Baby Kelvin’s big round eyes look curiously around the sunlit room. He hangs his head for a moment, smiles to himself, propels his tiny frame up and staggers, smiling with excitement at Mam’Lerato Nangu, a staff nurse at Othandweni Children’s Home in Soweto, clutching her skirt as she speaks.
“We love these children as our own and worry about their health and safety. If one is sick, or even has a slight cough, I call in to check if he or she is okay – it’s an automatic bond that is formed. But as much as we love them, we want them to find proper homes where they can be loved and cared for,” Nangu says as she picks up 14-month-old Kelvin and places him in the nursery, where 27 other babies and toddlers lounge around, guarded by the home’s nursing staff.
At Princess Alice Adoption Home in Westcliff, Joburg, volunteers and nurses have 26 babies currently in their care.
The babies at Othandweni and Princess Alice all share one thing in common – the need for a family and a place to call home.
There are more than 1.5 million children in the country in need of homes, but only 0.2 percent will eventually be adopted.
There were 14 803 legal adoptions registered from April 1, 2004 till March 31, 2010 amounting to more or less 2 467 adoptions per year. Out of that number, about 250 children were adopted by foreign adopters.
“There are always more children waiting for families than families available to adopt them. The number of prospective adoptive parents coming forward goes nowhere near meeting the needs of the large numbers of children waiting for homes,” said Pam Wilson, adoption supervisor at Johannesburg Child Welfare.
Abandonment is one of the leading causes of so many homeless children.
According to Katinka Pieterse from Abba Adoptions, “To many women facing unplanned pregnancies, abandoning their children may seem like the easiest and quickest way to solve their problem.
“In South Africa, the number of babies being abandoned increases every year, with hundreds of babies being abandoned all over the country every day.”
During Child Protection Week this year (May 29 - June 2), a new National Adoption Coalition was formed to draw attention to the plight of the country’s adoptable children.
Through this coalition, a new national website and call centre to help both birth parents and adoptive parents to access information has been launched.
“One of the biggest challenges facing anyone in a crisis pregnancy or anyone interested in adopting, is finding consistent and accurate information about the process. Now, for the first time, people can use both these options,” said Wilson.
Children born with HIV present the biggest challenge for adoption agencies.
Wilson pointed out that people have a “tremendous fear” of adopting them.
“You’ll find that these children are as healthy as can be because they’ve been on medication since birth, but people are still scared of adopting them,” she said.
Breaking down cultural barriers is also a problem. According to Wilson, most children available for adoption are black, and while the number of black people who adopt has risen, the growth has been very slow.
“Informal adoption among black families has always been traditional. Formally adopting a child who is not related to you is still not a popular concept,” she said.
For more information, contact www.adoption.org.za or Johannesburg Child Welfare on 011 298 8516. - The Star