The Department of Social Development removes adoption fees

The Department of Social Development removes adoption fees

13 January 2019 10:31 AM

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The Department of Social Development has changed the legislation process around adoption, saying fees should not be charged for adoption as it is not a business but a child protection measure.

The department stated that, although there was much public interest in the removal of the Adoption Fee Clause, as proposed in the Children’s Act Amendment, it must be noted that it began consulting on changes to the act as early as 2016.

In the past we had very strict regulations as to who can process adoption in South Africa. The department's social workers were not permitted to process adoption in South Africa, and that was amended in 2016. As of that year, the department's social workers were now permitted to process adoption in South Africa in addition to other specialised social workers.

— Robyn Wolfson Vorster - Child Protection Advocate and Writer.

What has been proposed in this third amendment is that, no one will be allowed to charge fee for adoption in South Africa, for their social work services. What the government is arguing in this regard is that, this will increase access for the poor to adoption.

— Robyn Wolfson Vorster - Child Protection Advocate and Writer.

The department's view is that adoption should not only be accessible to certain people or class, but that the primary objective should be to protect the best interests of children by placing them permanently with suitable families.

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