South African wanting to adopt...

Dear All I have, like Veronika, kept up my campaign of mail to the SA authorities. I have received some info as you will have read in this forum, but alos like Veronika, I have had "no replies" for the last seven months. Their last reply indicates that they still only have "an agreement" with India. Also, we applied when we were working and livinf IN RUSSIA and it made no difference. Without that piece of paper from SA, you can't get anywhere. I had a Russian /US lawyer who could not help either without the SA paperwork. If anyone succeeds, please also post here. I have a permanent alert on the site. Best wishes to all

We adopted internationally from South Africa in 2002, from the U.S. I know that the number of children from S.A. adopted by Americans is pretty small and S.A. was closed (to Americans) except for adoptions already "in process" not longer after we got home with our sons. I think it was because we were (are?) not a Hauge country - not really up on that because were not looking internationally. BUT - while we were there, our adoption was absolutely treated as a domestic adoption. The only difference is that because the birthfather did not want to sign, rather than just TPR'ing as the SW told us they would had we been South Africans, we had to wait an additional 2 months to get him into court to have the court TPR.

I've had replies from everyone and their mother EXCEPT the Dept. of Social Development. I asked a colleague to ring them up on my behalf come Monday, so I'll hear what she has to say and put it in a post if it's worth knowing.

Ok, so I called the Dept. of Social Development yesterday. After 6 no-answers, 4 redirected calls, 2 full message boxes and being cut off twice, I finally got someone on the other end of the line who was able deal with my questions (if not particularly willing, at first). 40 minutes and 50 CHF later, I could honestly say the concerns raised in previous posts about the government DELIBERATELY stonewalling overseas adoptions by South African minorities have been completely allayed. :eek: Yeah, I know... so here's a play-by-play of events : The conversation started out with me being frustrated and the official being defensive, which resulted in about 10 minutes of arguing back and forth. It was when I mentioned being aware of their office setup and the limitations on their resources (I'd done a lot of running around at the Master of the High Court's office shared with the then "Weesheer" ֖ back when I was a clerk) that the official started listening to my questions, which helped me relax and ended up resulting in a very positive exchange. Of everything we discussed, I think the following points are of general relevance : 1. She told me that, and I quote, "we know there are a lot of white people who want babies from Europe." I hadn't mentioned race, but my inquiries were about Russia, which didn't make it hard to put 2 & 2 together. The reason I quote the official verbatim, is because I want to stress that this was said with sympathy and understanding, rather than the veiled accusation those of us who pursue this course tend to expect. 2. She told me that the Department was not issuing homestudies to South Africans wanting to adopt from abroad at this time as they are busy assessing the situations in foreign "origin" countries to determine the best ways for dealing with incoming children. She was reluctant to commit to a specific timeframe for when they would begin processing homestudies, but confirmed that the September 2010 target (mentioned on page 74 of the Department's 2009 2012 Strategic Plan, which can be downloaded from their homepage) is a good indicator. *** Now, I want to point out that this forestalling on homestudies is a Departmental house keeping measure, which doesn't have any baring on what can and can't be done in terms of the Children's Act, the '93 Hague Convention or Russian adoption procedure. The competencies of the Department (sections 257, 258 and 265 for those who want to adopt from a non-convention country), accreditation of private agencies to handle foreign adoptions (section 259), and setting up working agreements between accredited agencies in South Africa and those operating in other countries (section 260) are different things, which ֖ with the exception of accreditation and working agreements are NOT interdependent. 3. As stated in a previous post, my personal position is such that independent adoption is preferable to making use of an agency, which means that the whole accreditation issue is of no relevance to me. I explained this to the official, and while I couldn't get her to admit in so many words that having accredited agencies in an "origin" country is NOT a prerequisite for the Department to sign off on a homestudy (as stipulated clearly in the sections on Central Authority competencies), she did concede that the Department's concern here was that "people are desperate and find lawyers on the internet. They pay money to these foreigners with no one to check and then they end up with nothing and lose a lot of money." *** I honestly cannot fault this line of reasoning, as I have had a personal encounter with a Russian lawyer who demanded upfront payment of US$ 350 (with an online credit card facility "conveniently" available on her website) to "consider my inquiries" ֖ i.e. to read a 200 word email. Just FYI, US$ 350 = 10 619 Roubles. The going rate in Moscow for handling a divorce from start to finish, including alimony and child-support agreements, is between 7 000 and 10 000 Roubles total. Do the math... 4. She told me to check back in 3 months and promised to mention my suggestion that the progress of the country agreements, plus the Department's reasons for refusing homestudies at this point in time be put on the website. On the topic of independent adoption... If there's anyone reading this who, like me, would prefer to go the independent route (bearing in mind that it's likely to cost more than using an accredited agency in SA and will involve A LOT of legwork), I have been in contact with an organisation in Virginia, USA called the "Independent Russian and Ukrainian Adoption Project" run by Dr. Ronald Federici and Mr. Patrick Jost who offer comprehensive services in this regard. Send me a PM if you want the links. Lastly, if you are a Christian and find yourself wondering about what ordinary, day-to-day life may look like, both before and after an international adoption, there is a wonderful blog being kept by a US couple who had brought their 2-year-old son, Dima, home in February of this year. Their whole adoption journey is documented in video and is really moving to see. PM me for the link.

Hello all, I am also South African and am trying to get started on an international adoption from Russia. Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated beyond words. Thank you, TM

Hi all, I hope you have had some luck since your last post. I am a Zimbabwean looking to adopt. Right now from anywhere!!! But at the moment I am just fumbling around in the dark as cant seem to find any information about anyone but US citizens. Can anyone give me advice??? Iwas contemplating adopting from SA but seeing as everyone else seems to want to adopt outside of the country I was wondering if there was a reason for this???? Thank you

Hello I can't speak for others, but at 45 I was considered too old to adopt in SA. Other countries allow this. it is easier to adopt from SA than to adopt "into SA". There are agencies in SA who will help you if you fit the criteria. All the best.

I was just wondering if any one knows what the latest status of the sa goverment is on russian doptions?I would appreciate so information. @ SwissSA,your PM box is full ;) please could you pm me some more info? Thank you in advance :)

Hi Everyone... wow - how frustrating to see that most of these posts are from last year already and I am getting the same answers from our local authorities in SA now... MORE THAN A YEAR LATER!!! My husband I are are hoping to adopt from Ukraine... but getting things done in SA is hard. We've gone so far as to contact the Ukraine authorities and we've told them that we've been told by the SA authorities that South Africa only has an adoption agreement with India... According to Ukrain authorities, its nonsense and we should be able to adopt as we wish, whereever we wish to adopt from... But how on earth does one go about it when we cant get the paperwork done on this side!! I am so terribly confused by the whole thing... and rather frustrated to say the least!!! I'd really appreciate feedback from anyone in SA who's in the same boat as us, who is facing the same struggle and who holds the same hope in their hearts... I must say that when i spoke to our officials last week (yes, after LOTS of calls to FULL mailboxes I finally got through to a very pleasant lady) I was told that maybe next year things would be ironed out and that we'd have options regarding international adoptions... I am realllllly holding thumbs for that... but after reading this thread I'm slightly dispondant as it seems that many of you were told the same thing 18 months ago!!! Please keep the thread alive with any information any of you get!!! Thanks so much!! :-)

Hi Everybody;At first, I was so excited to have come across this page, as I thought I would get the answers I've been searching for for a long time... to my disappointment, I realized how old this thread is and that nothing has changed in two years.I am a white male in SA - me and my partner would like to like to Adopt a Baby to be brought up with much love, security and education.If anybody made new grounds or there is any new info available, please share with us on the thread, or PM me.Thank you all - God bless...LeeuSA

contact if you are still interested in adopting a baby . waiting to read from you asap or if you know of any adoptive parent that is willing and serious in adopting a baby please direct them to me (solangemooh1@yahoo.com)

Hi all Just read the thread this morning, today being 22 Sep 2012. Is there any progress about this topic? Perhaps if someone could post the tel numbers and departments and names of those they spoke to. And month to month one of us places a call and updates the thread? As long as the thread remains 'fresh'. I'll even do it - just need to know what number to dial and who to speak to :) A few good calls from various people might spur someone on to do something there. As well as the website URL of where their latest info is meant to be. Our many calls to keep their website updated to avoid the whole world phoning them for the same information, might actually work :) God bless. Butterfly777

Hi, I am also interested in finding out information on this topic. My husband and I (both South Africans) are interested in adopting from the EU (Russia or Bulgaria) or locally. I came across the Reeces Rainbow organisation a couple of years ago and it has stuck with me ever since.

First off, your country has ratified the Hague Convention on international adoption, an international treaty that is intended to make adoptions more clean and transparent, and to protect the rights of children, their birthmothers, and their adoptive families As a result, you are more likely to be able to adopt from India and other Hague-compliant countries than if South Africa had not ratified the Hague. The flip side is that, because you have ratified the Hague, your country may not allow you to adopt from non-Hague countries, like Russia. As a condition of ratification, your country needed to set up a "Central Authority" to handle adoptions from Hague-compliant countries. You need to find out what government agency has been designated the Central Authority. My understanding is that it is the following: Department of Social Development Registrar of Adoptions Private Bag X901 Pretoria 0001, South Africa Tel: 27-12-312-7592 Fax: 27-12-312-7837 Commissioner of Child Welfare Private Bag X61 Pretoria 0001, South Africa Tel: 27-12-328-4026 Fax: 27-12-321-8124 The Central Authority should be able to tell you which countries allow adoptions by South Africans. It should also be able to give you a copy of the regulations for adopting from those countries and immigrating the children to South Africa. (Remember that adoption and immigration are two separate processes and, just because you can adopt from a certain country, doesn't mean that you can get an immigrant visa for the child from your own government. Be careful; make sure you can both adopt and immigrate the child that may be referred to you. Under the Hague, you generally cannot adopt independently. The reason is that, historically, independent adoptions have had a much higher incidence of fraud than adoptions through licensed, nonprofit agencies or government entities. The good news is that, if you use a long-established, experienced agency, it will know all the rules of your country and your chosen country, and you won't have to spend a lot of time, as you've been doing, trying to figure out what's needed. Also, you can be more confident that your adoption will be ethical and will go through. The downside is that you may spend a little more. Your country does not oppose international adoption. In fact, it is currently working on accrediting foreign agencies that want to place children FROM South Africa with foreign families, which is usually a more emotionally charged topic. Please let me know if you have any questions, but really, the best place to ask is your country's Central Authority for international adoptions. Sharon

Hi everyone I am from the US and I was looking for a baby from any African country and came in contact with this woman Belvia over the internet. She helped me get a child from motherless children home in South Africa. She can help you all get babies from any country in Africa. You can contact her through her email address at belviaatras@gmail.com.She adoptions are cheaper and fast.