Children stuck for years in emergency centres in Cape Verde
The Cape Verdean Attorney General’s Office has found a high number of children who have for many years remained in the country’s four emergency centres without identification or adoption.
According to Cape Verde-based media outlet Asemana, an annual report on the situation of justice between August 1, 2022, and July 31, 2023, has shown an increasing number of children whereas processes to facilitate adoption have remained unchanged.
Many adoption applications have also been found to have been withdrawn despite interventions by the Council for International Adoption (CAI) with the Cape Verdean Institute for Children and Adolescents (ICCA).
According to the same source, there are a “high number” of children in the country in the care of Children’s Emergency Centers who remain there for many years “without there being, in relation to them, a concrete life plan,” parts of the statement were quoted by Asemana.
Two of these emergency centres in Praia house 36 children, one on the Island of São Vicente houses 27 children and another which was opened on the Island of Sal has the capacity to accommodate 30 children.
The Attorney General’s office indicates that the judicial year that ended on July 31 this year saw 65 adoption cases carried over from the previous judicial year that is 55 from Portugal, six from France, three from Spain and one from Italy.
These requests, according to Asemana, were the only ones processed because the year under review saw no new requests. 46 of the cases were archived, 39 from Portugal out of which three were withdrawn among other reasons. Four out of the cases from France were withdrawn and the cases processed, two from the Spain case were processed and one from Italy.
The Cape Verdean Ministry noted that 19 cases were filed between 2009 and 2022 and are still pending.
