Page 31 (a) Interim Alternative Care Interim care usually applies to an emergency situation in which a child‟s physical safety calls for an immediate response. In such cases, and in accordance with the provisions of Decree 109 of 20 March 2001, the departmental delegate for social affairs, acting on a report by the head of a shelter for children in distress or any other person concerned, places the child in such a facility on an interim basis. The centre replaces the parents of the child until the parents are found. Although already operational in Yaoundé and Garoua, this measure awaits the establishment and opening of suitable facilities for it to be applicable countrywide. Insufficient budgeting from the Ministry of Social Affairs is the main obstacle to meeting this need, which is perceptible in Douala, Bafoussam, Maroua and Bertoua, to mention only a few. Furthermore, the measure, which currently only targets infants and street children in Yaounde, must also address cases of children who are victims of slavery, trafficking, abuse and exploitation of various kinds and make provision for alternatives to the imprisonment of children having fallen foul of the law. (b) Permanent Alternative Care (Adoption) Adoption is the permanent form of alternative care in Cameroon. Basically, it seeks to address the problem of a person or family unable to have children, and that of a child with no parents. Adoption is currently governed by a raft of laws, which draw on both national and international legal instruments. It exists in two forms: simple adoption (by mutual consent) and full adoption. In order to harmonize and modernize the legal framework, Cameroon has made adoption one of the main points to be included in the preliminary draft code on the protection of children, which aims to regulate both domestic and international adoption. Advocacy will be carried out in future to promote ratification of the 1993 Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption. (c) Periodic Review of Child Placement Pursuant to Decree 110/PM of 20 March 2001 on the organization and functioning of public institutions for assisting minors and rehabilitating juvenile social misfits, institutional placement is the subject of periodic review. The review takes place at meetings on education, case counselling or home counselling, to assess the development of the case in order to guide action to be taken or terminate a child‟s stay in an institution.