed that abandoned children would be given a name followed by three surnames, but none that would relate to a known family name in the UAE.

According to the law, the abandoned children should be monitored by sending social experts to their foster families in order to check the children’s status.

The council added an article to ensure that the orphans have opportunities to acquire university degrees and jobs before they are removed from a shelter for abandoned children.