Considering Adoption But Not Sure Where To Begin? Here Are 3 Basics You Should Know

Have a look at this article from the Huffington Post.

Adopting your Step Child? What's the process?

Elke Day of Adoptcare shares this insightful article with us.

Download it here

What happens when adoptive parents no longer want the adopted child?

CapeTalk's Pippa Hudson speaks to Steven Nicholson, the Executive Director of Arise Cape Town to find out what the law says about adoptive parents who want to relinquish their rights as adoptive parents.

See the full article here: http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/14248/what-happens-when-adoptive-parents-no-longer-want-the-adopted-child

Swapped babies to remain with families raising them

Three judges of the Pretoria High Court decided on Monday that two toddlers swapped at birth must remain with the families who have raised them.

Click on the image to read the full article:

Paternity Leave

Every father will love the day that he can say “I am going on paternity leave as my baby is on the way”. There is a recent judgment of MIA v State Information Technology Agency (PTY) LTD [1] which is a labour Court Decision, which enables some fathers to do just that. This is a progressive judgment as, until recently, such an avenue did not exist.

Click here to read further.

Children’s Amendment Bills: Ubuntu and the ongoing child protection debate

An interesting read:

The public hearings held by the government portfolio committee tasked with assessing the Children’s Amendment Bills were a stark reminder that many sectors of government still believe that ubuntu is the panacea for all of our orphans’ ills. In the context of child protection, ubuntu is epitomised by community-based care and the principle that no child is left behind. But ubuntu alone is not the solution.

Click the image below for the full story.

Can new fathers take maternity leave?

Q & A on News 24

QUESTION: My partner and I, a couple in a registered civil union, are planning to have a baby, either through a surrogate or adoption. While this is very exciting, it is also stressful as both my partner and I have full-time employment. Would either my partner or I qualify for maternity leave?

Click on image for the full article

Lawyers fight for adoption maternity leave

Published: Sept. 29, 2015, 8:54 a.m. by Nushera Soodyal -

A group of lawyers is set to challenge South Africa's labour legislation relating to maternity leave for adoptive parents.

Click Image for the full story:
 

PARLIAMENT TO REVIEW CHILDREN AMENDMENT BILL

The fate of South Africa's three and a half million orphans was in the spotlight at Parliament on Wednesday 23rd Sept 2015.

Click on the image for the whole Story:

Maternity Leave For All

Have a read here:

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/09/28/Maternity-leave-for-all

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:

The great power struggle over adoption

The government says its planned amendment to the Children's Act will simplify the complicated and lengthy adoption process in South Africa. But the part of the process it is trying to fix is not broken, and there is no evidence that this amendment will fix those parts of the process that are. No one disagrees that more social workers are needed for adoptions, but by flooding the market with its own adoption social workers, the government could wrest the management of adoptions away from current practitioners and end up holding all the cards. By ROBYN WOLFSON.

Click the image for the full article:

CAN SOUTH AFRICA REALLY AFFORD “CHEAP AN EASY” ADOPTIONS, DSD?

Opinion by: The National Adoption Coalition

The Department of Social Development’s recent media statement that it wants its social workers to provide adoption services in a bid to “curb the high cost of adoptions and make it easier for ordinary families to adopt children” is deeply concerning at its core.  Not because of its intention to train and skill government social workers in the specialised adoption practice – this is to be lauded as indeed there is a shortage - but because the spirit in which such an announcement was made is deeply harmful and dishonest in its treatment of child protection organisations and social workers in private practice. 

DSDS’s statement that 'Adoption Agencies charge no less than R100,000  to manage the adoption process of a single child", is both irresponsible and inaccurate.  Not only is it untrue, but it paints Child Protection Organisations who do exceptionally important work in an unfairly poor light.  More fundamentally, it can only discourage people from considering adoptions, possibly waiting for the DSD to provide “free and cheap” adoptions, while millions of orphans remain in orphanages and far from the ideal circumstances of a loving parental home and family.

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.   Evidence of this is already clear in the unintended consequences of the Children’s Act implemented in 2005, which has seen a 30% drop in adoptions in a country with about 5.4 million orphans since its implementation.  Currently less than 1600 adoptions are taking place annually. When you do the sums, it becomes frightening, if not insurmountable in the current status-quo.

Some incredibly important realities need to be put on the table, and the Department of Social Development would do well to acknowledge the important work done by all the role players and the importance of collaboration in working towards our single most important purpose – child protection and loving families for our orphans.   

Here are the facts:

·         The Children's Act 38/2005 actually makes provision for the payment of fees in respect of an adoption to a Child Protection Organization.  These fees are regulated in terms of Regulation 107 of the Children's Act.

·         The fees are not however legislated for in respect of accredited adoption social workers in private practice.  The National Adoption Coalition, a mandated body of adoption service providers, has been consistently lobbying the Department of Social Development to give attention to the regulation of the fees in respect of adoption social workers in private practice to bring it in line with those of Child Protection Organizations.

·         More importantly, given the fact that adoption fees are regulated by the Department of Social Development, it would be difficult for a Child Protection Organization to charge R100k for a single adoption. All adoption reports are canalized through the Department of Social Development before an adoption can be finalized in court.  The fees paid in respect of an adoption need to be declared in a formal report and if the Department have picked up that some agencies are charging R100k, why have they not investigated such outrageous fees being charged by organisations? If unusually high fees are charged by certain organisations, then such specific cases should be dealt with by DSD swiftly.

·         To indicate that organizations can charge this amount for an adoption really discredits all the good work being done by so many Child Protection Organizations who also specialize in processing adoptions. This should not be about an “us and them” situation, and working together as a collaborative is critical to resolve the many onerous challenges we face as a cohesive voice.

·         Most Child Protection Organizations work on a sliding scale and accept applicants from all walks of life, including people from rural areas, domestic workers and cleaners.  In fact the fee paid in these instances is minimal and does not preclude anyone who has a genuine desire to adopt a child, and who is found to wholly competent.

·         There are entirely valid and important reasons for some fees to be charged – and these are steeped in the reality of the situation.  Fees vary between adoption social workers and CPO’s, ranging between R5000 to R20 000 for a national adoption.  These fees are dependent on how much is subsidised by the DSD and the amount of work required to finalise an adoption in SA – an intensive process that requires skilled and experienced people.  The fees are derived from the costs of detailed assessments, pre-adoption workshops and preparation, counselling, administrative fees (often involving months of work), court preparation, legal documentation and court reports, ongoing consultation with DSD at both a provincial and national level, medical fees, and so on.  All the while, these children are taken care of, clothed, fed, kept healthy and homed by dedicated caregivers – none of which is without cost and none of which are included in the adoption fees.   

DSDs statement that adoptions will be ‘cheaper and easier’ when government social workers are also able to process adoptions is entirely misleading.  What Government should rather have been putting out there, is that once Government social workers are able to process adoptions, it will open up a new option for prospective adopters wishing to adopt, but that it works hand in hand with all the other role players in the adoption community, who also provide an excellent service to help people with the adoption process.

The National Adoption Coalition is constantly trying to recruit adoptive parents in what is a national crisis.  Putting out a false message that it costs R100,000 to adopt is wholly counter-productive and irresponsible, as it discourages anyone from coming forward to adopt. Adopting a child is a life changing and lifelong decision with enormous responsibilities – at all times child protection and putting the interests of children first are paramount before all other considerations. It seems inconceivable that the Department responsible for accrediting adoption service providers would want to discredit a community of organisations who do incredibly important work, who assist Government with training and skills transfer for their own social workers, and we can hopefully out these statement down to poorly conceived notions and statement by an individual who has possible not considered the long term unintended consequences of such statements.   

Adoption is a specialised service, which means that people who provide these services must be accredited to ensure that the best interests of the child are protected.  Many parents who have worked through a social worker who was not specialised have found that the adoption requirements were not properly met.  If government social workers are trained in this field, it would assist with the shortage of specialised adoption social workers, but it could not be done successfully without the support and skills transfer from specialists in private practice and dedicated child protection organisations.

ConCourt to consider genetic link on surrogacy law

The Constitutional Court is set to consider whether the genetic-link requirement in surrogacy law should remain.

Click on image below to go to the 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: 

Thousands may be stuck in foster care

Originally seen on IOL on the 15th April.
by Lisa Isaacs

Cape Town – Thousands of children could be stuck in the foster-care system for years and prevented from being adopted.

This happens when biological parents refuse to sign away their parental rights, causing the children emotional trauma, foster and adoption experts say.

Sihle Ngobese, spokesman for Social Development MEC Albert Fritz, said at the end of February there were 28 657 children in foster care.

“Parents sometimes withhold consent for adoption because of cultural and religious factors, stigma and the belief that their circumstances will change in the short term, and then they will be able to care for their child themselves,” he said.

Eloise Loots, a social worker at adoption assistance organisation Procare, said when children were removed from biological parents’ homes, many parents were unwilling to co-operate or consider putting their children up for adoption.

“Many of these parents don’t see that their life circumstances may not be in the best interests of the child. For some it is a case of: ‘This is my child, how can someone else take care of my child’,” she said.

In some cases, Loots said, foster parents would prefer to foster a child with the aim of adopting them, a process they felt was within their control, instead of using adoption services where they were screened and matched with a child.

“They would rather identify a child, take them in as a foster child and decide if this will work out. If it doesn’t work, then the child is moved. They often identify a child they feel they fall in love with… and the child is not adoptable.”

Foster parents could pursue adoption through the courts, taking years as social workers needed to assess what was best for the child.

Ngobese said the Children’s Court dispensed of parental responsibilities and rights of parents when they were unreasonably withholding consent for adoption.

“It can cause a lot of heartache and trauma. The child develops a need to protect themselves. They shut off and don’t trust people,” Loots said.

Melody Inglis, social work supervisor at the Cape Flats Development Association, said the organisation would see one or two adoptions a year, with dozens of new cases in their offices each month, including those of children removed from homes where there was abuse or neglect. In March they received 36 cases.

Children were fostered for different time frames and biological parents given the chance to improve their circumstances, Inglis said. If they could not, the child was again fostered. If the same foster family was unable to accommodate the child, another suitable home was found, said Inglis.

After two years, foster parents could adopt a child, but if the child’s biological parents had not signed away their parental rights, they faced a lengthy court battle.

Child rights NGO Molo Songololo director Patrick Solomons said: “To give up parental rights is not easy. Some children are in foster care for many years. It can cause stress and anxiety; some feel they don’t fit into their family environment.

“They may feel isolated and marginalised. Some feel they are a throwaway child.”

lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za

Cape Town