■ Introduction

In Nigeria, as in many parts of the world, the care and protection of vulnerable children are paramount concerns. When children cannot safely remain with their birth families, alternative care arrangements become necessary. Two common terms in this context are "fostering" and "adoption." While both involve providing a home for a child in need, they are fundamentally distinct legal processes with vastly different implications for both the child and the caregivers.

It is crucial to understand that fostering and adopting a child are not the same thing. They represent different levels of commitment and confer entirely separate legal rights and responsibilities. Navigating these distinctions is vital for anyone considering offering a home to a child, and for the public to understand the legal framework protecting children.
Fostering a Child: Temporary Care, Shared Responsibility

Fostering is primarily a temporary arrangement where an individual or family provides care for a child who cannot live with their birth parents. The core objective of fostering is often reunification with the birth family once the issues preventing the child from living with them (such as illness, poverty, abuse, or neglect) have been resolved. Fostering can be short-term (from a few days to several months) or long-term (sometimes extending for years) if returning to the birth family is not immediately feasible.

● Key Legal Effects of Fostering in Nigeria (primarily under the Child's Rights Act):

1. Temporary Nature: Fostering is by its very nature a temporary solution. The intent is usually for the child to return to their birth family or, if that's not possible, to move towards a more permanent arrangement like adoption.

2. Parental Responsibility Remains with the State and Birth Parents: Unlike adoption, foster parents do not acquire full legal parental responsibility (PR) for the child. The primary legal responsibility remains with the child's birth parents and the state (through the relevant child welfare agency, such as the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Social Development, or local government authority). Foster parents are delegated the responsibility for the day-to-day care and upbringing of the child.

3. No Permanent Legal Ties: Fostering does not create permanent legal ties between the foster parents and the child. The child's legal relationship with their birth family is not severed.

4. Shared Decision-Making: While foster parents manage the child's daily needs, significant decisions regarding the child's life – such as major medical treatments, choice of school, religious upbringing, or contact with birth family – often require consultation with, or explicit approval from, the child welfare agency or the birth parents.

5. Financial Allowances: Foster parents typically receive financial allowances from the state or a fostering agency to cover the child's expenses. They are providing a crucial service, and the allowance helps to ensure the child's needs are met without placing an undue financial burden on the foster family.

6 Inheritance Rights: The child retains their inheritance rights from their birth parents. They do not automatically gain inheritance rights from the foster parents.

7. Surname: The child generally retains their birth surname.

8. Ongoing Supervision: Foster placements are subject to regular supervision and reviews by social welfare officers to ensure the child's well-being and to monitor the progress towards the child's permanent plan. Section 92 of the Child Rights Law of Lagos State 2015, for example, outlines requirements for continuous appraisal of the child's status.

9. Customary Fostering: It's important to note that informal or customary child fostering is widespread in Nigeria, often driven by cultural norms or economic hardship. However, these arrangements often lack legal oversight, which can unfortunately expose children to vulnerabilities if not properly regulated under the Child's Rights Act.

■ Adopting a Child: Permanent Family, Full Legal Transfer

Adoption is a legal process that permanently and irrevocably transfers all parental rights and responsibilities from a child's birth parents (or previous legal guardians) to new adoptive parents. Once an adoption order is granted by a competent court (usually the High Court or Magistrate Court, as per the Child's Rights Act and state adoption laws), the adoptive parents become the child's legal parents in every sense, as if the child were born to them.

■ Key Legal Effects of Adoption in Nigeria (under the Child's Rights Act and State Adoption Laws):

1. Permanent Legal Ties: Adoption creates permanent, lifelong legal ties between the adopted child and the adoptive parents. This relationship is intended to be as strong and enduring as a biological parent-child bond.

2. Full Parental Responsibility (PR): The adoptive parents acquire full, exclusive, and irrevocable parental responsibility. This includes all rights, duties, obligations, and liabilities that biological parents would have concerning the child's care, upbringing, and development.

3. Severance of Birth Parent Ties: Upon a valid adoption order, the legal relationship between the child and their birth parents (and their extended family) is irrevocably extinguished. The birth parents lose all parental rights and responsibilities, including rights to custody, visitation, or making decisions about the child. This is a fundamental and often emotional aspect of adoption.

4. Sole Decision-Making: Adoptive parents have the sole right to make all decisions concerning the child's upbringing, education, health, and welfare, without needing approval from the birth family or the state (beyond standard legal requirements).

5. Full Financial Responsibility: Adoptive parents assume full financial responsibility for the child's care and maintenance. Unlike fostering, there are generally no ongoing state allowances provided for the child's upkeep after the adoption is finalized.

6. Inheritance Rights: The adopted child gains full inheritance rights from their adoptive parents, as if they were a biological child. Conversely, they generally lose inheritance rights from their birth parents.

7. Surname: The adopted child usually takes on the surname of the adoptive parents, further cementing their integration into the new family.

8. Identity and Belonging: The child becomes a full and legal member of the adoptive family, entitled to all the rights and privileges as if born into that family. A new birth certificate may even be issued, listing the adoptive parents as the legal parents.

9. Irreversible Process: Once an adoption order is granted by the court, it is generally irreversible, except in extremely rare and exceptional circumstances, such as proven fraud or significant legal irregularities in the adoption process itself.

10. Legal Process: The adoption process in Nigeria is rigorous, involving background checks, home studies, court applications, and often a probationary period (pre-adoption fostering) where the child lives with the prospective adoptive parents for a period (e.g., 3 months in Lagos, or up to a year in other states like Akwa Ibom) before the final order is granted.

■ Conclusion
The Decisive Difference: Permanence and Legal Identity

The most significant difference between fostering and adoption in Nigeria boils down to permanence and legal identity.

■ Fostering is temporary care with the primary goal often being reunification, where the birth parents and the state retain legal responsibility.

■ Adoption is a permanent legal transfer of parenthood, severing ties with the birth family and establishing new, irreversible legal ties and full parental responsibility with the adoptive family.
Both fostering and adoption serve critical roles in providing safe, stable, and loving environments for children who cannot remain with their birth families. However, understanding their distinct legal implications is essential for potential caregivers, child welfare agencies, and the general public to ensure the best interests and long-term well-being of every Nigerian child are always upheld.