title: Perception of child adoption among parents/care-givers of children attending pediatric outpatients' clinics in Enugu, South East, Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There has been an increasing interest by couples in child adoption due to its acceptability in recent times in our locale. The enactment of the Child's Right Act in Nigeria has harmonized child adoption process across the nation. With the rising demand for babies from child care institutions by many Nigerian couples, there is need to ascertain their perception of child adoption.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the perception of child adoption among parents/care-givers of children attending Pediatric Clinics in Enugu.
  
  
  METHODS
  The parents and care-givers of children attending pediatrics out-patients clinics in Enugu, Enugu State, South East, Nigeria served as the respondents. Two hundred and fifty nine of them were selected by convenience sampling method after obtaining their informed written consent. The data were obtained using semi - structured questionnaire that was administered by an interviewer and subsequently analyzed using SPSS Version 15.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many caregivers (respondents) (94.2.7%) had heard of child adoption and 79.2% of them understood the actual meaning of the term child adoption. About 1.9% of them had adopted previously. Majority of the respondents (73.87%) prefers to adopt a child during its neonatal age with a slight preference for adoption of male babies. 15.1% and 8.9% of the respondents gave private hospitals and middle men, respectively, as sources of child adoption. Knowledge of the Government adoption laws and process was generally below average (49.2%) among the respondents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Continued advocacy and public enlightenment campaigns should be strengthened in order to harmonize adoption process in our setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University Of Nigeria, Enugu Campus; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku, Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria.
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Eke
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Obu
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chinawa
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Adimora
authors.forename: I E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Obi
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult