CHILDREN have the right to a loving home with caregivers who are able to provide a safe environment. It is no secret that not every child has access to that, but thanks to adoption, this is attainable for some children. We look at the process and importance of adoption as we celebrate World Adoption Day.
Adoption is a legal procedure of placing a minor child permanently with another person/people other than the biological parent/s through a children’s court. This process is guided by the Children’s Act No. 38 of 2005.
In South Africa, the adoption process is facilitated by the Department of Social Development at no cost. The department shared with us the rules and regulations of this long but worthwhile process.
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The department has a role in ensuring that the legal process is followed thoroughly, which ensures the safe placement of the minor.
According to the department, the Children’s Act No. 38 of 2005 brought a shift from the previous adoption practice by removing some of the restrictions that had limited the use of adoption in the past.
“It made the system more appropriate in the local context, thus promoting adoption as a legal means of placing children within families where appropriate. It brought new provisions to the adoption practice.
“The Provincial Department of Social Development now plays a more active role in facilitating adoptions and monitoring services rendered by Child Protection Organisations and adoption social workers in private practice. It also brought into effect the Republic’s obligations concerning the well-being of children in terms of the international instruments binding on the Republic in relation to intercountry adoptions,” said the Department’s spokesperson, Mhlabunzima Memela.
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Here, the department shares what qualifies a child to be adopted and who can adopt the child. There are various steps to adoption, from qualifying the child for the adoption, to who can adopt and how fit they are.
According to Section 230, subsection 3 of the Children’s Act No. 38 of 2005, a child is adoptable if:
– The child is an orphan and has no guardian or caregiver who is willing to adopt the child;
– The whereabouts of the child’s parent or guardian cannot be established;
– The child has been abandoned;
– The child’s parent or guardian has abused or deliberately neglected the child, or has allowed the child to be abused or deliberately neglected;
– The child is in need of permanent alternative placement.
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According to Section 231, subsection 1, it describes persons who may adopt a child as follows:
(a) Jointly by –
– A husband and wife
– Partners in a permanent domestic relationship life-partnership;
– Other persons sharing a common household and forming a permanent family unit.
(b) By a widower, widow, divorced or unmarried person;
(c) by a married person whose spouse is the parent of the child or by a person whose permanent domestic life-partner is the parent of the child;
(d) the biological father of a child born out of wedlock; or
(e) by the foster parent of the child.
In order to qualify to be a prospective adoptive parent one ‘must’, according to Section 231, subsection 2, be:
Fit and proper to be entrusted with full parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the child; willing and able to undertake, exercise and maintain those responsibilities and rights in respect of the child; over the age of 18 years, and properly assessed by an adoption social worker for compliance with the above.
Read in our next article about the rules guiding the legal process of adoption.
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