Several major news organizations are covering the conviction of two US couples for illegally adopting Egyptian children. The couples involved were Coptic Christians; the AP story does a good job of succinctly explaining the legal confusion surrounding adoptions by Christians in this predominantly Muslim country. Reporter Omar Sinan writes, "Islamic law observed in Egypt bans Muslims from adopting children, in the name of maintaining clear bloodlines to ensure lines of patrimony and inheritance." Despite this, the US Department of State offers information for Americans wishing to adopt Egyptian children on its website.
The orphanage concerned provided the couples with false documents showing the children had been born to them, but the US Embassy in Cairo rejected the paperwork and reported the adoptive parents to Egyptian authorities. Seven Egyptian orphanage workers have also been jailed.
Al Jazeera notes "Rights activists confirm
trafficking in infants and young children takes place in the most
populous Arab country, and infants in orphanages and babies of street
girls are at the highest risk of being trafficked, often to infertile
couples. But there is also no practical legal mechanism for families -
Christian or Muslim - to adopt children in Egypt, and Egyptians rarely
gain guardianship of children not born to their families because of
social, religious and legal strictures."
