Adoption: who is going to look after the children?

Foster care is the most widely preferred form of alternative care in South Africa for children whose families have abandoned or relinquished them. Yet research shows that adoption is the best possible alternative for children. ZITHA MOKOMANE and TAMSEN ROCHAT looked into why people do not want to adopt children. Adoption is the least popular childcare choice, and there are indications that less and less people want to adopt, leaving children for whom there is no immediate alternative care within their extended family exceptionally vulnerable to the devastating long-term effects of putting them into an institution.