World Adoption Day highlights the importance for people to try and understand the process of adoption in South Africa.

The adoption process in South Africa is at times viewed as difficult and Kravits explains that the process ensures that the children are handed to suitable parents. Children as well need to be prepared for adoption and the children also would be assessed to ensure that they are adaptable, she notes.

The reason why the process may seem difficult is to make sure that the applicant knows what they want and why they want to adopt.

Sue Kravitz, Director - Child Protection and Adoption Services

Kravitz further explained that as part of the adoption process, Adoption South Africa also encourages adoptive parents to open up to their adoptive children about adoption as that will build trust and strengthen their bond.

As of 15 January 2023, Justus Kox will be appointed Director of Sanctions and Victims Policy, part of the Directorate-General for Punishment and Protection of the Ministry of Justice and Security.

Justin KoxShow options

Preventing crime, protecting victims and vulnerable persons, punishing perpetrators and offering perspective, that is what the Directorate-General for Punishment and Protection (DGSenB) stands for. The Sanctions and Victims Policy Directorate (DSenS) of the DGSenB focuses on the timely and careful implementation of custodial, freedom-restricting and monetary sanctions. Within all components, the protection and support of victims of crime is central.

The major tasks facing the Director of SenS together with the employees within the Board in the coming period include reducing recidivism by improving the effectiveness of the sanctions system and looking for ways to improve the TBS system and to improve the approach of people with disturbed behaviour. The development of multi-year policy to safeguard the interests and rights of victims and offenders is also an important priority. This requires a strong connection with the entire playing field of DSenS and the search for a balance between responsible implementation of policy assignments versus social and political pressure.

Eric Bezem, Director General of Punishment and Protection: 'We are very pleased that Justus is using his energy and connecting skills to improve the sanctions system and safeguard victims' rights. A policy area with a broad implementation practice with which there is intensive collaboration to ensure that the Netherlands becomes safer. That is in good hands with Justus.'

1693

Governor Sir William Phips of Massachusetts adopts a son, marking the first recorded legal adoption in the colonies.

1729

Ursuline nuns found the first orphanage in North America in Natchez, Mississippi.

1769

The move came after Mysuru based-NGO filed a petition before the SCRPC alleging that the SJM mutt was illegally running the Akkamahadevi hostel for orphans .

The Karnataka child rights committee on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the alleged irregularities at the Madilu adoption centre at the Sri Jagadguru Murugharajendra (SJM) mutt in Chitradurga, people familiar with the development said.

The state child rights protection commission (SCRPC) directed the state child protection directorate and Chitradurga superintendent of police (SP) to probe the alleged lapses of the district’s child welfare committee and district child protection unit (DCPU).

The move came after Mysuru based-NGO Odanadi filed a petition before the SCRPC alleging that the SJM mutt was illegally running the Akkamahadevi hostel for orphans under Madilu programme of the state government for decades.

The mutt registered the adoption centre with the state authorities only in 2018.

After celebrating World Adoption Day a week ago, we continue to cover important factors under this broad topic.

A WEEK ago, we celebrated World Adoption Day. Under this broad topic, we covered the adoption process in South Africa and the importance of this process. We highlighted what qualifies a minor to be adopted and who is eligible to adopt. In continuation of the topic, in this article, we highlight how to qualify for adoption and the remaining process of this legal action which includes the intervention of the Children’s Court, as well as clearing misconceptions.

According to the Department of Social Development, in order to qualify to be a prospective adoptive parent, you ‘must’ match the criteria as set out in Section 231 subsection 2. You need to be:

fit and proper to be entrusted with full parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the child;

willing and able to undertake, exercise and maintain those responsibilities and rights in respect of the child;

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Amy Klobuchar D-Minn., today introduced a bill to help save adoption agencies serving American families. The legislation, titled the “Voluntary Specialized Accreditation for Background Studies and Home Studies Act,” would help to remove barriers to intercountry adoption by increasing flexibility for adoption service providers and providing a new track for accreditation for agencies providing specialized services.

“There are countless children around the world with no parents or family to care for them, yet Americans who want to adopt these children are finding fewer adoption agencies available to help,” Wicker said. “This bipartisan bill would lower barriers for intercountry adoption, making it easier to welcome children into loving families.”

“Local adoption agencies help children around the world find the loving homes they deserve. But too often, families struggle to find accredited adoption service providers to assist them during the adoption process,” said Klobuchar. “By creating a specialized accreditation for small and medium-size providers that offer background and home studies, our bipartisan legislation ensures that families have trusted local agencies to help them navigate the adoption process and give children safe, stable homes.”

Current regulations require any organization wishing to provide adoption services to be accredited under a single standard. This rule means that specialized agencies that provide only a limited range of services have to pursue a costly accreditation that goes far beyond the scope of their work.

This bill would enable agencies that only offer “home studies” or “background studies” to be accredited in their area of expertise without having to be certified in other areas. This would allow specialized adoption agencies to continue operating and would lower the cost and time needed to stay accredited.

Newborn found abandoned in a bag in Lucknow, given to adoption centre

A newborn baby, found abandoned in a bag near the Apna Ghar shelter home in Lucknow’s Motinagar area, has been handed over to an adoption centre.

Lucknow: A newborn baby, found abandoned in a bag near the Apna Ghar shelter home in Lucknow’s Motinagar area, has been handed over to an adoption centre.

According to orders from the Child Welfare Committee, the baby has been handed over to the care of Lilawati Munshi Orphanage and Adoption Centre.

The baby was first discovered by a local women who then contacted Safalta Singh, in-charge of Apna Ghar Ashram, for help.

Bengaluru, Nov 15 (IANS): The State Children Protection Committee on Tuesday directed the Directorate of Child Protection to submit within seven days a report on the dereliction of duty by the officers concerned.

Based on committee's president Naganna Gowda's direction, the officers of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and Child Protection officers of Chitradurga will be inquired.

The order has been issued following the submission by Stanley and Parashu, founders of Odanadi NGO that exposed the scandal.

Several illegalities had come to light after the lodging of a POCSO case against Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru. The allegation surfaced on children being nursed in the mutt illegally without adhering to the guidelines of adoption.

Meanwhile, in yet another important development, Parashurama Nayaka, from the royal heritage of Chitradurga rulers, has demanded reformation of the historical cash rich Mutt's administrative board. He also stressed that the royal family should also have representation.

A three-part series coming to Amazon Prime Video will unpack the extraordinary story of a former Flintshire couple who made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic when they paid more than $10,000 to adopt twin baby girls.

Three Mothers, Two Babies and A Scandal will launch exclusively on Prime Video on Friday, November 18.

It will hear from the three of the women at the heart of an internet baby adoption scandal: Judith, Vickie and Tranda, speaking together for the very first time.

Judith and Alan Kilshaw paid $12,000 to adopt twin baby girls from a young American mother, Tranda.

Global outrage ensued. The Kilshaws stood accused of buying the babies online and the new World Wide Web appeared to facilitate a global baby trade.

November is National Adoption Month, an occasion usually devoted to celebrating adoptive parents and asking more families to step up and care for children whose own parents are unable or unwilling to do so. But this year it might be more appropriate to use the occasion to ask why state and federal agencies are standing in the way of more children being adopted.

About half of Americans hold a favorable view of adoption, compared with about one in ten who view it unfavorably. (The remainder either don’t know or don’t have an opinion.) But in recent years, the media and policymakers have tried mightily to chip away at those numbers. Especially in the wake of the Dobbs decision, the Left wants to make sure that no one thinks adoption is preferable to abortion.

The drumbeat appears to be having an effect. According to data released from the Children’s Bureau of the federal Administration for Children and Families a few weeks ago, 391,000 kids resided in foster care on September 30 of Fiscal Year 2021, of whom 114,000 were waiting to be adopted. But the actual number who were adopted—54,200—reflects a 6 percent drop from the previous year and an 18 percent decline from FY2019.

Last week’s dialogue between Nicole Chung of The Atlantic and her fellow adoptee Tony Hynes is emblematic of the anti-adoption messaging. “Many adoptees I know today feel conflicted at best about this month,” Chung explains, “in part because the narratives leveraged to celebrate and promote adoption have not always left space for discussing its complexity.” Hynes, who is black and was raised by a white lesbian couple, responds that we are feeding into a notion that “families of color are somehow ‘less fit’ to raise their children.” Chung adds, “Yeah, sometimes it’s hard for me not to hear the assertion that ‘more kids should be adopted’ as ‘more kids should experience the trauma of being separated from their families of origin.’”

The problem of speaking in these broad terms about “narratives” is that no one is denying that adoptions are complex. Of the hundreds of adoptive parents and professionals I have met in the past several years, I cannot think of one who does not see the process as inevitably beginning from a source of loss or tragedy.