Any S.A. adoptive parents out there??

Hi there I adopted from SOuth Africa last year... my little boy is now 16 months and I just absolutely adore him.. where are you located?

Clear across the country from you! We are in Yorktown, Virginia - but (I checked your profile) I "know" online another South African national who is I think living in Texas and is in the process of adopting domestically (U.S.) drop me an e-mail, it's in my profile! S.A. is a beautiful country - I didn't get to see near enough of it....most of our time was in Durban.....

Hi there Michelle Who did you use in South Africa to do the adoption?

We worked with Robyn Chaplin - she's married now, but I can't think of her last name! I was referred to 2 agencies in S.A., by an agency here. They each gave me the name of a different social worker. The boys' BirthMom chose the one she was most comfortable with. I know she was working on another adoption as we left - an older girl (8 I think) that a missionary couple had met when there were out on a mission....they were in San Francisco, and for some reason were having trouble with their paperwork, I never understood exactly that the problem was....I know it was before S.A. was closed to foreign adoptions. Where in S.A. are you from? We spent our time mostly in Durban and around (Valley of 1,000 hills was a favorite sit and relax spt for us) but also made it to Capetown, including the wine country and the Cape itself - very windy that day, but very neat to see the Altlantic dip under the Indian ocean - Jo-berg, Pretoria, and HluHluwewe-Umfolozi Game Park (sp?).

Dear Lyn, Like you, I ended up in this forum after several hours searching the 'net (off and on for the past few months). Also, without having (what could probably fail) IVF, I am unable to conceive a child of my own, and so....here I am! Exploring the adoption route! Why do they now say you have a snowballs chance to adopt a Caucasian child? This really worries me!!! There are so many problems surrounding adopting a child outside of your own ethnic and cultural background that inasmuch as I would love ANY child, the ramifications are huge later on in the childs life (it's hard enough bringing up a child that has the same cultural background, I think!) I thought it was easier now to adopt from Eastern Europe? Where have you tried? I mean, with which agencies? And what is the "home study" thing all about? I really am struggling to find concrete answers to these questions - perhaps we can help each other a bit!! I think my email address is shown, but if not, you are most welcome to drop me a line on tagregory@telkomsa.net Love to all the other SAF's out there!Traci

Karyn and other Canadians; I would be very interested in hearing more about your experience. We are a white couple residing in NS and are interested in SA adoption. Any advice you can offer is appreciated! We can be reached at hollyhatt@hotmail.com Congratulations to you all on what sounds like beautiful families. Cheers, Holly

Hi all!my husband and I are Australians hoping to adopt from South Africa. So far we keep getting a brick wall. I haven't had a chance yet to read through this thread but am excited to find you all and will enjoy reading all your thoughts above. If any one has any thoughts to share with me I'd love to hear from you, either here or via pm. Thanks for reading!:)

Hi Joy We are a Canadian family and had hoped to adopt from SA. Our Canadian consulate finally said that they would not allow SA kids into Canada. I know a Canadian family that adopted twin and it took then a few years to get them out of SA and into Canada. I am not sure how SA in doing with implementing the Hague convention.... but when we were hoping to adopt they were just starting. We ended up adopting from Liberia. It was very simple and quick. A infant adoption takes 2 weeks in Liberia. I am not sure how that would work for an Austrailian famiy as you have more srestrictive adoption rules than we do. (Canada is also a Hague country.) I am sorry that I do not have better news for you - I just know for Canadians it really isn't possible right now. Carol

Not knowing when you went through your adoption...I can tell you that S.A. decided not to cooperate with countries who hadn't signed Hague - sometime in early 2003 I think. We adopted our sons there in July 2002, I think the U.S. still has not signed- but I'm not sure. I know our next adoption will be domestic (U.S.) or not at all. I was there for 4 months and a week. Can't do it again.

Sorry - Yes I should have given a time frame on our SA adoption attempt. We were looking at doing the adoption in 2003. Our problem wasn't the SA government but the Canadian immigration. Most of the adoptions at theat time anyway were being done wilt a guardianship order and then the adoption order was granted in your home country. This is good enough for us when we adopted from the USA but the Canadain Immigration in SA did not like this. That is where the problems happened. It is 2006 now and I really don't know how things are working. When we went to adopt again our Canadian social worker/adoption agency had just finished getting these kids out of SA and were clear that they were not going to do another adoption from SA. Much too long to complete immigration. I can probably dig up the name of the lawyer who is doing the guardianship orders but I can not recommend him as I know of no one who has used him. (The Canadain adoption agency that we used had a social worker from South Africa on staff and even then could not set up a program.) Carol

Hi, I'm from SA, Gauteng. We were lucky to adopt a caucasian(?) boy 4yr ago....We waited 3 yr! We heard that we might be getting a second baby in 3 weeks time!(also caucasian)...We've waited 4yr now for the second one! I so want to get excited, already baught some stuff...but that little fear always stays in my head....what if....So please pray for us that this will work out. Lyn1011, I agree...infertility treatment is the worse! The other day I went for colonoscopy and gastroscopy....everybody said that its such a bad procedure to go through...I said, no, this is NOTHING in comparison with infertility treatment! For those that are thinking of adopting, go for it! This is a WONDERFULL and BLESSED eperience! I agree....If you want info on adopting from SA, search the net for Krawitz and Shenker adoptions, in Johannesburg. They are very good social workers with a VERY good reputation, and they do international adoptions. But as far as I know we can only do international adoptions from Russia? They also started their own home of safety and has plenty of babies...don't know if they are up for adoption?

Sorry, I didn't read all the posts...But am I the only one living in SA? We stay here...been born here and adopted 2 lovely boys RSA.....:love:

Hi Rubi! So great to see someone who lives in SA on here! This is a VERY quiet forum - the last post was in 2006! Anyways - where abouts are you? We live in Canada with our two SA boys and our bio daughter- but are most likely going to be in Cape Town for 2010 while I study at UCT. I'd SO love to chat with you about your experiences with adoption and living in SA - are you South African citizens? Hope to chat more soon...Karyn

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I am from RSA but currently live in the US. I was born on Joburg and have been home frequently but lived here for a long time. My partner and I are looking to adopt and thought it would be great if we could adopt a baby from RSA. I have had trouble with the research I have done and it seems like all of your posts have been from years back. Does anyone know how the adoption rules have changed over the years as far as caucasian babies from South Africa to the US? Is that even an option? I always need an excuse to go back to Cape Town and visit family but from the sounds of it things may be difficult when it comes to adopting, am I right? Thanks, Jo

Did anyone ever respond to you? I am also interested in adopting like you.