South African wanting to adopt...

Hi there, what I understand from K&S is that (back in '06) they had to rely on an American go-between which made the process quite costly and added to the complexity of the matter since they were working with 3 jurisdictions on opposite ends of the planet, inevitably diverting a lot of resources that are better spent closer to home. With the Hague convention in force, as you rightly point out, South African agencies have to be accredited to handle adoptions in Russia, so I would think that going the agency-route isn't much of an option right now (if ever). In any case, it's always been my preference to do it independently and with the adoption of the Children's Act that option is finally available. I've been in contact with an attorney to handle things on the Russian side, and yeah... so far so good. As for the SA government's stance... the black-letter law seems fairly straightforward (famous last words, I know). Although, given the slew of policy-influencing factors at play, like foreigners also being allowed to adopt from SA, international humanitarian considerations, health concerns and cultural differences that exist within South Africa itself (to name but a few), the government would be hard-pressed to justify barring SA citizens from adopting internationally based on the "we've got plenty" argument. Plus, the purpose of the '93 convention is to make sure that a child doesn't go to foreigners if there are local people willing to adopt him or her. It does not, however, place any obligation upon nationals of a country to consider a local child before looking abroad. Practically speaking, the fact still remains that foreign adoption even without incurring exorbitant agency fees ֖ remains a cost intensive endeavour when compared to the local option, and so I can't see it being so widely practiced as to become an obstacle to the placement of local children. The only thing I know for sure is that this process is bound to be an arduous one as any commitment of this magnitude should be.