This is a newspaper article on adoption in South Africa. OUR VIEWPOINT; CULTURAL BARRIERS INHIBITING ADOPTION TheWitness May 27, 2014 A report released last week by the National Adoption Coalition of South Africa (NAC-SA) detailed how rates of adoption have declined, while child abandonment has increased. According to the research undertaken by Dee Blackie, a consultant to NACSA, adoptions have decreased by more than 50% over the past decade. In 2004, there were 2840 adoptions, as opposed to 1699 in 2013. These figures stand out in stark relief against a grim statistical backdrop: of the 18,5 million children in this country, 4,5 million live with neither of their parents. Contemporary South Africa has a number of the challenges associated with child abandonment, including restrictive legislation, high levels of poverty, mass urbanisation and migrant labour, high levels of violence, especially rape, gender inequality and diminishing family support. All of these issues lead to the increasing vulnerability of young women in the urban environment, and can result in child abandonment as a “survival strategy” on the discovery of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Blackie’s research identified the two key factors influencing the decline in adoptions as the implementation of the new Children’s Act in 2010 and what she referred to as “cultural barriers”. While the act was introduced with good intentions, one of which was to actually facilitate adoption, the checks and balances necessary for an adoption to proceed have served to lengthen the process. Also, being a new act, those involved in its implementation are taking a while to get up to speed and in addition, in the courts, where the act is ultimately tested, there have been issues around interpretation. The cultural barriers influenced by indigenous African ancestral beliefs are less easy to address. Some mothers and community members believe that, in the eyes of their ancestors, to abandon a child is better than formally relinquishing their rights as parents so that the child can be adopted. There are also strong beliefs that an adopted child will not be recognised by the ancestors and that both the child and the adopting family will suffer. This despite a ritual, in Zulu culture at least, known as ubigile, in which an adopted child can be introduced to the ancestors. Such beliefs have political consequences in South Africa and explain why adoption has not been actively promoted. A similar conservatism saw resistance to acknowledging the existence of HIV/Aids with consequent tragic results. It took an enormous effort to turn around such perceptions but now publicity regarding the disease is commonplace. There needs to be a similar societal turnaround on adoption. It would also make financial sense. Currently, there are an estimated 10,5 million parentless children receiving various types of state grant. If these children were adopted, those costs to the state would fall away.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 14:54:11 +0000
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