Situation of adopted children from Uganda

By Kingdom of Belgium - Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders regrets the method used by the Flemish Centre for Adoption (Kind & Gezin), which reported this morning in a press release that the Belgian Embassy in Kampala (Uganda) refused an entry visa to nine parents, who wanted to leave with ten adopted children from Kampala to Belgium. He regrets especially that those nine parents are caught up in that situation.

The Flemish Centre for Adoption should take into account the applicable legal rules in Uganda.

The Embassy in Kampala received so far only for four of those ten children a visa application. Those were, according to the existing procedures concerning visa applications, timely forwarded for further processing to the Immigration Office (DVZ/ODE). DVZ/ODE is the competent authority that can take a decision in these matters. But the final decision for departure to our country lies in the hands of the Ugandan government.

Our Embassy in Kampala does everything to follow as closely as possible the adoption procedures, to report correctly all the elements of the case to the competent authorities in Belgium and to support the families on site the best it can.

As in the past, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will remain committed to help in such situations where possible.