Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, on Thursday revealed that the Adoption Board has a new board of directors, chaired by Attorney-at-law James Bond.
Speaking at a post-Cabinet briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency, the minister explained to media operatives that the new Board of Directors consists of Bond, Geoffrey Sankies, Kashir Khan, Clonel Samuels-Boston, Punilall Latchman, Patricia Gray and a representative from the parliamentary Opposition. The new Board of Directors is expected to function for a period of one year.
James Bond, the new Chair of the Adoption Board
The Board processes monthly reviews of between 12 and 16 adoption applications. It also has to ensure that a child has not attained, and will not attain, his or her 18th birthday during the adoption review process, which takes about seven months; since, according to the law, an 18-year-old cannot be adopted.
Persons whose applications to adopt are rejected are usually allowed to appeal. According to a GINA report, this is because, in many cases, additional/new information which was not available before surfaces, or there might have been a misunderstanding of the process.
