Orphanages Are Just A Stopover Point Before Foster Homes
Egypt has been aiming at increasing awareness of Kafala by cleaning up all the misconceptions of the practice, raising awareness about and encouraging people
to Kafala. Egypt has a vision and a dream of closing all orphanages by 2025, after all orphans find homes and families to live with for a better physical, mental and emotional well being.
“I walked slowly inside of this shabby place, tears falling uncontrollably down my warm cheeks. A woman takes me to another and then to a man and then finally to her. I saw her wrapped in a dirty blanket screaming unstoppably. My heart skipped a beat. I forgot how I learnt to breath. I reached to her hand and held it. Then I took all of her in my arms. I wanted to keep her inside my embrace forever. At that moment I knew that I needed her more than she needed me as a mama,” said Hala Rabie, Head of English department at Nile Egyptian School in El-Minya.
Rabie has lost her cousin and his wife in a car accident and the only survivor was their daughter. She got the news over the phone and amidst the pain of her loss and her confusion at the news her first and foremost attention was on the now orphaned baby. She ran to the orphanage that received the baby from the hospital. Rabie’s mind crammed with all the what if’s, whens, whats and hows, was able to be somehow be assured because Egypt has amended its Child Law, opening up the option of takafol and foster parenting to more people including single women. Rabie was a single woman. But she knew that she is to be the mother of this baby regardless of what social traditions and legislation issues she’ll need to overcome. She’s always been a fighter. Having lost her parents at a young age herself, Rabie knew she wouldn’t let her niece go through the heartache and the hardships of life without having someone to lean on.
Hala’s niece is one of 1.7 million orphaned children in Egypt, according to the SOS Children's Villages organization. Egypt has been encouraging families on Kafala and raising abandoned children as to invoke the muslim doctrine of kafala.
The difference between the idea of adoption and Kafala is that in adoption the family has the right to name the child, thus the child carries the father’s name making the child entitled to the adoptive family’s inheritance. In Kafala, the child doesn’t take on the father’s name and has no inheritance rights because of the importance of respecting the lineage.
Although adoption isn’t legal in Egypt, the government is encouraging families to foster children. Thus, there have been a number of legal amendments made to ease the process of Kafala with aim of minimizing the number of kids living in Egypt’s 400 orphanages.
In 2014, former Minister of Social Solidarity, Ghada Wali announced the government’s plan to shut down all orphanages by 2025. According to Wali, the conditions in orphanages, even actively improving, have been reported to be abysmal, “In order to further enhance the orphanages in Egypt, I really wish that those who choose to take on this profession really want to have an impact and enjoy what they are doing rather than view it as any other job,” she emphasizes.
The ministry believes that it’s better for children to grow up in a home as they get the best care possible if placed with a family. The psychological well-being of the children is positively affected living with a family. Therefore, the ministry’s plan to shut down orphanages included not licensing any new orphanages to open and making shedding light on fostering and Kafala by easing up the process and raising awareness.
For example, before 2018, abandoned children in Egypt weren’t assigned for Kafala unless they were older than two years. Now, it’s reduced to 3 months old.
Moreover, in January of 2020, new amendments were made stating that new amendments were made stating that single women above 30 and divorcees are now permitted to Takafol, given that they have been married at least three years and meet the conditions of the Social Welfare Department of the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity. Suitable applicants have to take training classes held by the The Alternative Family system for Kafala and foster parents.
After placement takes place, social workers provide three basic services to the Kafala family: (1) educational and informational, (2) clinical, and (3) material services. Educational and informational services consist of supplying Kafala parents with information through literature, support groups, seminars, and explaining Takafol to extended family. Clinical services are individual, marital, and family counseling. Material services encompass Kafala subsidies and health benefits.
All the complexities and intricacy of Islam and adoption hindered some Egyptian families from even fostering and instead just sponsored children who remained in full-time care of orphanages. But in an interview to Reuters, Reem Amin, a member of Egypt’s social solidarity ministry’s alternative families committee said its main goal was to remove the need for orphanages by 2025.
“An orphanage’s main goal is as a stopover point before the child moves to a foster home,” she said.
According to The Minister of Social Solidarity, the number of fostered and Kafala children increased from 3,000 to 12,000 in the past three years. The growth to improvements in Egypt's Kafala process and facilities has helped relieve some of the pressure orphanages are under. In a statistical data visualization conducted for the JRMC multimedia capstone, the numbers show that there has been a decrease from 2016 to 2019 in the number of children living in orphanages as well as a decrease in the number of orphanages in Egypt.
Furthermore, there have been many campaigns on social media that are supporting Kafala demystifying it and challenging societal bigotry. One of the most influential Kafala mom Rasha Mekky founded “Yala Kafala” a non profit organization aiming at chipping away misconceptions about the practice and raising awareness by answering questions and concerns on the Facebook page. The mom-turned-activist Mekky’s page is coming as Egypt has been easing the Kafala producers to encourage parents to give orphans permanent homes.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources:
Ali, S. (2015).Foster care in Egypt: A study of policies, laws, and practice. [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/328
Egypt broadens potential pool of adoptive, foster parents. Retrieved from https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2018/10/adoption-egypt-new-amendmens-child-law-foster-parents-ngos.html#:~:text=According to Somaya Al-Alf,three years, up from 3,000.
Eltigani, N. (2019, February 08). How Wataneya is Influencing the Children Without Parental Care Sector in Egypt. Retrieved from https://egyptianstreets.com/2019/02/08/how-wataneya-is-influencing-the-children-without-parental-care-sector-in-egypt/#:~:text=However, Egypt's Ministry of Social,would be closed by 2025.&text=With this, the Minister of,to assess the foster families.
Fam, M. (2021, February 05). In Egypt, a push to get more orphans families, fight stigma. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-2c7827eb3db1901d4a5180fa4aaae10d
Habieb, H. (2021, March 03). Egypt's fostering campaign helps orphans find homes. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-society-idUSKBN2AV1UC
Tawfeek, F. (2018, October 13). Orphanages to be closed by 2025: Social Solidarity Min. Retrieved from https://egyptindependent.com/orphanages-to-be-closed-by-2025-social-solidarity-min/
“I walked slowly inside of this shabby place, tears falling uncontrollably down my warm cheeks. A woman takes me to another and then to a man and then finally to her. I saw her wrapped in a dirty blanket screaming unstoppably. My heart skipped a beat. I forgot how I learnt to breath. I reached to her hand and held it. Then I took all of her in my arms. I wanted to keep her inside my embrace forever. At that moment I knew that I needed her more than she needed me as a mama,” said Hala Rabie, Head of English department at Nile Egyptian School in El-Minya.
Rabie has lost her cousin and his wife in a car accident and the only survivor was their daughter. She got the news over the phone and amidst the pain of her loss and her confusion at the news her first and foremost attention was on the now orphaned baby. She ran to the orphanage that received the baby from the hospital. Rabie’s mind crammed with all the what if’s, whens, whats and hows, was able to be somehow be assured because Egypt has amended its Child Law, opening up the option of takafol and foster parenting to more people including single women. Rabie was a single woman. But she knew that she is to be the mother of this baby regardless of what social traditions and legislation issues she’ll need to overcome. She’s always been a fighter. Having lost her parents at a young age herself, Rabie knew she wouldn’t let her niece go through the heartache and the hardships of life without having someone to lean on.
Hala’s niece is one of 1.7 million orphaned children in Egypt, according to the SOS Children's Villages organization. Egypt has been encouraging families on Kafala and raising abandoned children as to invoke the muslim doctrine of kafala.
The difference between the idea of adoption and Kafala is that in adoption the family has the right to name the child, thus the child carries the father’s name making the child entitled to the adoptive family’s inheritance. In Kafala, the child doesn’t take on the father’s name and has no inheritance rights because of the importance of respecting the lineage.
Although adoption isn’t legal in Egypt, the government is encouraging families to foster children. Thus, there have been a number of legal amendments made to ease the process of Kafala with aim of minimizing the number of kids living in Egypt’s 400 orphanages.
In 2014, former Minister of Social Solidarity, Ghada Wali announced the government’s plan to shut down all orphanages by 2025. According to Wali, the conditions in orphanages, even actively improving, have been reported to be abysmal, “In order to further enhance the orphanages in Egypt, I really wish that those who choose to take on this profession really want to have an impact and enjoy what they are doing rather than view it as any other job,” she emphasizes.
The ministry believes that it’s better for children to grow up in a home as they get the best care possible if placed with a family. The psychological well-being of the children is positively affected living with a family. Therefore, the ministry’s plan to shut down orphanages included not licensing any new orphanages to open and making shedding light on fostering and Kafala by easing up the process and raising awareness.
For example, before 2018, abandoned children in Egypt weren’t assigned for Kafala unless they were older than two years. Now, it’s reduced to 3 months old.
Moreover, in January of 2020, new amendments were made stating that new amendments were made stating that single women above 30 and divorcees are now permitted to Takafol, given that they have been married at least three years and meet the conditions of the Social Welfare Department of the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity. Suitable applicants have to take training classes held by the The Alternative Family system for Kafala and foster parents.
After placement takes place, social workers provide three basic services to the Kafala family: (1) educational and informational, (2) clinical, and (3) material services. Educational and informational services consist of supplying Kafala parents with information through literature, support groups, seminars, and explaining Takafol to extended family. Clinical services are individual, marital, and family counseling. Material services encompass Kafala subsidies and health benefits.
All the complexities and intricacy of Islam and adoption hindered some Egyptian families from even fostering and instead just sponsored children who remained in full-time care of orphanages. But in an interview to Reuters, Reem Amin, a member of Egypt’s social solidarity ministry’s alternative families committee said its main goal was to remove the need for orphanages by 2025.
“An orphanage’s main goal is as a stopover point before the child moves to a foster home,” she said.
According to The Minister of Social Solidarity, the number of fostered and Kafala children increased from 3,000 to 12,000 in the past three years. The growth to improvements in Egypt's Kafala process and facilities has helped relieve some of the pressure orphanages are under. In a statistical data visualization conducted for the JRMC multimedia capstone, the numbers show that there has been a decrease from 2016 to 2019 in the number of children living in orphanages as well as a decrease in the number of orphanages in Egypt.
Furthermore, there have been many campaigns on social media that are supporting Kafala demystifying it and challenging societal bigotry. One of the most influential Kafala mom Rasha Mekky founded “Yala Kafala” a non profit organization aiming at chipping away misconceptions about the practice and raising awareness by answering questions and concerns on the Facebook page. The mom-turned-activist Mekky’s page is coming as Egypt has been easing the Kafala producers to encourage parents to give orphans permanent homes.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Resources:
Ali, S. (2015).Foster care in Egypt: A study of policies, laws, and practice. [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/328
Egypt broadens potential pool of adoptive, foster parents. Retrieved from https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2018/10/adoption-egypt-new-amendmens-child-law-foster-parents-ngos.html#:~:text=According to Somaya Al-Alf,three years, up from 3,000.
Eltigani, N. (2019, February 08). How Wataneya is Influencing the Children Without Parental Care Sector in Egypt. Retrieved from https://egyptianstreets.com/2019/02/08/how-wataneya-is-influencing-the-children-without-parental-care-sector-in-egypt/#:~:text=However, Egypt's Ministry of Social,would be closed by 2025.&text=With this, the Minister of,to assess the foster families.
Fam, M. (2021, February 05). In Egypt, a push to get more orphans families, fight stigma. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-2c7827eb3db1901d4a5180fa4aaae10d
Habieb, H. (2021, March 03). Egypt's fostering campaign helps orphans find homes. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-society-idUSKBN2AV1UC
Tawfeek, F. (2018, October 13). Orphanages to be closed by 2025: Social Solidarity Min. Retrieved from https://egyptindependent.com/orphanages-to-be-closed-by-2025-social-solidarity-min/
AUDIO FEATURES
Asmaa El-taher is a theatrical actress and Associate professor of practice at AUC. She is the daughter of the great storyteller and writer Yehia Al Taher and later she became the daughter of Abdelrahman Elabnoudy and Atyat Elabnoudy through Kafala.
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