just starting to look at SA adoption, questions???

The risk of such ailments is fairly high with international adoptions from orphanages. These children are living in close quarters with poor sanitation and caregivers who often live in substandard conditions. Agencies recommend you bring medication with you for such things as scabies and lice so you can begin treatments before you come home. Virtually all of these creepy crawlies are easily treated (your son could get lice at school, btw). Proper handwashing should prevent any intestinal parasites from transferring to you or your family -- you will want to bring a stool sample to your pediatrician. It's icky, but not really scary. The scary stuff are diseases like TB and hepatitis (which you should also test for when you get home). That being said, we adopted our daughter from an orphanage in India and had no such problems. She was absolutely healthy. I know someone else who adopted from Cambodia and had a baby with scabies but it cleared right up with medication.

HI, I am not sure where in Africa that you are looking to adopt, but my husband and I just returned from Durban, South Africa with a very healthy 10 month old boy. Our son was in a wonderful foster home, but wed did get a chance to visit some orphanages, and the children seemed healthy. I could see though how ifone child gets lice or something, that it could spread fast! Those things are very treatable. if you have any questions about South African adoptions PM me. I would love to share how wonderful African adoption is!! Nicole

Hi, here is a little more reassurance for you - my husband, 7 year old daughter and worked in a South African orphanage for 5 months (we have since adopted our son from there) and to prevent lice we regularly shaved the kids heads and did scabies treatments every time a new child came to the orphanage on their own (not through an agency). One time we had to treat 45 kids aged 1-13 in the complete dark bacause of a blackout, the cream you put on has to go all over their bodies, then dry, then be rinsed off. And they can't touch their eyes. So we had 45 screaming kids (most touched their eyes at some point) running around naked with pink scabies cream drying on them. Quite an adventure! Our son is very healthy, no medical problems at all, but of course not all the kids were as lucky. If possible, try to get some medical tests done before most of the paper work (this you'll have to pay for on your own and get someone to take the child for you - someone at the orphange or foster home), I know in Canada it is the last step in the process which seems a little ridiculous to me. Good luck, Africa is such a great place to adopt from!

Hi there My husband and I have decided we will adopt from South Africa but we're not ready to start our homestudy for another year (I'm giving birth to my first in February). We attended an information session on adoption and were told that HIV rates are very high in South Africa and that there can be no guarantees a child is not infected with HIV even after they are tested mulitple times in the first few months of life. Is it true that a baby can have HIV and it may not show up in a test for 12-15 months? I'm not prepared to adopt a child with HIV and I want to be sure I fully understand what I would be getting myself into. I've not been having any luck researching on the net - there is not much information out there. I would love to hear from others about their experience adopting and specifically how you decided whether or not to risk adopting a 3 month old child that may be very sick. I've heard from others who have adopted from SA but no one mentions HIV. Is it not a concern? Am I not aware of a more accurate test for newborns? Plesae help!!! Thanks, Andrea

Hi Andrea, Newborns in SA are given the PCR test which is a very accurate form of HIV testing. It is different from the ELISA test which is used in some countries (Russia) and this one has to be redone several times. They are also taken care of in baby homes in which the matrons have way too much experience in dealing with HIV positive newborns - most of them know very early on if a baby is sick or not. Can I ask where you live? Karyn

I live in Eastern Ontario, in the Ottawa Valley. That's for your reply. I've just been on edge trying to find out more information. I had 100% decided that I was going to do this and then when I started to worry about HIV I panicked and thought maybe I shouldnt' do this. I'm going to do more research on this test. Thanks so much for your help. Andrea

That's where we are too - I'll PM you my email address and feel free to contact me with any questions...

For cape law [url=http://www.capegateway.gov.za/eng/directories/services/11575/17448]Adopting a Child[/url] SA babies are on a vaccination schedule from birth, are given apgars etc. TB is endmic but vaccinated for. There is an internal " adoptable baby shortage" (governments words not mine). SA practises safe birthing practises for HIV postive mothers, when identified. SA babies are throughly tested, for various and sundry issues, before being placed. SA birth mothers are often tested for HIV. SA has open and semi-open international adoptions available, though not (last I checked) enforacble by law. The big agencies are the Catholic Womens league (used to require a donation, not a fee), the Dutch Reform (ngk) women's legaue, and of course, the govt. I have the cutest, somewhat strange story. My friend Jwas waiting at a crowded buss stop on her way home. Another lady asked J to hold her baby...and disappered. J waited a few hours (patience is a virture), and then took the baby to the police, who told her to take the baby to a social worker at the nearest hospital, which she did. The social worker told J to keep the baby and stay in contact and they would look for the mother. After three months no mother appeared and little baby B was adopted into J's extended family. She belives he is her gift from God.

Hello, I was interested in your process, we are new to this and wondered are you from the US and how did you deal with immigration? My hubby is South African and I am am american, living in US, we want to adopt a South African baby.

Ranbeaux - due to the US Hague stuff right now, it is almost impossible for US citizens to adopt from SA. Does your DH have dual citizenship? I know of a Canadian couple living in the US who are adopting from SA - but with a Canadian agency. I'm sorry - this probably wasn't want you wanted to hear, but I had a friend adopt from there and it took her about 3 years to complete her adoption. And that was before SA signed the Hague, so now it is even harder. PM me if I can help in any way!

Hey, thanks for getting back to me.... My hubby is a SA citizen who has a green card and is a resident here in the US, we were hoping this would help us, true? We were looking at a private adoption, does this help us too? Or are both points irrelevant?

Hello, Hmm...I really don't know much about private adoptions in the US so not sure about that. I don't know if him being an SA citizen will help or not, since right now you are residing in the US. As far as I know, there are no US agencies licensed to do SA adoptions. Also, SA is very tight when it comes to IA, and there probably aren't any social workers there who work with US agencies. I can do some checking for you if you want (I have a few contacts in SA and here who are involved in adoptions), let me know. Sorry I can't help more... Karyn