How You Can Adopt A Child In LAGOS Founder LITTLE SAINTS Orphanage, Rev. DELE GEORGE

Little Saints Orphanage is one of the biggest orphanage homes in Nigeria. It is under the control of Rev. Mrs. Dele George. The orphanage home which is a divine haven for orphans, abused and abandoned children was the first non-governmental indigenous orphanage approved by the Lagos state government. Since it’s inception on the 4th of June 1994, over a thousand children have benefited from the orphanage. Today, over a thousand children with their nannies reside in four branches of the orphanage.

Since inception the home has also provided new families for some of the children via adoption and has reconciled some of the children with their original families. The orphanage has a three-tier programme: Rehabilitation! where they take abandoned children off the streets and give them a befitting home. Reformation is done through education and extracurricular activities and Reintegration is done by reintegrating them into the society through adoption and fostering to deserving and loving families. The issue of adoption has increased among waiting couples with fertility issue. Most of them have embraced this method of adopting a child and taking the child as their own.

Some also seek the help of surrogate mothers who will go for External IVF while others prefer to go for adoption straight away. Gone were the days when adoption is meant only for fertility challenged couples but some meaningful individuals have also taken it upon themselves to care for these orphaned children. This is what Reverend Mrs. Dele George has been doing for the past 25 years caring for the orphans. She was the chairman at a wedding recently in Lagos and she was accosted by City People Society Editor, TAYO FAJORIN OYEDIJI where she was made to talk on what she has been doing and how couples can go about adopting a child without fear of not knowing the type of child they want to adopt and vis a vis avoiding any litigation that can come from adopting a child in an illegal way.

The woman whose orphanage home was the first private orphanage home to be registered with Lagos State government under the ministry of youth, sport and social development/Women affairs collaborates with them on fostering and adoption issues and she talked about how the adoption response has been impressive, ‘’So far the exercise has yielded great results. In the beginning we appealed through the media for Nigerians to come forward to adopt but as at today the orphanage has a waiting list of adopters  yearning for children! One of our greatest achievements is the impact we have made on adoption by raising the rate of adoption in Lagos State and by enforcing through interaction and motivation the procedures for adoption.

Despite that she has many children in her orphanage home, the adopters rate is still high, she took us through the numbers. Initially when we started this orphanage home, our vision was to have just 25 kids that we can look after,

It was a personal vow that my husband and I made with God that we are going to look after 25 children in our lifetime, but we found out that the issue of abandonment was a very serious problem in Nigeria especially in Lagos. So, instead of 25 children, we had over 60 children within a year and that was what inspired us to collaborate with the Social welfare of Lagos State to encourage Nigerians to adopt children. Adoption took off, and I can assure you that the first set of children that were brought to the home have all been adopted and they are doing well in their various families. Some of them are abroad.

I can tell you specifically that we have given out 375 children for adoption since we started and over 1000 children have passed through the orphanage, some spent few days, some spent few months or some years and some are still there. We have a lot of children. We also have branches in other states, Delta state, Ogun state and Oyo state. She also guaranteed adopters that they have well trained children to adopt, “80% of the babies that come in are adopted into well-screened families across the nation through the Ministry of Youth & Social Development or Women Affairs in the states. The children and babies are rehabilitated under the most conducive conditions with unconditional love and excellent care. The children are wonderful to behold.

Their laughter, their tender touch, and their whispers of love and appreciation will stir up tenderness and compassion in anyone. Apart from the rehabilitation and reintegration of the children, our team is determined to give the children sound education. All the children that are of school age all attend schools around the vicinity of the Little Saints Orphanage complexes.

Since 2003, the Little Saints Children started gaining admission into university and today we have raised many graduates and some are even getting married. While many couples or individuals are afraid of adopting illegally, she erased the fears and went through the procedures and conditions for adopting a child in Lagos State through Little Saints Orphanage home, ‘’Adoption is an enviable act of love. It must come from a desire to love a child. It must be motivated by our love for God. It must be because we want to raise a child for God as a demonstration of our love for God. Every child is a gift from God.

Through adoption & fostering, you can help a child develop and grow up to be an accepted member of the society. Through adoption & Fostering, you can make the child part of your family and lavish your love on him or her. Adoption is not without labour! It takes nine months for a woman to bring a baby into the world. So adopters should be ready to go through the necessary procedures and fulfill the necessary conditions to adopt a baby.The first thing we look for in our adopters is love. Compassion must be visible. So if you want to adopt a child from the Little Saints Orphanage then be ready to love the child for the rest of your days. Be ready to be accountable for the success of that child. Be ready to be a good steward of the gift.

Every child is a gift to humanity and if nourished properly will enhance the human race. The first step to take if you want to adopt is visit the Adoption section of the ministry of Youth Sports and Social development. (block 18). Their office is in the Complex of the Government Offices located in Alausa, Ikeja. They will put you through the series of interviews. Once they are satisfied with their investigations and interviews, a letter of authorization to adopt will be given to you.

This is your key to joy and the patter of tiny feet! With this letter in your hand you can visit us at our Head Office in Palm grove estate, Lagos and please consider the following conditions before you come to us.We do not charge money for adoption, we do not process adoption letter without signing the original letter of approval, we carry out medical test for all the children, we always receive regular reports of children adopted,we do not visit homes of adopters after adoption but the social welfare of Lagos state does the visits and monitoring. We also monitor from afar.