NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A ban on the adoption of Ethiopian children by foreigners could curb child abuse and trafficking, but more support is needed for vulnerable families within the impoverished country, experts said on Monday. Hollywood celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are among those who have adopted children from Ethiopia. Child rights groups cite cases of “child harvesting” where adoption agencies unethically recruit minors for adoption by fraudulently altering paperwork to cast children with families as orphans whose parents had died or abandoned them. The crime sparked debate about foreign adoption in a nation where families are forced to give children up due to a lack of money to care for them. Adoption experts emphasized that Ethiopia will need to follow-up the ban with increased efforts to assist vulnerable families within the country, and provide them with the resources to adequately care for their children.

Source: Ethiopian News January 15, 2018 17:03 UTC