By Prosper Okoye
The Child Protection Network (CPN) has called on all parties involved in the dispute over the adoption and custody of a girl identified as Jada to put her welfare ahead of the legal battle, while questioning aspects of the process through which she was adopted.
CPN National Coordinator, Olakunle Sanni, said adoption procedures must be followed to ensure that children are placed in homes where they can receive proper and continuous care.
“Our concern is the child,” Sanni said at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.
“The legal battle is between adults; the child must not become the battlefield.”
The group said it had been following the case involving lawyer Timipre Wolo and US based pastor, Godstime Pender, and that documents already in the public domain raised questions about whether the adoption complied with provisions of the Abia State Child Rights Law.
CPN questioned whether Pender and his wife, Joyce, who were resident in Texas, satisfied the requirements relating to residence and the care of the child before the adoption was concluded. The group also raised questions about an adoption order that allowed the child to be taken outside Nigeria, saying the circumstances required closer examination under the Abia State law.
Pender and his wife have relied on an adoption order issued by an Abia State Family Court in July 2020. Their account, contained in court documents, is that Jada was placed temporarily with Wolo in Abuja after COVID 19 restrictions prevented her from travelling to the United States.
Wolo has disputed that account and challenged the circumstances surrounding the adoption and subsequent custody of the child.
The Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja struck out Wolo’s case in May 2024, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to review an adoption order made by the Abia State Family Court. The court directed that custody of the child be granted to the Abia State Government.
CPN said the circumstances surrounding Jada’s prolonged separation from the Penders raised further questions about the adoption and her welfare, particularly because the couple were not resident in Nigeria at the time of the adoption.
The group said information available in the public domain showed that Jada and the adopters did not live together for several years after the adoption was completed. CPN said such a prolonged separation could amount to child abandonment and was not in the child’s interest.
“Information in the public domain also reveals that the child and the adopters never lived together for many years after the completion of adoption,” CPN said.
“This long separation can be likened to child abandonment, and such definitely is not in the child’s best interest.”
The organisation warned families living outside Nigeria who adopt children in the country against leaving them behind with friends, relatives or other temporary caregivers after the adoption.
“If you ever have to adopt a child, you must be willing and ready to live together with the child before and after the adoption process is completed rather than procure friends or relatives to undertake an adoption by proxy,” CPN said.
CPN also appealed to the parties involved in the dispute to keep Jada away from public arguments and social media exchanges, saying the continued exposure of the child to the dispute could affect her welfare.
The group called on the court and child protection authorities handling the matter to consider the child’s safety, emotional wellbeing, stability and dignity in determining what happens to her.
CPN said the Jada case also highlighted wider concerns about the protection of children involved in adoption and custody disputes, particularly where adoptive parents live outside Nigeria and children are left in the care of other people.
The organisation disclosed that its Help Centre had received 36 cases of child abuse in recent months. The cases, it said, involved physical abuse, neglect, trafficking, sexual abuse and illegal adoption.
CPN called for stronger implementation of child protection laws and urged authorities to investigate reported cases promptly and prosecute offenders where evidence supports such action. It also called for better medical, legal and psychosocial support for children who suffer abuse.
The group further urged the government to step up efforts to prevent child abduction and trafficking and improve the support available to vulnerable children, including street connected children and Almajiri children.
