South Africa cannot afford adoption prejudice
According to Sharon Rushton, founder and director of Life Link Pregnancy Crisis Centre, there should be strict criteria put in place to protect children who are put up for adoption.
This comes after allegations of prejudice criteria used by adoption agencies and complaints which have led to an investigation by the Human Rights Commission into adoption processes.
South Africa has a rising problem with the number of orphans in the country.
The latest figures from the 2011 census show that 3.3 million South African children are orphans (more than half of them because of HIV/Aids), and between 1.5m and 2m are adoptable.
Rushton believes that the strict criteria used by adoption agencies should not be seen as a means to discriminate, but rather to protect the children.
“These children are vulnerable, so there should be strict adoption measures put in place,” she says.
“If the laws are relaxed, there could be huge cases of child trafficking, mismanagement and abuse, which could cause the whole system to become a mess.”
Human Rights Commission spokesman Isaac Mangena says the commission is investigating allegations of discrimination by adoption agencies in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
“The complaints received are that the criteria used by South African agencies are discriminatory and contravene the constitution and the Children’s Act,” he says.
According to Letitia van den Berg, senior social worker at Kidz Clinic, South Africa cannot afford to be in a position where it discriminates against prospective adoptive parents in terms of gender, sexual orientation and/or religion, if they meet the requirements to parent a child.
“We need to take into consideration the increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children in the country, and the limited resources available with regards to children’s homes and foster care,” she says.
Van den Berg says it is, however, important to keep in mind that it is the responsibility of the adoption agencies and social workers involved with adoptions to act in the best interest of the child.
“Having worked with vulnerable children for many years, I strongly feel that it is important for a child to grow up within a family unit, which can be defined as a fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children,” she says.
She adds that the main task of social workers accredited in the field of adoption is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to grow up in such a loving family.
