[KarynB]

To Bunnyhop, hi guys! If you want any more info or have questions about adopting from SA I can give you my email address and we can talk that way. I'm more than happy to share what we learned, although our adoption was a little different because we met our son first from working in a South African orphanage. However, we are still in contact with 2 orphanages in SA, so any questions you have I can try and help, and whatever I don't have an answer to I can try and get in contact with them. SA is a great place to adopt from, as it is relatively new to international adoptions so we are all laying the ground work, there are so many children needing homes, english is widely spoken, and it is inexpensive compared to countries such as China/Korea. So let me know if you have any questions, or even just need support through all this! Which part of Canada do you live in?
Karyn

[chiclet]

Hello,
I am in Alberta and am interested in adopting from South Africa. The agency I am using here for my homestudy has not heard of any agencies in Canada doing S.African adoptions and was surprised when I mentioned Mission of Tears was doing them (info gleaned from this forum!) Which agency was used for the British Columbia S.A. adoptions?

Thanks,
Stephanie

[Elena Thomson]

According to correspondence I have been in with the Social Development Agency of the RSA, all inter-country adoptions are on hold as of December 1 while an 'Interim Authority' reviews the procedure. As of now, there is no estimation as to when inter-country adoptions will be resumed and under what procedures.

[alisonb1]

Hello.
I am about to start the process of adopting from SA.
I would appreciate you sending me any information or advice.
I am single and living in Brighton, UK.
I wonder if the local authority's social services are the most suitable to carry out the home study? Would you advise that I use an independent agency?
Could you send me contact details of SA orphanages, as it's a possibility that I could go & volunteer.
Any progress from the Interim Authority on inter-country adoptions?
Thanks, alison

[xolile]

Hi Alison,

There is one orphanage near Durban with experience in international adoption. They accept volunteers for a minimum of six months. Contact their volunteer co-ordinator for information on; gga@wandata.com

Another home in Durban care for abanfoned babies. They have an established adoption programme and can be contacted at
info@shepherdskeep.org.za

South Africa has recently become a signatory of the hague convention and international adoptions are being suspended pending review.

[sdv]

Hi there Soppie

I was thrilled to see your post as I am wanting to adopt a child and we are planning to go home in February to begin the process. I was told that it was impossible to adopt while in Saudi, this was a year ago and now I have spoken to a social worker back home who said that it is not impossible but difficult. Could you give me any advice and contacts and how you managed to succeed whilst living in Bahrain. We still have a home in Newlands but it is rented out so now we are planning to go back home to purchase an apartment to have a base to enable the homestudy to begin. I am desperate for any contacts of adoption agencies back home in the Cape Town area as we have not been home in three years and there seems to be no information on the internet (US agencies abound!).

We have to overcome another difficulty, which is our first country of choice is Iran but we hope to overcome the obstacles in the way of achieving this, if not we will look at South Africa.

Kind regards

Sonia

[sdv]

Sheri Shenker
Tel: +27 11 6406685
Fax: +27 11 640 6838

Here is the contact number in Johannesburg of an agency that does international adoptions - Eastern Europe, they work through an American agent so it does become pricey.

they also have a website which I will have to find again, so if you want the details please email me at sonia@nesma.net.sa

Good luck

[matthewmj]

Hope you can help... currently living in Dubai .. british ... and have started the pre-adoption process... unfortunately the agency we are using for the home study have no contacts in South Africa.

Do you have a listing of facilitators or agencies that manage international adoption?

If so then'i'd be very grateful for your assistance...
Regards
Matthew
matthew_morgan_jones@hotmail.com

[lvaltle]

Hi there I adopted from SOuth Africa last year... my little boy is now 16 months and I just absolutely adore him.. where are you located?

[MkMw]

Clear across the country from you! We are in Yorktown, Virginia - but (I checked your profile) I "know" online another South African national who is I think living in Texas and is in the process of adopting domestically (U.S.) drop me an e-mail, it's in my profile!

S.A. is a beautiful country - I didn't get to see near enough of it....most of our time was in Durban.....

[lvaltle]

Hi there Michelle

Who did you use in South Africa to do the adoption?

[MkMw]

We worked with Robyn Chaplin - she's married now, but I can't think of her last name! I was referred to 2 agencies in S.A., by an agency here. They each gave me the name of a different social worker. The boys' BirthMom chose the one she was most comfortable with.

I know she was working on another adoption as we left - an older girl (8 I think) that a missionary couple had met when there were out on a mission....they were in San Francisco, and for some reason were having trouble with their paperwork, I never understood exactly that the problem was....I know it was before S.A. was closed to foreign adoptions.

Where in S.A. are you from? We spent our time mostly in Durban and around (Valley of 1,000 hills was a favorite sit and relax spt for us) but also made it to Capetown, including the wine country and the Cape itself - very windy that day, but very neat to see the Altlantic dip under the Indian ocean - Jo-berg, Pretoria, and HluHluwewe-Umfolozi Game Park (sp?).

[Traci-Ann]

Dear Lyn,

Like you, I ended up in this forum after several hours searching the 'net (off and on for the past few months). Also, without having (what could probably fail) IVF, I am unable to conceive a child of my own, and so....here I am! Exploring the adoption route!

Why do they now say you have a snowballs chance to adopt a Caucasian child? This really worries me!!! There are so many problems surrounding adopting a child outside of your own ethnic and cultural background that inasmuch as I would love ANY child, the ramifications are huge later on in the childs life (it's hard enough bringing up a child that has the same cultural background, I think!)

I thought it was easier now to adopt from Eastern Europe? Where have you tried? I mean, with which agencies? And what is the "home study" thing all about? I really am struggling to find concrete answers to these questions - perhaps we can help each other a bit!!

I think my email address is shown, but if not, you are most welcome to drop me a line on tagregory@telkomsa.net

Love to all the other SAF's out there!
Traci

Originally Posted by Lyn1011

Hi there. I sort of stumbled on this site while searching for adoption info and have read all the posts re adoption is SA. It has been so interesting to read. I am a south african, living in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and I am looking at an international adoption. I am looking for a white baby - sounds terrible to say this - but i have taken all into consideration. I would prefer to adopt locally but I think I have a snowballs chance. I have been in contact with an international adoption agency in Johannesburg but the latest email from them said that the South African government were "playing silly buggers" about adopting foreign babies. Does anyone know what this is about. Also, as there are so many ex south africans posting on this site, does anyone know of any angencies that organise foreign adoptions? I would be most grateful for any info. I have done the infertility thing in a big way and as my doc said, I have to decide "how long a piece of string is". So I am looking to adopt. The stress of fertility treatments is something only those who have experienced could understand!

Thanks
Lynne

[swcg]

Karyn and other Canadians; I would be very interested in hearing more about your experience. We are a white couple residing in NS and are interested in SA adoption. Any advice you can offer is appreciated! We can be reached at hollyhatt@hotmail.com

Congratulations to you all on what sounds like beautiful families.

Cheers,

Holly

[giftofgrace]

Hi all!

my husband and I are Australians hoping to adopt from South Africa. So far we keep getting a brick wall. I haven't had a chance yet to read through this thread but am excited to find you all and will enjoy reading all your thoughts above. If any one has any thoughts to share with me I'd love to hear from you, either here or via pm.
Thanks for reading!