ADOPTION POLICY FRAMEWORK AND
STRATEGY
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
26- OCTOBER 2010
1
OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENTATION
•
•
•
•
•
•
Purpose
Process of developing the
strategy
Problem statement
Methodology
Policy context
Current adoption practice
Situational Analysis
•
•
Patterns of adoption
Characteristics of children adopted
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Types of alternative care and
characteristics
New opportunities
Strategic perspective
Vision
Objectives and strategic actions
Barriers to adoptions
Monitoring and evaluation
Policy Recommendations
Costing
Recommendations
Action Plan
2
Contents of the Policy Framework and Strategy for
Adoption
•
•
•
Foreword By Minister
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary
•
Chapter 1: Background history of
adoptions in South Africa
• Chapter 2: Policy context
• Chapter 3: Situational Analysis
• Chapter 4: Strategic Perspective
• Chapter 5: Barriers to adoptions
• Chapter 6: Monitoring and
evaluation
• Chapter 7: Policy
Recommendations
• Chapter 8: Costing
• Chapter 9: Conclusions and
Recommendations
• Chapter 10: Action Plan
• Annexures
3
Purpose
• To provide feedback on the progress made
in relation to the development of the
adoption policy framework and strategy
• To request approval of the adoption policy
framework and strategy
4
PROBLEM STATEMENT
• Adoption as a placement option has been widely
under-utilised in SA, due to the following :
- Most children are being placed in foster care which
is a temporary placement rather than being
permanently placed in adoption.
- There are barriers preventing people from adopting
children
such as
socio – cultural obstacles, service provider
obstacles children
- There is lack of financial support towards the
adoptive families & adopted children, especially
those with special needs
5
METHODOLODY
• The policy framework and strategy consists of the document and
literature review which is aimed at understanding the various
frameworks, mechanisms and contexts that could facilitate/ inhibit the
uptake of adoption in SA, as well as the strategies that could be
implemented to increase the number of prospective adoptive parents
and children.
• Analysis of secondary data from the national Adoptions Register was
further reviewed to establish the levels and trends of adoption, as well
as to compile a brief socio-demographic profile of adoptive parents
and adopted children
• The policy framework and strategy incorporates the findings and
recommendations of the research undertaken by the Human Science
Research Council.
6
Policy context
Legislation
• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996)
•
•
•
The Children’s Act 38 0f 2005
White Paper for Social Welfare, 1997
National Policy Framework and Strategic Plan for the Prevention and
Management of Child Abuse, Neglect & Exploitation
Global and Regional commitments
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989
• African Common Position on Children: Africa Fit for Children, 2001
• The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and
Cooperation in Respect of inter-country Adoption, 1993
• The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990
7
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
•
•
•
•
The estimated number of children under the age of 18 years is 18.8 million in
2007, younger children in the 0-4 years age group comprises almost (28%) of
the child population (The Presidency, 2009).
The estimated number of adoptable children can be gleaned from recent
statistics of children in foster care as well as those deprived of parental care,
including orphans, children living in child-headed households and children in
residential care as shown in below:
Street children are also another category of children often deprived of parental
care. However, due to their unpredictable lifestyle, it is often difficult to
collect reliable data on them, and to determine their precise number (Mufune,
2000; Volpi, 2003). As a result, the research on these children in recent years,
estimates from the 1990s, and indicated that there were between 9,000 and
10,000 street children in SA.
Although the statistics shows the number of children that are in need of
parental care and might be available for adoption, the data is not sufficient to
accurately estimate the number of adoptable children in South Africa.
8
Estimated number of adoptable children
Estimated number of orphaned children in
2007
668 000
Estimated number of children living in childheaded households in 2007
150 000
Estimated number of children in state owned
children’s homes as end of October 2009
14 599
Number of children in Foster care March 2010
510 766 foster children receiving foster
child grants
9
Number of children adopted
National
Inter-country Total
March 2005
2 601
239
2840
March 2006
2 520
248
2768
March 2007
2560
256
2816
March 2008
2058
231
2289
March 2009
1150
218
1368
January 2010
2244
234
2478
Total
13133
1426
14559
10
Patterns of adoption
National adoptions by cross-cultural information
• National Adoption Register shows that the majority of national
adoptions in the recent years took place within the same culture/ same
racial group
• With intercountry adoption, this pattern may be a reflection of the
Department’s policy that prioritises adoption of children within their
own communities/country of origin.
• There are no legal barriers to trans-racial / cross-cultural adoptions in
SA in terms of the Child Care Act.
National adoptions by family type
• Data from the Adoption Register shows that in recent years the most
popular type of adoption was step adoption; followed by foster
adoption that had a particular peak in 2007; family adoption has
remained steady, while biological adoption has been the least popular.
National adoptions
• In terms of the characteristics of adoptive parents, it is noted that single
adoptive parents were the highest as compared to married couples to
adopt children from 2004 till 2007. However the trend seemed to have
been reversed from 2008 till 2009
11
Total No. of Court Adoption Orders
National adoptions by cross-cultural information
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1 April 2004-31
March 2005
1 April 2005-31
March 2006
1 April 2006-31
March 2007
1 April 2007-31
March 2008
1 April 2008-31
March 2009
Year
Crosscultural
Same Culture
12
Characteristics of children adopted
Previous research has revealed that the uptake of adoption can be influenced by several
individual characteristics of prospective adoptees, including demographic variables such
as age, race and gender .
Age
•
It has generally been found that the likelihood of being adopted decreases with age, with possible
explanations for this being case workers’ concerns over the safety of young people, and older
children being less attractive to potential adoptive families due to their well-documented increased
risk of placement disruption after adoption.
•
Additionally, the cost of adoption becomes a major concern when families consider adoption of older
children, because adolescents generally have expensive desires and needs
•
This is evident in South Africa where the study revealed that the overwhelming majority of
prospective adoptive parents prefer babies.
Gender
•
With regard to gender, a number of studies from Western countries have noted a strong preference
towards adopting girls. Several theories attempt to explain this notion, that girls may be easier to
raise because they are less aggressive and more submissive
•
In the case of intercountry adoptions, girls may be able to assimilate into the receiving society more
easily than their male counterparts
•
Study reveals that South Africans do not seem to have a clear gender preference with regard to
adoptable children .The overall experience in South Africa is that gender is not usually the deciding
factor; as long as the baby is healthy the adoptive parents are often satisfied.
13
Characteristics of children adopted cont
Race
• In SA, African, Indian and Coloured children are less likely to be adopted than
White children, even though, the large majority of children who are orphaned,
abandoned, and in alternative care are Africans.
• A relatively low levels of adoption among Indians may reflect the fact that,
with the very close circle of family bonding and boundaries, Indians would
find adoption very challenging because, by its nature, it introduces someone
from outside the family.
• White South Africans may be more comfortable adopting trans-racially.
• The racial pattern is reversed when data for inter-country adoptions are
analysed, majority of African children made up the bulk of inter-country
adoptions in the recent years, with Coloured, White and Indian children
following in that order.
• Inter-country adopters will almost have a limited choice in terms of the race of
their prospective adoptive child.
14
National adoptions by family type
•
Biological adoption: Adoption of a child by his biological father who was not
married to the child’s mother when the child was born;
•
Family adoption: Adoption of a child by relatives, e.g. uncle, aunt, grand-parent etc;
•
Foster adoption: Adoption of a child by a foster parent, a person who legally
fostered the child; and
•
Step adoption: Adoption of a step child by a step-parent
15
Total No. of Court Adoption Orders
National adoptions by Family Type
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1 April 2004-31
March 2005
1 April 2005-31
March 2006
1 April 2006-31
March 2007
1 April 2007-31
March 2008
1 April 2008-31
March 2009
Year
Biological
Family
Foster
Step
16
Legitimacy
• Abandoned (children who are given up by their parents and whose
parents cannot be traced, e.g. children who are left at hospitals and
streets by their parent);
• Children born out of wedlock, born of unmarried parents, and
• Children born within marriage. It also covers children whose
parents have separated or divorced, as long the child was born within
marriage
17
National Adoptions by legitimacy
Adoptions
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1 April 2004-31
1 April 2005-31
1 April 2006-31
1 April 2007-31
1 April 2008-31
March 2005
March 2006
March 2007
March 2008
March 2009
Year
Abandoned
out of wedlockL wedlock
18
Patterns of adoption
Using the available information in the National Adoptions Register,
this section shows the various patterns of adoption in South Africa.
Inter-country adoptions
• Inter-country adoptions have almost doubled in the last 10 years,
driven by changes in fertility and other demand and supply factors
• Many African countries have shown little interest in inter-country
adoptions and the Hague Convention in particular, because of the
burden of supervision, administrative control and the wide range of
services that countries of origin need to provide to ensure successful
placement
• SA is one of the few African countries that have acceded to the Hague
Convention on Inter-country Adoption in (acceeded 1December 2003)
• National adoptions are prioritised over inter -country adoptions.
• The Adoption Register shows a steady but very small increase in intercountry adoptions and the overwhelmingly large proportion of national
adoptions.
19
Racial breakdown of inter-country adoptions
Year
White
African
Indian
Coloured
Total
1 April 2004 – 7
31 March 2005
208
2
22
239
1 April 2005 – 1
31 March 2006
233
0
14
248
1 April 2006 – 0
31 March 2007
250
0
6
256
1 April 2007 – 1
31 March 2008
220
0
10
231
1 April 2008 – 5
31 March 2009
192
0
21
218
Totals:
1 103
2
73
1 192
14
20
Inter country adoptions by receipt countries
Nigeria
1
Namibia
1
Ireland
1
Australia
1
Zimbabw e
5
United Kingdom
5
Botsw ana
7
Country
USA
15
Luxemburg
44
Canada
45
Austria
46
Norw ay
57
Belgium
71
Finland
137
Denmark
190
Netherlands
226
Sw eden
249
Germany
301
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Num ber of Children Adopted from South Africa
21
WHO ADOPTS
Total No. of Court Ordered
Adoptions
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1 April 2004-31
March 2005
1 April 2005-31
March 2006
1 April 2006-31
March 2007
1 April 2007-31
March 2008
1 April 2008-31
March 2009
Year
Married
Single
22
Racial breakdown of national adoptions
Year
White
African
Indian
Coloured
Total
1 April 2004 – 31 March
2005
1 118
989
51
443
2 601
1 April 2005 – 31 March
2006
1 106
898
90
426
2 520
1 April 2006 – 31 March
2007
1 003
1 023
50
484
2 560
1 April 2007 – 31 March
2008
934
772
63
286
2 058
1 April 2008—31 March
2009
602
432
48
68
1 150
Totals
4 763
4 117
302
1 707
10 889
23
Types of alternative care and characteristics
Type
Characteristics
Foster care
Short term placement
Children are not permanent
Aging out at 18 years
Adoptions
Permanent placement
Child belongs to family
Residential care
Short term placement children not permanent
Leave RC at 18
24
BARRIERS TO ADOPTION
Types of barriers identified
Service provider obstacles
- Legal and judicial systems
- Resource allocation obstacle
- Knowledge-based obstacles
- Socio-cultural obstacles
25
Strategic perspective
• Vision
The provision of a stable and permanent home
for children requiring alternative care
26
New opportunities brought
As is
New
Rigid Legal position
Flexibility in legal processes for
adoption
More children in foster care
Permanency planning for children who
are adoptable
Adoption practice privatized
Government involved in rendering of
adoption services
Adoption agencies not accredited by
SACSSP
Adoption agencies accredited by DSD
Lack of prospective adoptive parents
and adoptable children
RACAP promotes and facilitates
placement of children
Ad hoc promotion of adoption services
Coordinated promotion of adoption
services
27
OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS
The over-all objective of an adoption strategy for South Africa is to
promote adoption as the preferred form of permanent placement of
children.
This could be achieved by –
(a) taking the opportunities presented by the new legal framework to
popularize adoption.
(b) minimising impediments to adoption through providing adequate
technical and human resources to support adoption services and to
enable effective service delivery in adoption;
(c) improving resource allocation
(d) improving the knowledgebase of communities and service providers
on adoption
(e) improving the understanding socio-cultural beliefs and practises of
adoption
28
OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS
Objective 1:
Taking the opportunities presented by the new legal framework to
popularize, adoption services
• Register on Adoptable Children and Prospective Adoptive Parents (RACAP)
• Post-adoption agreements
• Promoting Open Adoptions
• Freeing orders
• Family reunification and permanency planning
• Termination of parental responsibilities and rights
• Defining adoptable children
• Identification of adoptable children in alternative care
29
OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS (cont’d)
Objective2:
Minimising impediments to adoption through providing adequate
technical and human resources to support adoption services and to
enable effective service delivery in adoption
• This includes both intra-organisational, inter-system and personal
obstacles in direct service provider organisations such as child welfare
and the legal system.
• Providing adequate technical and human resources to support adoption
services and to enable effective service delivery in adoption.
• Building capacity of adoption service providers and stakeholders to
improve adoption systems and processes as there is lack of
consistency and uniformity in the interpretation and implementation of
key child care legislation by different stakeholders in particular
adoption service providers and magistrates
30
OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS
(cont’d)
Objective 3: Improving resource allocation
• This relates to the common and chronic lack of specialised services to
address the special needs of adopted children and their families,
• Insufficient resources in many communities to finance their
programme development, or to sustain them over time.
31
OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS (cont’d)
Objective 4:
Improving the knowledge base of communities and service providers on
adoption services:
• Widespread lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the unique
dynamics of adoption, the typical issues confronting adopted children and their
families, the risk factors that undermine adoption, and the factors that stabilise,
strengthen, and preserve adoptive families.
• Raising awareness, promotion and marketing of adoption as the preferred
option: This includes appropriate outreach, marketing, public relations and
community programmes to make information on adoption readily available.
• Shortage of prospective adoptive parents, especially from the African
community
• Adoption as a form of permanent alternative care has not received widespread
promotion.
• Recruitment of prospective adoptive parents is currently carried out in an ad
hoc manner and its reach is limited by lack of financial support.
32
OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC ACTIONS
(cont’d)
Objective 5:
Improving the understanding socio- cultural beliefs and
practices of adoption:
• This focuses on traditional belief systems and cultural understandings
of the permanency of various care practices.
33
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Adoption Grant:
•
•
•
•
•
It is noted from the research that people are in favour of an adoption grant in that this
would enable more people to adopt and would help in alleviating the pressure that the
foster care system is placing on the system.
An adoption grant is more necessary in that previously prospective parents were
screened on the basis of income to ensure that they had sufficient means to care for the
child. Such screening is no longer allowed under the new Act.
A government needs to have some way of ensuring that the needs of the child are met,
and a grant would go some way towards doing this. A grant could also help in correcting
the current skew in the race profile of prospective and actual adoptive parents (and
children) in that it is black prospective parents who are more likely to be poor.
The total cost of an adoption grant would be relatively small when compared to the costs
of the child support and foster care grants given the much smaller numbers of children
that would be covered even if an adoption strategy succeeds in increasing the adoption
rate.
Further, unless all the monitoring, renewal and after-care services that accompany foster
care are made applicable for adopted children, the non-grant costs of the adoption grant
would be less than that of the foster care grant. Thus, to the extent that currently fostered
children are adopted, government will save money with an adoption grant.
34
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS (CONT)
•
•
•
•
•
•
An adoption grant could be introduced without any serious concerns about affordability.
This conclusion is reached on the assumption that the number of new adoptions would
increase at a rate of 10% per year as a result both of the publicity and new efforts of the
introduction of a “new” adoption strategy and the incentive of the adoption grant.
The adoption grant can be utilised for children who are in long term foster care.
The benefits for these children include a permanent family and improved legal status.
Additionally there could be capacity and resource efficiencies as the state would not be
required to review the placements as it is currently the practice in foster care.
This action would impact on the present number of children in foster care. Foster care
can continue to be utilised as an interim arrangement as was originally envisioned. A
policy and strategy can be developed to manage the transition from foster care to
adoption.
It is therefore, strongly recommended that adoption is promoted for children who are
identified as adoptable who are in long term care. Consideration must be given to the
utilisation of foster care as an interim placement.
35
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS (cont’d)
Cultural sensitive adoption
•
•
•
•
•
•
It is evident from the African cultural perspective, that consideration should be given to
‘Africanising’ the concept of adoption to be more culturally appropriate and relevant.
Efforts need to be made to promote adoption based on the cultural beliefs of people.
If through this process, the concept of adoption is developed into something which resonates more
closely with cultural belief systems, it is likely the adoptive prospects of the most vulnerable group of
children (those with no extended family who are placed indefinitely in institutional care) may
improve.
If through this process, the concept of adoption is developed into something which resonates more
closely with cultural belief systems, it is likely the adoptive prospects of the most vulnerable group of
children (those with no extended family who are placed indefinitely in institutional care) may
improve.
The beliefs expressed in the research suggest that outside of family networks it is strongly believed
that children should be raised within their own country and their culture, even if they are not able to
be raised by their kin. This perspective was most evident in the clear preference for national over
inter country adoption.
Consultation with traditional leaders to guide the development of a system where by African rituals
and practices are incorporated; where culturally sensitive approaches to naming and renaming
children; and cultural perspectives on how children come to belong are included would be strongly
recommended to increase the adoptability of children within their own cultural systems.
36
Financial costs
Register on adoptable children and prospective adoptive parents
(RACAP)
• The estimated total cost to complete the development of the RACAP is
R729, 600.00; the amount will cover the following:
• 2 x Web Application Development service R350.00 for 4 months
R448,000.00
• Integration Specialist service @ R600.00 on consultation per day for 1
month
= R192,000.00
• Total excluding vat
= R640,000.00
• VAT
= R89,600.00
• TOTAL INCLUDING VAT
= R729,600.00
37
Financial Costs (cont)
Communication strategy
Yr1
•
•
•
•
•
•
5 x Community dialogues
Publication Material (posters, videos, pamphlets)
National launch Media Campaign
Capacity Building
Training manuals
Total
R250,
R500,
R2m
R400,
R350,
R4M
Yr2
R350 ,
R550
R2,5m
R420,
R200,
R4,92m
YR3
R400,
R600
R3,5m
R450,
R200
R5,15m
38
Costing (cont)
3. Provinces
Resources
• 4 Social work posts (level 9)
R10, 728. 360
• Computers, Stationary and telephones R360, 000, 00
• Telephones
R86, 400, 00
• Availability of office space (confidential)
R15,172.360
(R168, 582 per province)
•
Yr 1 GRAND TOTAL
R37, 112, 36
39
Costing (cont)
Adoption grant
Year 1
•
2 500 children per annum
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Adoption grant of 680 p.a.
R20, 400, 000
Admin fee of R27, 00 p.a.
810, 000
Total adoption grant per annum = R 21 210, 000
Year 2
5000 children per annum
Adoption grant of 680, 00 p.a.
R40, 800, 000
Admin fee of R27, 00 p.a.
1,620, 000
Total adoption grant per annum
R42, 420, 000
•
Year 3
•
•
•
•
7 500 children per annum
Adoption grant of R 680 p.a.
Admin fee of R27 p.a .
Total adoption grant per annum
=
R 612 000,000
2,430,000
R 614,430,000
40
Action plan
Output
Indicators
Time Frame
Year1
Implementation of
RACAP
Register operational
March 2011
Identifying children
who are adoptable
Audit of adoptable children in alternative care
March 2011
Promotion of adoption
services
Public awareness campaigns
Community dialogues
Media campaign
Recruitment Campaign for adoptive parents
March 2010
Capacity building of
services providers
Training of provincial and CPO staff
March 2011
41
Action plan
Output
Indicators
Time Frame
Year 2
Improve financial resources for
adoption
Consultation on adoption subsidy
proposal
March 2012
Increase number of social
service professionals
Increase to 50% of required numbers
March 2012
Increase the number of children
adopted
Increase number of children adopted
by 20%
March 2012
Impact evaluation of the
strategy
Study completed
March 2012
Year 3
42
Recommendations
It is recommended that:
• Portfolio Committee on Social Dvelopment takes cognizance of the
content of the Policy Framework and Strategy to promote adoption in
South Africa.
• Note the approved the strategic action plan and
• Note the cost implications
43