Coalition unhappy with Social Development’s R100k adoption claim

The primary losers in this political fracas are the millions (not thousands!) of adoptable children who will be left without any hope of a loving home due to bureaucratic red tape and political posturing.” National Adoption Coalition.

Click on Image for Full article:

Lies, damned lies and statistics: Unravelling South Africa’s child trafficking conundrum

A very thought provoking article 

In modern society there are few things as truly evil as human trafficking, especially when it involves children, and Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba’s argument for those afflicted by the scourge is compelling. But his supposed solution has once again been called into question along with the statistical basis for the plan. It begs the question that if the minister’s strategy is really about solving South Africa’s child trafficking problem why, in a style reminiscent of ‘Saving Private Ryan’, is he willing to risk the lives and livelihoods of many for the sake of the ones and twos. While it is difficult to ignore the fervor with which he speaks, it is equally difficult to avoid the sense that his department is playing an elaborate game of Top Trumps with stakes that are appallingly high. Beyond the oratory, what does the research say about how to prevent trafficking?

(Click the link below for the full article)

App guides parents through child visas

First Seen on IOL.co.za
June 22 2015 at 12:09pm
By Jan Cronje

A local internet app that helps parents navigate South Africa’s maze of new child visa regulations has been accessed more than 8 000 times in its first three weeks.

The South Africa Child Visa Checklist app, which went live on May 30, is a free web-based service created by travel company the Discover Africa Group.

The app was set up after strict new regulations for children under 18 travelling to or from SA came into effect on June 1 despite opposition from within the tourism industry.

The regulations include the need for children to have an unabridged birth certificate, and other documents on a case-by-case basis, including court orders and adoption certificates.

The app was first developed as an in-house aid for travel consultants, before being published online for anyone to use.

Its creators said it was developed to “simply explain” the 15 different documents and 37 “unique scenarios” for children travelling in and out of SA.

“(It) removes the fear, uncertainty and complexity faced by parents trying to work out exactly which documents they need when travelling with their youngsters.”

Discover Africa Group spokeswoman Asanda Mcoyana said this week the app had been shared 1 500 times on Facebook since its launch.

She said the group had received “thank you” e-mails from travel agencies abroad.

Many agents said that they been using the tool to advise their clients travelling to SA.

The app, which can be accessed on mobile and desktop devices, gives users a step-by-step guide to which documents they need when travelling to or from SA with minors.

It does this by asking multiple-choice questions of travellers, such as who the child is travelling with; if the child’s parents are married, divorced or legally separated; and if the child has been adopted or is in foster care.

Visit drivesouthafrica.co.za/child-visa-checklist for more information.

Visa laws fail to land at OR Tambo

First appeared in IOL.co.za June 1 2015 at 12:15pm 

By Ilanit Chernick and Barbara Cole Comment on this story

INDEPENDENT MEDIAPREPARED: Vivian and Lynne Alexander arrive at OR Tambo this morning with their baby. They were not asked for an unabridged birth certificate by customs, despite having the document. Picture: Boxer Ngwenya

Johannesburg - Although the minister of Home Affairs vowed the new immigration regulations would be in place on Monday, his officials appear not to have taken heed.

On Monday morning The Star visited OR Tambo to find travellers walking through customs without being asked for unabridged birth certificates for their children.

Vivian and Lynne Alexander came from Israel with their 19- month-old son, arriving on Monday morning on an overnight flight as SA citizens. They were not asked for an unabridged birth certificate despite having the document.

Mayihlome Tshwete, spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs, could not comment on why officials were not asking for the unabridged certificates.

Home Affairs has assured prospective adoptive parents that the visa regulations won’t hinder intercountry adoptions.

Up until two weeks ago, the regulations were a concern for overseas parents wanting to adopt South African children.

“Adoptions have already been decreasing. When we first heard about this regulation in September last year, we were told by Home Affairs there’d be no exceptions,” said Katinka Pieterse, programme director at Abba Adoptions and Social Services.

Pieterse told The Star the visa regulations would delay the intercountry process of adoption causing parents coming from overseas to be stuck in South Africa for over a year because of all the red tape surrounding the new regulations.

“It takes months for international parents to adopt and this would prolong this because of amendment processes, court orders and getting hold of unabridged birth certificates,” said Pieterse.

The National Adoption Coalition South Africa (Nacsa) met with officials in an attempt to get an easier process put into place.

“We have 250 adoptions a year and we understood that if some sort of easier process was not put in place, it would deter intercountry adoptions from taking place.”

Pieterse said there was a concern about children born in illegal clinics, who were abandoned and didn’t have birth certificates.

“It’s something we are addressing so these children can be adopted locally or internationally.”

But two weeks ago, Home Affairs came up with a standard operating procedure that should keep the international adoption process to a few months.

This procedure includes a final order of adoption from the registrar, the unabridged birth certificate with the names of the adoptive parents and a court order confirming the adoption.

Still, Nacsa believes the regulations may protect children if implemented correctly. “If this new law works properly, it will prevent child trafficking,” said Pieterse.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe told the World Economic Forum on Friday that the government was considering reviewing the regulations.

“They have had an unintended consequence, which needs to be addressed,” he said, according to Monday’s Business Report.

David Frost, chief executive of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa), said on Sunday the impact could already be seen in the 20 percent drop in bookings for this month. “We are going to take big hits,” he predicted.

Satsa, along with the Southern African Travel Agents (Asata) and the Board of Airline Representatives South Africa, said last week that from May to December last year, the country had lost 66 000 foreign tourists as a result of the pending regulations.

“The total direct, indirect and induced impact on the economy in 2014 was a negative R2.6-billion and a potential loss of more than 5 800 jobs,” they said.

The number of foreign tourists who decide not to travel to South Africa this year could increase to 100 000, with a direct tourism spend of R1.4bn, while the total net loss to the GDP could be about R4.1bn.

And 9 300 jobs could be axed.

The outbound industry is also set to lose at least R8-million, with further job losses likely.

Otto de Vries, the chief executive of Asata, said the industry was “expecting chaos”.

Air China has cancelled its planned direct flights here.

A survey carried out by The Telegraph in the UK found most people (61 percent) who took part in the poll would not visit South Africa because of the regulations.

James Vos, the DA’s spokesperson on tourism, described Malusi Gigaba, Home Affairs Minister, and Derek Hanekom, Tourism Minister, as “tourism terminators”.

Home Affairs says the regulations are in line with an international obligation to curb child trafficking, saying about 30 000 minors are trafficked through South Africa each year.

But the industry claims this figure is a myth. It came from Operation Mobilisation, an NGO, which has said it was misquoted.

The Star

Good news for adoptive parents traveling with kids!!

The Department of  Home Affairs released it's document outlining the new requirements for minors traveling internationally.

Click Here to download the document.
Pay special attention to Point 9 :)

Here's the link again: (http://abbaadoptions.co.za/images/Travelling%20with%20minors%20-%20info%20DHA%20latest%20version.pdf)

The new child visa laws explained...

Originally appeared on iAfrica.com

Article By: Megan Ellis  Wed, 13 May 2015 9:45 AM

The Department of Home Affairs has released a brochure explaining the new immigration laws for children.

These new laws will come into effect of June 1, the brochure states.

The picture doesn't look good for many parents - with stringent requirements set out for a parent travelling with their child without their partner.

The new legislation states that parents travelling with a child will need to produce an unabridged birth certificate of the child, which includes information about the child's parents.

Meanwhile, parents of adopted children will need to provide an adoption certificate along with the unabridged birth certificate.

When one parent is travelling with a child, they must produce the unabridged birth certificate along with an affidavit from the other parent giving permission for the child to enter or leave the country with the present parent. The affidavit cannot be older than three months.

If one of the child's parents is deceased, a death certificate will be needed.

The new laws will apply to everyone travelling to and from South Africa - both citizens and foreigners.

The brochure also provides information for those travelling with children who are not the children's parents and the rules for unaccompanied minors.

See the full brochure below: 

Babies 'not for sale', but who will love these innocents?

Originally appeared in the Sunday Times on 8th March 2015
Written by Redi Tlhabi
 
I AM so angry and broken. I look at my little girl, who is 16 months old. I watch her lurch forward, unaware of the dangers below or ahead, but confident that someone will be there to catch her and protect her from harm.
I hear her when she cries; often, it is not a real cry, it is just a loud pronouncement: "I need you." She cries because she is sure someone will respond.
It pains me that so many children will not experience this undivided devotion and nurturing.
A few days ago, The Times reported that adoptions declined by about 50% in South Africa over the past decade, from 2 840 in 2004 to 1 448 last year. The National Adoption Coalition of South Africa, formed in partnership with the Department of Social Development, attributes this sharp decline to several factors, including legislative challenges, red tape, documents going missing and cultural beliefs.
In a country where child abandonment, rape, abuse and neglect are high, these figures are disturbing. It is particularly frustrating when there are parents who are desperate to take care of these children. But they very often cannot, because of artificial obstacles.
The department will dutifully argue that the process of adoption is cumbersome precisely because it is designed to protect children and ensure an exhaustive vetting process. We should all support a methodical system that ensures vulnerable children are matched with parents who will love and nurture them.
But I don't believe the department is doing this for the children. It claims there are faults on adoption documents and that there is a shortage of prospective adoptive parents. Even the meticulous would-be adoptive parents who have ticked every box are frustrated.
The department's spokeswoman, Lumka Oliphant, inadvertently let slip the real reason why the adoption process is frustrating: paranoia and politics.
She said the adoption of babies should not be commercialized. "Our babies are not up for sale."
Our babies? The same ones who are neglected and molested? The same ones who roam the streets begging for food? The same ones who write to radio stations, desperate for The department cannot get away with untested assertions funds to pursue their studies? The same babies who are in orphanages and homes that constantly make desperate appeals for funds, food and educational material?
How well is the government doing in taking care of "our babies"? When "our babies" get clumped in dustbins and drains, it is the NGOs and private citizens who roll up their sleeves and get involved.
This is a gift — to have citizens who care enough to do something.
Instead of treating them with suspicion, the government should be welcoming this generosity and activism.
The department's statement about the "commercialization" of adoption is reckless. It stigmatizes loving and sincere adoptive parents who are desperate to have a child. It also locates them in the same category as child traffickers — a very serious crime.
For this accusation to be afforded any merit, the department would have to advance empirical evidence that a major percentage of the victims of child trafficking are adopted children. It would have to show us figures that there is a causal link between adoption and commercial gain.
This is a serious allegation and the department cannot get away with innuendo and untested assertions.
It must go further and prove that adoptive parents have made money from adopting these children. I suspect that if it bothered to follow up on the outcomes of adoption, it would find the majority of children thriving, safe and sound, in loving homes.
Unless there is concrete proof that the majority of children who are victims of abuse, rape, child labour and trafficking were adopted for that purpose, then the department's allegations must be seen as scurrilous and defamatory.
A real pity in a country so desperate for model citizens, raised by loving and caring parents.