Question NW27 to the Minister of Social Development
05 April 2017 - NW27
Bergman, Mr D to ask the Minister of Social Development
Whether she has found that her department’s delay in the issuing of Article 17 of The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, 1993, adoptions and/or insistence on exhausting all national placement options irrespective of the best interest of the child are contributing to the decline of intercountry adoptions (a) to and (b) from South Africa; if not, in each case, why not; if so, in each case, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
a) The department as the Central Authority on intercountry adoption, does not delay in issuing Article 17 for prospective adoptive parents who have been matched with children from foreign countries to be adopted by South Africans
b) The department as the Central Authority on intercountry adoption ensures that all avenues in placing the child nationally are exhausted before intercountry adoption can be considered taking into consideration the best interest of the child.