Gov’t to speed up adoption

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s child adoption system is too slow, and preparations have been launched to speed up the process, Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin said yesterday.

“It is my personal opinion that our adoption system is slow. The court proceedings are too protracted. Children are waiting at the institutions while childless families wait for years. We have started working on this matter,” Şahin said at a meeting with civic groups campaigning for children’s rights.

Recalling that the government provided financial support to impoverished families who have given their children up for adoption, Şahin said 13,908 children were under institutional care and 29,900 were staying with families who received support in 2011. Also last year, 11,686 children were adopted, 8,367 were returned from institutions to their families and 1,310 were placed in foster care, she added.