The purpose of the Pre- and Post-Adoption Preparation is to introduce you to the world of adoption and to prepare you for the journey that you are about to embark upon. A wide range of adoption related topics are discussed and comprehensively explained to you, and your adoption related questions can be answered in this forum. Delve into the intricacies and complexities that make adoption the exciting and phenomenal experience that it is!

Pre-Adoption Preparation covers the following:

• Best Interests of Child Paramount and the Child-Centric Approach to Adoption;

• Child Protection Organisation versus Adoption Social Worker in Private Practice versus Department of Social Development;

• NGO Child Protection Organisation versus Government Funded Child Protection Organisation;

• Availability of Children and Specification of Child;

• Referral Process to begin Suitability Screening;

• Suitability Screening and what to Expect;

• Timeframes and Expectations;

• Costs: NGO Child Protection Organisation versus Government Funded Child Protection Organisation versus Adoption Social Worker in Private Practice;

• Challenges and Risks;

• Pre-Adoption Parenting Preparation and Education:

  • Resource List and Self-Education;

  • Motivation for Adoption;

  • Awareness;

  • Addressing your Reservations and Concerns;

  • Transparency;

• Local Adoption Process;

• Open Adoption versus Semi-Open Adoption versus Closed Adoption;

• RACAP and Matching (same race and cross-racial);

• Child’s Process: abandonment versus consent versus removal versus orphaned;

• Care Options Available to Adoptable Children and What to Expect;

• Medical Information;

• Older Child Adoption;

• Special Needs Adoption;

• Meeting your Child for the First Time: Transfer of Care and Support in the First Weeks of Becoming a Family;

• Selecting Guardians for your Child and Amending your Last Will and Testament prior to the Adoption;

• Adoption Legislation (Children’s Act 38 of 2005).

Post-Adoption Preparation covers the following:

• Adoption Order and Court process;

• Registrar of Adoptions process and timelines and recommendations (contact details);

• Home Affairs process, timelines, applications, options (change of forenames and surnames, unabridged birth certificate, foreign nationals, foreign births, complications, contact details);

• Dual-citizenship for parents with dual nationality;

• After care services and support, who/where and how;

• Facebook Groups and Adoption Support Groups;

• Providing local resources for adoptive families pertaining to the following:

  • Recognising when you may need help and where to go;

  • Transitioning your child into your extended family (resources available);

  • Blended family and how to transition your biological child(ren) with your adopted child (resources available);

  • Talking about adoption and creating a culture of adoption within your family and community (resources available).