The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights has begun public consultations on the Adoption Bill from today.

To increase public participation, Committee Chair Alvick Maharaj says they have called on MPs to inform their respective communities of their arrival.

This is in addition to working with the Turaga-ni-Koros and Advisory Councils.

“Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation will be with us throughout the submission and if there’s any deliberation that needs to be made to the general public or if they want to know anything about the Bill itself, we’ll do a presentation for them so that they are aware of what this Bill is actually about and if they want to contribute orally or written submissions, it’s also invited by them.”

The Adoption Bill is the result of the review of the Adoption of Infants Act 1944 which is outdated and does not comprehensively cater to the changing nature of adoption, which is mostly intercountry.

The consultation was held in Navua this morning and the Committee will move to Sigatoka this afternoon.

On Tuesday they will be in Nadi, Wednesday they head to Lautoka and on Thursday they travel to Ba.

On Friday, they will travel through to Rakiraki and cover Korovou as well.