Assistant Director Lauren Duvalier of the Social Services Family Planning and Placement Unit yesterday confirmed that there’s a declining number of adoptions in The Bahamas.

Last week, residents were shocked when news broke over the discovery of a newborn baby boy with the umbilical cord still attached in bushes in the Golden Isles area.

Even more so disturbing was the video that emerged of the passerby discovering the infant.

“I’m glad that so much concern has been raised by the Bahamian community,” Ms. Duvalier said in an interview with the Journal.

“I will take this forum to encourage persons to adopt and mostly to foster and the reason for that is there has been such a decline in persons who have shown interest in being foster parents. I feel this good platform to encourage persons to come into the department and volunteer their homes and open their home to be foster parents.”

In terms of the statistics from last year, Ms. Duvalier said there were 50 persons that applied for a private adoption and this year about 25.

Responding to comments made on several talk shows surrounding the difficulty of the adoption process, Ms. Duvalier said that this is not necessarily the case.

“The adoption process is not difficult. What persons might express frustration at is the fact that they may have been approved for the adoption but there aren’t that many children who are available for adoption,” she said.

“That’s no fault of the department if children are not available for adoption, but the process is very clear. We let applicants know what is expected of them, documentation that is needed all they can expect of the department in terms of interviews.

“It is very detailed but we want to know that the homes that we’re placing these children in would be the very best homes and that is the reason why it is so lengthy.”

She would add that this screening process is vital due to the emerging trend of persons becoming foster parents for the sole purpose of gaining monetary assistance from the government.

The Adoption of Children Act was passed in 1954.

The baby boy found in bushes is currently situated at the Princess Margaret Hospital where he will remain for about a week until he is turned over to the state.

Police are still searching for the mother of the child.