I was listening to CapeTalk earlier this week, and the person being interviewed {apologise, have totally forgotten her name} said that in South Africa there are more or less 2 400 adoptions per year.
I thought that was a frighteningly low figure – I just figured it would be more, but I know when I spoke to Child Welfare last year I recall them quoting something along the lines of 24 or 30 children that they placed in adoption for the year, and it just seemed like such a small amount.
The other statistics she mentioned.
{fortunately I also saw these on Adoption SA dot org so that was a huge help, as I sort of remembered the numbers, but not exactly}
I love this new site, and I am so thrilled that someone has got it together and put information in one useful place.
| Estimated number of children in foster care and receiving foster care grants in January 2010 | Estimated number of orphaned children in 2007 | Estimated number of children living in child-headed households in 2009 | Estimated number of children in state-owned children’s homes as at end-October 2009 |
| 510 713 | 668 000 | 150 000 | 14 599 |
The question was why are so many people fostering but unwilling to adopt.
She answered that it was not clear, but a lot of the fostering was what they referred to as “kin fostering.” A family fostering a child who has a biological connection to them, so seldom was there no connection between the fostered child and the family.
Another factor was a fostering social grant system – but there was no adoption grant system. In some cases a family fostering needs the grant, which they would lose if they adopted the child, so this encouraged the “fostering” relationship to continue.
A bit grim, but when you think about how many families struggle to get by, it does seem a realistic problem.
The one person mentioned that they had been through Child Welfare and only had great things to say. They had adopted a little girl and the process had taken about 9 months, and it was much easier than they had thought.
There was another person who mentioned they had tried to adopt for several years and it just did not happen. I am not sure of what the details were behind this.
I do think that in South Africa it is easy to adopt – relatively easy – there are so many kids, and not so many parents who have a home to give, so the supply would outstrip the demand. So adoption is a process – both paperwork and emotional, but I do not think that it is one that is insurmountable and as difficult as “word on the street” is.
But {and yes there is a but} if someone wants to adopt and the “defining” factors are quite tight, then of course it does make it a bit more of a “challenge” and then I would imagine that it was difficult.
Adoption {and fostering} is a personal thing, and I don’t think any of us can judge someone who chooses to not adopt for what ever reason. I have heard so many wonderful tear-streaking-down-your-cheek stories about adoption, and until now no horror stories, but adoption {like all things children} is a huge brave step into the unknown.
It is no secret that I was {am} keen on adoption. I have discussed adoption with my kids {not adopting them out, you understand, but adopting a child} and I we have friends who have adopted, I had spoken to them about the concept before, so they understand the dynamics and it is not a foreign concept in their worlds.
On the weekend Connor and I are watching a show and somewhere in it someone uses the phrase “my brother from another mother” so Connor goes “what does that means?” and I repeat the phrase and then explain it’s use in the way it was meant in the comedy show we were watching.
So he looks at me and goes – with the innocence of a child – “if we adopted a boy, then he would be my brother from another mother…” I think I had a little bit of snot that I sniffed back right then.
I saw this {long} but lovely story about cross-cultural adoption – it sort of gives you hope that things are actually right with the world.
