EXPERT CALLS FOR PROBE INTO ADOPTION AGENCIES

Chairperson of the Child Welfare Gauteng, Angelique McAdam, is calling for the investigation of all adoption agencies and related laws to be reviewed.

McAdam says child traffickers get away with their crimes due to lax laws.

“Where money is involved there’s always an opportunity for criminal activity,” she adds.

McAdam, who has adoptive children, says there needs to be stricter processes put in place.

She says it took her years to adopt her children due to gaps in the process, lack of communication between departments and adoption agencies that charge exorbitant fees with lack of service.

“Many children fall out of the system not because of the law, but because of lack of competent social workers and magistrates.”

“The Department of Social Development and Department of Justice in South Africa do not trust social workers taking files from court to finalise adoptions because some swap out information.”

On Tuesday, Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency said it is shutting down its facilitation of international adoptions after a government agency raised concerns over fabricated documents and procedures that obscured children’s biological origins abroad.

The privately run Danish International Adoption mediated adoptions in the Philippines, India, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. Last month, an appeals board suspended DIA’s work in South Africa because of questions about the agency’s adherence to legal standards.