Source: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
By Robyn Wolfson Vorster
February 2021 was an awful month for intercountry adoptions. First, the Netherlands suspended them, then social development declared that children are better off in institutional care in South Africa than in family care outside the country. Without evidence, both decisions have been deemed in children’s best interests. But, has anyone asked the children?
It’s been almost two months since the Netherlands’ shock decision to halt all intercountry adoptions. The unilateral decision by then Minister of Legal Protection Sander Dekker, in response to the Joustra Committee’s report on the issue, is temporary and will not affect adoptions currently in process.
But experts warn that in an election year it may be months before a new government is able to re-evaluate the ban, and that because intercountry adoptions are so lengthy, delaying the screening of new adoptive parents may result in children spending much longer in institutional care.
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