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Domestic adoption is usually considered to be in the best interests of abandoned children. However, although ongoing efforts have been made to recruit prospective black adopters, adoption rates remain low. A grounded theory study was conducted to explore how black South Africans perceive and experience the adoption assessment process regarding the adoption of abandoned children. Findings indicated that social workers regard a rigorous assessment process as essential to ensure that adoption applicants are fit and proper to adopt, whereas prospective adopters deem the process unreasonable. The…
This chapter from the South African Child Gauge 2018 focuses on childcare and children’s caregivers in South Africa and aims to address the following questions:
- Who provides care for children?
- How does the state support or undermine care choices?
- Why and how should the state support caregivers?
Abstract
In South Africa, hundreds of black, abandoned children enter the legal child care system on an annual basis and become eligible for adoption. Although these children have a right to be raised in their country of origin, they are often made available for intercountry adoption owing to a lack of prospective domestic adopters. Statistically, middle-class black South Africans present as a significant source of domestic adopters, but the number of black South Africans legally adopting abandoned children is small. A qualitative enquiry, using grounded theory, was conducted to establish…
This video discusses the challenges social workers face in placing children for adoption in South Africa.
Abstract
In South Africa, rates of adoption remain low while the number of fostered children continually rises. Little is known about the public perceptions, beliefs and experiences that inform decisions to either foster or adopt in South Africa. This qualitative research explored these issues among a national sample of childless adults, biological parents, kin and non-kin fostering parents and prospective and successful adopters. Fostering is driven predominantly by access to subsidies but is also informed by socio-cultural beliefs. Low adoption rates are influenced by an…
In efforts to prioritise family preservation, family reunification and foster care in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), adoption has become a slow process in the South African province, with only eight adoptions finalised in the first eleven months of 2016. New changes may mean more inter-country adoptions, while many domestic adoptions remain blocked or opposed by the KZN Head of Department for Social Development.