MONROVIA, November 28 (LINA) -The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Peter Coleman, has called for the lifting of the moratorium on adoption to afford Ebola victims the opportunity to better education and improved health facilities.

He said adoption of these children by other parents would help them overcome trauma, stigma and other problems Ebola orphans are exposed to.

Coleman made the statement at the Capitol Building Thursday when he cross-examined presidential nominees designated to run the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

Those who appeared before the Senate Committee on Gender are Julia Duncan-Cassell, minister-designate, Peter Roberts, deputy minister for administration and Mardia Martin-Wiles, deputy minister for planning, research and policy.

“We need to passionately prepare for this, especially at a time the country has to deal with too many complicated orphaned cases”, Coleman concluded.

Meanwhile, Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister-designate, Julia Duncan-Cassell, and Deputy Information Minister Isaac Jackson, have disclosed that government is liaising with relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Justice, to ensure that the moratorium is lifted.

Madam Duncan-Cassel made the statement at the Capitol Building Thursday, while Deputy Minister Jackson gave the assurance at the Ministry of Information daily Ebola briefings in response to concerns on the suspension of adoption in
Liberia.

On January 26, 2009, the government placed a moratorium on adoption processes until new laws, policies and proper guidelines are established.

Liberia’s adoption laws written in the 1950s only address domestic, not international adoptions, leading to many illegal adoptions.
LINA