A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ADOPTION PROCEDURE IN CAMEROON

Abstracts

This study scrutinizes the complexities and challenges associated with the adoption procedures in Cameroon. The central goal is to dissect the adoption processes within the country in detail, highlighting the lack of precision and clarity in the governing laws.

Cameroon’s unique bilingual and bi-jural legal framework, which combines English common law and French civil law, presents a particular challenge for adoption proceedings. The research critically assesses the laws pertinent to adoption, advocating for a more defined and straightforward procedure.

Adoption is a significant legal action, often intricate and varying by adoption type. However, the dual legal system in Cameroon introduces several difficulties in determining and executing the adoption process due to the ambiguity about which legal system applies.

The primary aim is to conduct a thorough critique of the adoption protocols in Cameroon, employing doctrinal legal research methods, including content analysis and the interpretation of primary and secondary data sources.

The findings reveal an increasing number of individuals seeking to adopt, with the process becoming increasingly stringent and costly. The study suggests the necessity for a single, clear law governing adoption in Cameroon that bridges the two legal systems. A unified law would streamline and simplify the adoption process for prospective adoptive parents in the country.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1) Background Of Study
Adoption is a legal process by which “a person takes another person into the relation of child and thereby acquires the rights and incurs the responsibilities of parent in respect of such other person. God desires for every legally married couple is to bless them with children of their own. Child adoption in Cameroon remains the only legal means for married couples who cannot procreate. Adoption in Cameroon is a legal procedure in which the parental responsibility of a child is transferred from their birth parent to their adopters .

Adoption is the process whereby a court order extinguishes the legal ties between a child and his/her parent(s) and establishes them in the adopter’s i.e. a constructed family comes into being through the creation of a new legal relationship of parents and child, between adopters and the adopted child.

It involves the complete severance of the relationship between natural parents and their child, whether it is legitimate or illegitimate, and the establishment of a new one between the child and the adoptive parents so that any rights and duties whatever that will otherwise have been exercised by the natural parents will henceforth be exercised by the adopters.

An applicant for adoption in Cameroon must have attained 40 years or married more than 10years or have fertility issues which must be backed by medical prove or evidence. A single parent can also adopt. A family lawyer solicitor ensures that the entire child adoption procedure adheres strictly to Section 41 and 42 of the civil statutes ordinance which states that“(1) a) the recognition or legitimation of a child born out of wedlock shall be established by court decision. The same shall apply to cases of adoption”.

While Section 42 states that“. Substantive conditions for adoption shall be those contained in the written law, except where there is provision to the contrary in the present Ordinance.

The primary information worth taking note of is the fact that the Republic of Cameroon operates a bi-jural legal system. That is, the Common Law Legal System (derived from Great Britain) exists alongside the Civil Law Legal System (derived from France).The Common Law system operates in Former Southern Cameroon on the one part, while the Civil Law system operates in the regions of Former Western Cameroon (French speaking regions) on the other part .

The bi-jural nature of the legal system in Cameroon has brought with it several inconveniences. A brief analysis of the evolution of the legal system in Cameroon may be helpful in the appreciation of this study. One of the logical consequences of Africa’s colonial past has been the reception and implantation of European imposed legal systems.

Cameroon’s case is all the more peculiar because, unlike in most African countries where either the received Civil Law or Common Law prevails, mindful of its colonial past, these two legal systems of law operate in well-defined areas of the national territory. When Germany lost the First World War, Cameroon was divided between Great Britain and France . The two powers administered their respective portions of Cameroon under the League of Nations’ Mandate and subsequently under the United Nations Trusteeship Agreement . Article 9 of the

British Mandate Agreement was most decisive in the application of English Law in British Cameroons (Anglophone Cameroon).

The starting point is to determine territorial jurisdiction, because areas of laws are yet to be harmonized are those that take into consideration these differences. Family law (and adoption a subject within family law) falls within the scope of that is yet to be harmonized. Not letting out the procedural differences that exist in both jurisdictions.

The legal system will be dependent on solely on the region where the adoption proceedings are envisaged. Adoption seeks create an artificial legal relationship where there was perhaps no biological or natural relationship previously (in Cameroon generally there is some blood relation between the applicant and the adoptee).

The paramount duty of the Court is to ascertain the interest of the adoptee. In granting adoption, as such the court can undertake any relevant inquiry to ascertain this paramount interest before granting the adoption.

Apart from the civil status ordinance which talks of adoption in Cameroon, the Southern Cameroon High Court Law section 10, 11, 15, 27 of the Southern Cameroon High Court Law and the adoption and children act 2002 deals with adoption. Section 47(2) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 states that “(2) The first condition is that, in the case of each parent or guardian of the child, the court is satisfied (a) that the parent or guardian consents to the making of the adoption order, (b) that the parent or guardian has consented under section 20 (and has not withdrawn the consent) and does not oppose the making of the adoption order, or (c) that the parent’s or guardian’s consent should be dispensed with”

1.2) Statement Of Problem
Adoption is a legal process by which “a person takes another person into the relation of child and thereby acquires the rights and incurs the responsibilities of parent in respect of such other person . The well-known decline in the birth-rate and the demand on the part of childless families for children to adopt makes a consideration of procedure of adoption a timely subject.

The issue of childlessness and looking for an alternative means to be called parents through child adoption forms the major problem of this work. In Cameroon and indeed African continent, in which children are the hallmark and fundamental concentration of any marriage, as a focal point of every marriage, a child is essentially the traditional reason for marriage, but sometimes these traditional expectations are defeated by the issue of childlessness. Childlessness has accounted for several issue of marriage divorce and still counting, bearing in mind the negative social inclination, impressions and mixed feelings associated with barrenness and child adoption.

The adoption of a child is one of the most important legal proceeding in which a person can engage. The adoption process can be a complicated one and will be different depending on the type of adoption. The process is also dependent on the applicable law of the state in which the adoptive parent(s) resides and the state in which the birth parents reside. Proper legal counsel to clarify all aspects of each state adoption law is crucial. Also crucial is public policy initiatives to encourage successful adoption proceedings.

Although adoption is important in today’s society, the bi-jural nature of the legal system in Cameroon has brought with it several inconveniences which are hard to determine or carried out adoption process in Cameroon. Cameroon being one of the few countries that operates in a bi- jural legal system has make adoption procedure complicated since it has to deal with which law is to be applicable.

The aim of this research is to critically analyze the procedure of adoption in Cameroon while examining the laws put in place to regulate adoption.

1.3) Research Questions
1.3.1) Main Research Question
What are the procedures for adoption in Cameroon?

1.3.2) Specific Research Questions
What is the legal framework regulating adoption procedures in Cameroon?
What are the causes and consequences of adoption in Cameroon?
What are the procedures for adoption in Cameroon?
What are the challenges faced to follow the procedures for adoption in Cameroon?