Child Shenouda reunites with adoptive parents after Egyptian prosecution order

CAIRO – 29 March 2023: Five-year-old boy, Shenouda, has reunited with his adoptive Christian parents after a Cairo prosecution ordered granting them a temporary custody of the child on Tuesday.

The prosecution ordered returning the child to Amal Ebrahim, his adoptive mother who found him, after she pledged to protect him from dangers and take good care of him.

This came after Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam issued an Islamic edict that the child’s religion is similar to that of the Christian family that found him based on detailed understandings of the Islamic jurisprudence.

The prosecution assigned the child’s mother to complete the procedures of his custody.

The prosecution also ordered the Child Helpline of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood to take the legal procedures to give the child a full Christian name.

Shenouda appeared along with his adoptive family after the prosecution’s decision.

 

The case of Shenouda has stirred controversy on social media since late last year after authorities removed him from the parents who raised him after DNA tests proved that they are not his real parents.

The childless couple said they found the boy, while he was only a few days old, in 2018 in front of the gate of a church so they registered him in their name without informing authorities.

The boy was placed into an orphanage, where his name was changed to Youssef and his religion was changed to Muslim.

In response, the foster parents filed a lawsuit to maintain their adoption of the child, arguing that the presence of the boy in front of a church is a message from the biological parents that he is Christian.

In January, the National Council for Human Rights demanded the return of Shenouda to the family that raised him.

NCHR Chairwoman Moushira Khattab said the act of removing the child from the family that raised him since he was a baby and putting him in an orphanage is a violation of Article 80 of the constitution on children rights, the philosophy and core of the Child Law, and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

She also stressed that all parties must adhere to the value of mercy when dealing with the case.