LOOPHOLE EXPLOITED
The adoption process in Indonesia is often lengthy and complex. To qualify, adopters must be a married couple between the ages of 30 and 55 and they must be able to demonstrate stable economic conditions.
Before anything can proceed, aspiring adopters must obtain written consent from the baby’s biological parent and submit it to the local Social Affairs Agency as part of their application.
If accepted, the agency grants a period of temporary custody, which lasts between six months and one year depending on the child’s age.
During this period, social workers may conduct home visits, interviews, background checks and regular observations to assess whether the child is receiving proper care. Only after these assessments are completed will they issue a recommendation letter for the couple.
All of the documents — from the biological parents’ consent to the social workers’ findings — must then be submitted to a court, which ultimately decides whether the adoption will be legally granted.
The court process – from the time the application is submitted – can take six to 12 months, which roughly mirrors the temporary custody period.
For aspiring parent Fina, who is unmarried, the requirements feel discriminatory.
“I was told from day one that the best I can do is apply for guardianship because adoption is only for straight couples who have been married for more than five years,” the 37-year-old, who asked not to use her full name, told CNA.
In Indonesia, adoption means a child’s biological parents relinquish all parental rights to the adopters, creating a permanent legal parent–child relationship for the adoptive parents.
Guardianship, by contrast, allows an individual to foster a child without altering the child’s legal parentage. The care is temporary, lasting until the child is 18 years old and legally old enough to make his own decision or until the birth parents are deemed fit to reclaim the child.
Fina ultimately decided not to pursue either adoption or guardianship. But that did not stop people from approaching her with offers.
“There were always people who said they could circumvent the regulations or speed things up as long as I paid a few million rupiah here and a few million there,” she said.
Ahmad Sofian, a law expert from Jakarta’s Binus University, said syndicates usually bypass these steps by forging various documents.
“Suddenly, the child has already been handed over to new parents (because) court decrees are issued using incomplete or even illegal documents,” he told CNA.
One of the most common tactics, Sofian explained, is forging a baby’s birth certificate to make it appear as though the adopters are the biological parents. This method is especially effective in rural areas, where home births are common and parents often neglect to register their child’s birth.
“If a baby is unregistered, anyone can claim the child is theirs using forged hospital records,” he said.
Read the full article here
