Abstract:
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) oblige the states parties to ensure the provision of alternative
care to children deprived of their family environments (CDFE) within their domestic
jurisdictions. Physically abandoned infants are among the CDFE. Ethiopia is one of the member
states to both CRC and ACRWC. As such, the country is responsible to ensure alternative care to
abandoned infants both in law and in practice. After examining the domestic Laws, Policies and
Guidelines regulating alternative care to CDFE in Ethiopia, the study came to the conclusion
that the existing laws are inadequate to effectively ensure the right to alternative care of
physically abandoned infants in the country. Having also examined the practical implementation
of alternative care to physically abandoned infants in Hawassa City, Hosanna and Wolkite
Towns which are among the top areas where the practice of physical abandoning of infants is
highly observable in SNNP Region. The study found several shortcomings affecting the provision
of alternative care to the physically abandoned infants mainly due to the reason that the Women,
Children and Youths Affairs Bureaus in the City and Towns under investigation don‟t prepare
alternative care to such infants in advance. Accordingly, the study recommends several measures
which should be taken in order to redress the problems including adoption of comprehensive
legislative frameworks required to effectively regulate alternative care services to physically
abandoned infants in the region.
