Saudi Gazette report DAMMAM — Eastern Province Health Affairs has begun electronically recording information related to unidentified children who are referred to Dammam's Maternity and Children's Hospital, Al-Hayat newspaper reported. This step was taken to make adoption procedures easier and reduce the incidences of adopting families changing babies' names. The head of the women's social supervision department Lateefah Al-Tamimi has met with section heads in the Maternity and Children Hospital to review the recent electronic system developed by the head of the information technology section, Ibtesam Al-Jumaizi. The head of the orphans care section, Sundus Al-Sayyar, said the section seeks to provide complete services to orphans, which include giving them names and facilitating their adoption procedures. She said the current paperwork procedures begin at the hospital where an unidentified child is referred. The child is examined and a report prepared and sent to the adoption section of the women social supervision department. The department names the child and sends the papers back to the hospital to issue a birth certificate before he is then referred to the social orphanage home. These procedures are lengthy and can cause delays in the adoption process. The electronic system will help in facilitating and speeding up these procedures. The system also allows the hospital to enter available data and a photo of the child into its database. Such data can be accessed by the adoption specialist, who can then name the child and record this information along with the adopting mother's name in the database.
