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Etago Parish priest Benjamin Ndemo has urged parents to love and provide for their children instead of beating them, warning that slapping children on the ears can permanently damage their eardrums.
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Nyamira Woman Representative Jerusah Momanyi has condemned men who impregnate underage girls, citing a case where a man impregnated a ten-year-old orphan and fled.
Etago Parish Catholic Church Priest Benjamin Ndemo has asked parents to love their children and provide them with basic needs like learning materials for schools instead of beating them whenever they tend to deviate from the parents’ expectations.
Saying that children are a gift from God, Fr. Ndemo advised parents to avoid flogging them by slapping them on the ears, an action which leads to permanent impairment of the eardrums.
“Guide them softly as they grow and if you must use the rod use it sparingly but not slapping them to destroy their ears,” he said. The priest was speaking at Etago stadium during a public Christian meeting session.
His sentiments were echoed elsewhere by Nyamira Woman Representative Jerusah Momanyi. When she addressed a public gathering at Nyagwagwa in North Mugirango Constituency, she took a swipe at wayward adult men who mislead young school girls and impregnate them causing them to drop out of school.
She moved the crowd into silent tears when she narrated a known case where an adult man impregnated a ten years old girl and ran away to a distant place where he impregnated another one without anybody challenging him. She said that the first girl is an orphan and now she moves from one place to another without any help from the man who impregnated her.
The legal path to protecting vulnerable children
Mrs Momanyi asked the community to identify children from vulnerable families and adopt them through legal processes instead of molesting them. She noted that adoption in Kenya is a legal process governed by the Children Act 2022 and its sole purpose is the best interest of the child.
For a child to be adopted, the child must be at least six weeks old and below eighteen years and must be residing in Kenya. The child must also be declared free for adoption by a registered adoption society such as the Child Welfare Society of Kenya, Little Angels Network or Kenya Children’s Homes.
For a parent to adopt, the law requires that the person must be between twenty five and sixty five years old and must be at least twenty one years older than the child.
The adopter must be of sound mind, emotionally and financially stable and must have no criminal record especially of crimes against children. The law also restricts a sole male from adopting a female child and a sole female from adopting a male child unless there are special circumstances or they are related by blood.
The process itself begins by visiting a registered adoption society where the prospective parent makes an application, undergoes interviews, home visits and counselling.
If approved, the society matches the parent with a child and the child is placed under foster care for at least three consecutive months to allow bonding and monitoring. After that period the adopter must obtain clearance documents including a certificate declaring the child free for adoption, a police clearance and a recommendation letter from the Director of Children Services.
An adoption petition is then filed at the High Court of Kenya because only the High Court has powers to issue an adoption order. During the proceedings the court appoints a Guardian ad Litem to independently represent the interests of the child.
The court hears all reports and if satisfied that all legal requirements have been met and the adoption is in the best interest of the child, it issues a final adoption order which is then registered by the Registrar General who issues a new birth certificate bearing the adoptive parents’ names.
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The Woman Representative took her time to highlight the government’s hand in the development of the County including the establishment of Nyamira University and the recent commissioning of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) by President William Ruto to pass through Magwagwa town, saying it will open new business ventures into the region. She asked the populace to avoid divisive politics but instead to support the ruling government for inclusive development of the county.
By Enock Okongó
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