Views of social workers on trans-racial adoptions of abandoned children

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Thousands of children are being abandoned in South Africa each year, consequently entering the child-care and protection system. The Children's Act 38 of 2005, which governs all practices involving children in South Africa, clearly advocates for adoption as the superior form of intervention in cases of abandonment. Yet adoption continues to be one of the most under-utilised childcare practices in South Africa, especially by the black, majority population. This is unfortunately despite the fact that most of the adoptable children are from the black population group.This study therefore aimed to investigate the views of adoption social workers regarding the practice of trans-racial adoptions of abandoned children.Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed for this study. A combination of exploratory and descriptive research designs was utilised as the framework for the research approach. Data was collected by means of a semi-structured interview schedule, which was conducted during personal interviews with social work professionals.The findings of the empirical investigation revealed that according to the views of the social workers under-graduate social work training was largely inadequate in preparing social workers to work in the field of adoption. It was also found that social workers felt that the importance of permanency planning in all work with children was not comprehensively explored during under-graduate studies.Findings further indicated that trans-racial adoption is viewed positively amongst adoption social workers, and is regarded as the far superior alternative to foster-care or institutional care for children who have been abandoned. It was however found that in cases of abandonment, adoption might be an under-utilised option amongst child-protection workers.Children available for adoption were reported as being predominantly from the black population group, while it was indicated that the majority of parents wanting to adopt are from the white community. In line with this, it was noted that there are not many prospective adoptive parents from the black community. Of significance was therefore the finding that very few adoption organisations have active recruitment programmes focused on recruiting black adoptive parents, inevitably bringing trans-racial adoption to the fore.One of the most important recommendations of this study is therefore that adoption organisations should develop and implement recruitment programmes, which specifically target prospective black adopters in an effort to increase the potential pool of black adopters.In addition, the recommendations emphasised the importance of adequate education of social workers in order to ensure that the Children's Act 38 of 2005 is adequately understood and implemented in cases of abandonment. Ensuring that social workers move towards adoption as fast as possible in cases of abandonment can not only increase the chances of the child being adopted, but can also help to prevent developmental problems associated with institutional care.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University