KIRKUK – Osamah, 3, is among thousands of Iraqi children orphaned in the Islamic State (ISIS) conflict. Found alone wondering the streets of Kirkuk, local authorities are first trying to find Osamah’s father before they can put the boy up for adoption.
Osamah’s mother is believed to have been killed in an airstrike on the Old City of Mosul when the boy was just a baby. His father, who was a physician’s assistant, has been missing for three years.
Ahmed Saado, the boy’s grandfather, had been taking care of him. They were living in a hotel in the disputed city of Kirkuk.
Fearing they would both be made homeless, Ahmed left his grandson in the city center – hoping local authorities would step in.
After two days in the care of local police, Osamah was taken in by a Turkmen family in Kirkuk’s Qoriya district.
Under Iraq’s archaic adoption system, the courts must first exhaust efforts to find Osamah’s father before he can be put up for adoption.
Several families have already come forward offering to take him in.
Following years of war, neglect, and financial crisis, social care services in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region are in tatters.
Children who have lost their parents are usually taken in by extended family, already struggling with the loss of incomes, homes, and services.
The bloody campaign to retake Mosul alone left behind at least 13,000 orphans.
With reporting by Hiwa Hussamedin
