SOME Saudi families, or let us say a very few of them, were misusing the funds being paid to them by the Ministry of Social Affairs to sponsor orphan children. Each family who sponsors a boy or a girl under six years of age will be paid a monthly allowance of SR2,000, while families sponsoring children above six years will be paid a monthly allowance of SR3,000. At the end of the sponsorship period when the child turns 18, each family will be paid an end-of-service allowance of SR20,000 for each child. Because of the few families who are misusing the funds of the orphans, the ministry is considering changing the allowance being paid to the families to sponsor orphans, said the ministry's spokesman Khaled Al-Thibaiti. I have always been against the policy of putting fingers in the ears in hope that the problem is gone instead of finding solutions. For this reason, I hope that the ministry will consider other options and solutions to avoid punishing the orphan by stopping the allowance for him just because it will be gobbled up by his greedy sponsors. The ministry should fix a least minimum wage for anyone wishing to adopt an orphan boy or girl. Families with large children should not be allowed to sponsor orphans. A man with two wives and two homes should not be permitted to sponsor an orphan. The monthly allowance of the orphan should be deposited in a bank account and given to him when his sponsorship period finishes after turning 18 to start his new life away from the ministry and the sponsoring family. If these measures encourage people to decide against sponsoring orphans (though I know that many families sponsor children not for money but for reward from Allah), then the ministry can cut half of the allowance and deposit it in a special account in the bank for the orphan to receive when he or she reaches maturity. I hope that the ministry will not reduce the allowance of the orphan or cut it by half because by doing so it will not be penalizing the sponsoring family but the orphan himself.
