Africa has been struck by an Ebola pandemic over the past few years that has left tens of thousands of children without one or both family members. This has created a nightmare scenario in which children, often already members of poor households, now find themselves struggling to find a family. The adoption situation in parts of Africa has been complicated by child traffickers that have taken advantage of the situation to sell children abroad.

This had led to a halt in the adoption of African children at a time when many need to find a home. How to put baby up for adoption isn’t an easy question to answer in these cases, and with 12,000 children in Sierra Leone alone requiring adoption, the situation isn’t getting any easier. These countries house orphans that will face health problems and educational disadvantages for years if they aren’t able to find themselves a proper home.

How to address the question of these orphans lingers as a problem. The solution may require a combined approach, in which some orphans are integrated into their communities while others are adopted by the international community. This joint approach may help alieve some of the suffering currently being endured among African orphans.