TEHRAN – The number of eligible families who are asking for taking legal guardianship of orphans is nine times more than the number of children who are kept at centers of the state-run Social Welfare Organization.

“About 10 thousand children are kept at the centers but 85 to 87 percent of the children have parents. So, we are not allowed to offer the children’s guardianship to others,” the deputy director of the organization Habibollah Masoudi Farid told IRNA on Tuesday.

Their parents are either addicted or in prison and after they become qualified, they can return their children to their home, he explained.

He said that the organization do the best to return children to their own families after they become eligible.

“Most families ask for babies under one year old however the number of these children is very low. If they ask for children between 6 to 7 years old the waiting time for the family decreases,” he explained.

Those interested in adoption need to meet the qualifications set by the organization, including having Iranian nationality, being Muslim, possessing parental skills, enjoying excellent mental and physical health and being good-tempered.

Illiterate families cannot adopt a child, while those with a degree in psychology, sociology and social work are prioritized.

Adopters must possess the minimum financial means defined by the organization. They should be between 25 and 50 years of age.

Women without a husband could also adopt one to three girls after their qualifications are verified by experts.

Evidence shows that children who grow up in institutional care are more likely to suffer from poor health, physical underdevelopment and mental deficiency, in addition to experiencing developmental delays and emotional disorders.

Consequently, they have lower intellectual, social and behavioral abilities than children growing up in a healthy family environment.

They also suffer from the social consequences of having no family support and being branded as social outcasts, which often lasts a lifetime.

SB/MG