Adoption process in South Africa: Experiences of transracial adoptive families

• TRA practice relies on interpretation of complex and contradictory laws and policies. • Prospective adoptive parents find the process demanding, lengthy and bureaucratic. • Adoption social workers and magistrates have significant discretion in the process. • Screening, matching and placement occur in inconsistent and poorly demarcated order. • Adoptive parents are confused, anxious and lack trust in adoption service providers. Transracial adoption in South Africa rests on many laws and policies aimed to ensure access to social services, including adoption to all children in need. The number of adoptions, including transracial adoptions, finalised annually is low and has continued to decrease in recent years. The perceptions and experiences of the process of adoption impacts on the number of prospective adoptive parents coming forward to adopt. The adoption process may also impact on the ability of adoptive parents to parent transracially adopted children appropriately. This paper reports on the experiences, challenges and tasks of the adoption process of prospective transracial adoptive parents in South Africa. Data were gathered via family interviews and focus groups of 26 transracial adoptive families, based in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Results revealed four themes, namely: demanding adoption process beset by adoption-related bureaucracy; lack of uniformity of the adoption process; lack of separation of different aspects of the adoption process; and ambivalence towards adoption service providers. Having clarity about the laws and policies related to adoption increases the transparency of the process and ensures that adoption is executed in an ethical way in line with the relevant laws and policies.