DENMARK AND NETHERLANDS TO STOP ADOPTIONS FROM SA

By Lumka Oliphant

• South Africa’s adoption framework may change as key international partners withdraw from inter-country adoption.
• The Netherlands and Denmark have informed the country of their plans to phase out adoptions from South Africa by 2025,citing challenges in tracing biological parents as a key factor. 
• This shift will force South Africa to bolster its domestic adoption program,which has already identified irregularities in the private adoption sector.

South Africa will soon need to strengthen its national adoption program as countries are beginning to withdraw from the inter-country program. This was revealed by social workers during the review of the social development Integrated Justice System (IJS) program underway in Cape Town underway this week.

Dr Tebogo Mabe, Director Adoption Services at the department of social development revealed that the Netherlands and Denmark have written to the department informing it of their intention to stop accepting adoptions from South Africa.  “We have been a sending country to these countries and we have received a notice from these countries of this intention,” said Mabe.

Although, this was not unique to South Africa but a trend globally, he said these trends are giving South Africa an opportunity to strengthen its national adoption program.  He revealed that the two countries did not have too many children adopted from South Africa but they received their notices of intention.  He said the Netherlands has informed the department that it intends to go to its Parliament in September and will take a phased in approach which should  end the program by the end of 2025.

Mabe explained that reasons advanced by Netherlands to stop inter-country adoptions with South Africa was because when the children become adults, they tend to want to trace their biological parents and this placed a burden on them as a country.  South Africa has an enquiries platform for those who wished to know their origins. He said the process of enquiring, tracing and reunification sometimes can yield positive and negative results.

“Sometimes the biological parents tell us they do not want to meet with the children they have given up for adoption. Sometimes the children who were given up for adoption do not want to meet the biological parents,” said Mabe. He revealed that South Africa performed 200 inter-country adoptions annually and was a sending country to different parts of the world.

He said the program will need to be strengthened especially that now social worker of the department were allowed place children for adoption.  Since this service was extended to the DSD social workers and not just private social workers, he said they are picking up more unethical irregularities linked to adoptions which are alleged to be done by private social workers. The department has trained more than 400 DSD social workers to do adoptions.