{"id":1414,"date":"2005-04-14T10:56:59","date_gmt":"2005-04-14T10:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=1414"},"modified":"2010-09-25T10:58:22","modified_gmt":"2010-09-25T10:58:22","slug":"international-adoptions-in-legal-limbo-law-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/international-adoptions-in-legal-limbo-law-society\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS IN LEGAL LIMBO: LAW SOCIETY"},"content":{"rendered":"
Source: Newsbrief<\/a><\/div>\n

CAPE TOWN 14 April 2005 Sapa<\/p>\n

International adoptions of South African children are in a state
\nof legal limbo, with legislation to give effect to an international
\nconvention signed in 2003 not yet enacted.<\/p>\n

„In effect we have a legal anomaly. We have acceded to a legal
\nconvention, but everything that we are doing is ultra vires because
\nit’s not part of our law… We are operating extra-judicially, can
\nyou imagine the implications?“ asked Susan Abro, chairwoman of the
\nfamily law committee of the Law Society of South Africa.<\/p>\n

She was talking about the country establishing a central
\nadoption authority under the Hague Convention. The convention
\nregulates inter-country adoptions to prevent child trafficking and
\nillegal adoptions.<\/p>\n

However, the Children’s Bill which will set up the authority has
\nnot yet been enacted.<\/p>\n

Abro said the Law Society wanted lawyers to be part of the
\nprocess of adopting children – now almost exclusively the domain
\nof social workers – because it was a legal process involving a
\nchange in status for the child and the adoptive parents.<\/p>\n

„It is absolutely fundamental for lawyers to be part of the
\nprocess to best ensure the interests of the child,“ she said.<\/p>\n

Debbie Wybrow, an attorney involved in inter-country placements,
\nsaid the issue of adoptions was a „huge political hot potato“.<\/p>\n

Some in government though that considering international
\nadoptions was an admission that South Africa could not take care of
\nits own children.<\/p>\n

„(But) there are too many children (to adopt)… it shouldn’t be
\nseen as a failure,“ she said.<\/p>\n

The Department of Social Development began an audit in March to
\ndetermine the need for inter-country adoptions.<\/p>\n

The number of local, mostly black orphans, estimated in the
\nhundreds of thousands, increases yearly as Aids takes its toll on
\nthe adult population.<\/p>\n

„We would like to assess if enough efforts are being made by the
\nadoption organisations to recruit adoptive parents within the
\ncountry… before considering inter-country adoptions,“ said Dr
\nMaria Mabetoa, chief director of the children, youth and family
\ndirectorate at the department.<\/p>\n

She said international adoption should be a last resort.<\/p>\n

Mabetoa said South Africa now worked with 11 foreign countries.
\nNone of these are in Africa, because most of them have not signed
\nthe Hague Convention.<\/p>\n

Mabetoa said because HIV\/Aids orphaned many children, the
\ncentral authority was preparing guidelines so that HIV-positive
\nbabies were not discriminated against.<\/p>\n

Lynette Schreuder, a director at Child Welfare SA, said the
\nDepartment of Social Development would be the central authority
\nfacilitating inter-country adoptions.<\/p>\n

The central authority would accredit organisations to conduct
\nthe actual adoptions with countries that have agreements with South
\nAfrica, such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium and Germany.<\/p>\n

Schreuder said while there was no moratorium on international
\nadoptions, government was reluctant to enter into new arrangements
\nwith other countries.<\/p>\n

„If we have exhausted all other avenues for trying to place
\nchildren in this country, then children should be adopted by
\noverseas parents. We believe this is a viable option so that
\nchildren have a family.“<\/p>\n

Schreuder said there were opposing views on „transracial“ or
\n„transcultural“ adoptions.<\/p>\n

Child Welfare’s position was that one should not consider race,
\ncolour or creed, but rather the child’s right to a family.<\/p>\n

The placement of the child should also follow correct
\nprocedures.<\/p>\n

Schreuder said the organisation had some concerns about the
\ncentral authority, which might lack resources from government
\nperform its task effectively.<\/p>\n

„Many organisations had to disband their adoption units or scale
\ndown because of a lack of resources. If the central authority
\nrefers cases to accredited NGOs they have to finance them to do the
\nwork.“<\/p>\n

Schreuder said by accrediting organisations, the authority would
\nalso be able to monitor unscrupulous agents.<\/p>\n

She said Child Welfare SA was against lawyers becoming involved
\nin adoptions. Schreuder said social workers were experts in
\nadoption work and could effectively protect children’s rights.
\nThere was „no role“ for attorneys.<\/p>\n

Mabetoa, however, said the department supported limited
\ninvolvement of lawyers.<\/p>\n

„The department does not agree with full control of an adoption
\nplacement by a legal practitioner outside an accredited or
\ndesignated NGO delivering child protection services.“<\/p>\n

Mabetoa said lawyers‘ clients were usually the adoptive parents
\nwho paid huge fees, and sometimes the lawyers did not act in the
\nchild’s best interests.<\/p>\n

She said the central authority would only accredit child
\nprotection organisations to perform local and international
\nadoptions. Lawyers should belong to such organisations if they
\nwanted to be involved in the adoption process.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Newsbrief CAPE TOWN 14 April 2005 Sapa International adoptions of South African children are in a state of legal limbo, with legislation to give effect to an international convention signed in 2003 not yet enacted. „In effect we have a legal anomaly. We have acceded to a legal convention, but everything that we are… Weiter »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1415,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1414\/revisions\/1415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}