COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ON CHILD ADOPTION; A CASE STUDY OF ORPHANAGE HOMES IN LAGOS STATE.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The emergence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in recent times has motivated many researchers to investigate and explain NGOs' growing prominence as bodies charged with organizing and managing all aspects of humanitarian services existing within the social structures at both local and international level. According to Lewis (2024), NGOs are private, self-governing organizations that strive to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged people on a non-profit basis and are motivated by a commitment to common goals. Bebbington and Hickey et al. (2008) argue that NGOs are classified according to their generations and levels of activity. As a result, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are classified into four generations based on their ideological convictions. The four generations are: welfare alleviation, community development, sustainable development, and the people's movement. Given the current global political and economic complexities brought on by technological advancements, particularly in communications, fourth generation NGOs such as orphanage homes are projected to educate the public about the importance of child adoption in the context of the increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children. Adoption, according to Nwaoga (2023), is the legal transfer of all parental rights that a biological parent has to a child, as well as the adoption of all of the bio parents' parental rights, including the obligation to the child's care and supervision, nurturing and training, and physical and mental well-being. According to Ishizawa and Kubo (2023), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) recognizes adoption as one of the forms of alternative care for children who cannot stay with their families. Adoption is also a way to stop child abuse, including child trafficking, as well as to help adopted children get a good education and avoid being placed in institutions.According to Eke and Obu et al. (2024), the factors that necessitate child adoption range from childlessness to attempts to replace a dead child, acquire a companion for an only child, stabilize a marriage, legitimate an illegitimate child, maintain a particular line of descent, rescue a child in an irreversible situation of abandonment, or relieve parents who are unable to care for their child. Surprisingly, in the last decade, international adoption has come under scrutiny, with the number of children placed for adoption declining. According to Bokaie & Farajkhoda et al. (2022), this is because many countries are beginning to impose stringent restrictions and rigorous procedures on child adoption. To support this, Avidime and Ameh (2023) argue that one of the primary pressures accumulating against the child human rights mantle is the allegation that certain religious and cultural traditions view child adoption as contradictory, denying adopted children's heritage rights, among other cruel behaviors. In Nigeria, however, where a kid is regarded as a source of social security for parents, every family wants to have a child. Unfortunately, in situations of infertility or a wish for a male kid to carry on the family name, any medical treatment, both orthodox and traditional, may be employed to resolve the problem (Dimkpa 2020). As a result, orphanage homes need to learn how to talk to people in order to convince people to adopt a child. Conceptually, communication is defined by Obregon & Tufte (2024) as the act of sending and comprehending information between two or more people. Because the flow of information up and down the organizational hierarchy affects organizational efficiency, decision-making, and morale, communication is a crucial part of the organizational process. As a result, today's businesses see a strong communication strategy as the foundation. According to Servaes (2025), communication strategies are common in the business sector, where they are used as part of an organizational strategy to explain how to connect with various groups of people. This is because a single organization may have numerous strategies for different categories of people, such as clients, investors, competitors, or employees, but some firms construct an internal communication strategy for communicating within the company and to prospective clients. According to Adler, Rodman and Cropley (2024), these strategies are used to determine what information to deliver to customers or investors, as well as how that information should be presented. Concerning non-governmental organizations' roles in management of orphanages and homes for vulnerable children, When organizing communications operations, businesses must devise and implement effective advertising techniques in order to engage potential adopters. This is based on the idea that good communication at each touch point may help potential adopters go from skepticism to a solid decision about child adoption. According to Wilberforce (2025), advertising and editorial content through mass media such as TV shows, radio shows, books, newspaper and magazine articles, and films are frequently the communication touch points at this time for NGO's if they must communicate with their audience. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM In Nigeria today, many misconceptions and ignorance abound regarding child adoption. Due to the fact that there has been an increase in couple interest in child adoption due to its processes, misguided information, and socio-religious acceptance in society, many childless or infertile couples have been discouraged from opting for child adoption. According to Ezugwu and colleagues (2002), as stated in Eke (2024), the majority of infertile women in Enugu, South East Nigeria, have heard of child adoption, but only a minority understand its true meaning, legality, and procedure involved. Additionally, Omosun and colleagues (2021) found a similar discovery in Lagos, South West Nigeria, with around 85.7 percent of the respondents in their series having heard about child adoption and almost half of them not knowing the right definition of the phrase "child adoption." On the other hand, there are many middlemen who urge potential adoptive parents to skip the adoption process's bottlenecks and adopt kids through unlicensed agents who retain pregnant females unlawfully until delivery. These and other miscommunications and misconceptions have resulted in some families adopting newborns with hemoglobinopathy or pediatric retroviral infection, to name a few. While some couples struggle with adjustment, others who are unable to adjust may resort to child abandonment as a last choice, with all of the hazards it entails for the kid in question. As a result of these circumstances, Wilberforce (2025) believes that there is a lack of literature on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the child adoption process, implying that management of orphanage homes should implement a communication strategy to ensure appropriate sensitization of the audience on child adoption, particularly childless couples. This is because orphanage homes, via adoption communication and appropriate communication practices, can provide enough support for adopting families, particularly during trial times. They can raise awareness about child adoption by collaborating with mass media practitioners and media outlets, reaching potential adopters who need information about the child adoption process. Evidently, there are several studies on child adoption, but the existing literature reveals a gap in the empirical knowledge on communication strategies for non-governmental organizations involved in child adoption. Therefore, against this backdrop, motivated the researcher to examine communication strategies for non-governmental organizations on child adoption: a case study of orphanage homes in Lagos State. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study's overall objective is to examine the communication strategy for Non-Governmental Organizations on child adoption; a case study of Orphanage homes in Lagos State. The study, on the other hand, was focused on achieving these precise goals: i. To examine non-governmental organizations knowledge and perspective on child adoption. ii. To find out if communication strategies are being carried out by the non-governmental organizations on child adoption. iii. To examine if the non-governmental organizations inform and educate on child adoption. 1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES The research is guided by the following hypothesis: HO1: Non-Governmental Organizations does not utilize communication strategies during child adoption. HO2: Non-Governmental Organizations have in-depth knowledge on child adoption. 1.5 Research Questions The following research questions were posed in accordance with the study's objectives: i. What is the perception of Non-Governmental Organizations on child adoption? ii. Does Non-Governmental Organizations have in-depth knowledge on child adoption? iii. Does Non-Governmental Organizations utilize communication strategies during child adoption? iv. Does Non-Governmental Organizations inform and educate potential adopter on the process of child adoption? 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The result of this study will be of relevant to orphanage homes, non-governmental organization, government, practitioners, childless couple and vulnerable children. To NGOs, the result of the study will reveal the need for them to adopt effective communication strategies toward enlightening their audience on the benefit of child adoption. This because family communication scholars suggest that foster families rely heavily on communication to construct, maintain, and negotiate family relationships between them and the child. To media practitioner, the result of the study will reveal to hem the need of improving sensitization on child adoption,give more real time broadcast on this subject and reducing the media framing which discourages parent from adoption. Furthermore, the result of the study will serve as a pointer to the NGOs, government and social workers to their roles as advocates, conveners and to their outreach role in Orphanage and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Lagos State. It will also serve to awaken NGO’s, orphanages, government and social workers to their duty of coming up with a policy statement on child adoption in their daily practice based on the Nigeria situation. Finally, the findings of this study will contribute the body of empirical literature and as well would serve as a reference source for students or other researchers who might want to carry out their own research on a similar topic. 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of this study borders on communication strategy for Non-Governmental Organizations on child adoption. The study will further examine NGOs knowledge and perspective on child adoption. The study find out if communication strategies are being carried out by the on-Governmental Organizations on child adoption, It will examine if the NGOs inform and educate on child adoption and examine the level of awareness in the audience on child adoption.The study is however delimited to Orphanage homes in Lagos State. 1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scantiness of literature on the effect of IFRS adoption on small and medium scale enterprise in Nigeria. Thus much time and organization was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection. Also the study is limited in scope focusing on Small and Medium Scale enterprises. On the respondent of the study, only staff of select Orphanage homes in Lagos State was sampled for the study. Therefore findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other Orphanage homes outside the Lagos State which creates a gap in scope and gives room for further studies. 1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS Communication Strategies: Communication strategies are action plans for improving communication within an organization. In addition to establishing goals for a successful plan, a communication strategy typically involves the selection of tools to enable a strategic mix of verbal and nonverbal communication styles. NGos: A non-governmental organization is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in humanitarianism Adoption: Adoption is the social, emotional, and legal process in which children who will not be raised by their birth parents become full and permanent legal members of another family while maintaining genetic and psychological connections to their birth family.