Home Affairs dragging its feet with adoption registrations

9 November 2022

Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Angel Khanyile MP.

As the world celebrates Adoption Day, the Democratic Alliance calls on the department of Home Affairs to urgently register all pending adoptions in South Africa.

On the 1st of November 2022, the Department of Home Affairs and Minister Aaron Motsoaledi appeared before the Portfolio Committee of Home Affairs, presenting the first and second quarter’s reports that were mum on adoption registrations.

In response to the questions on these registration statuses, the department assured the committee that all adoptions with court orders had been registered.

The minister and the department however mislead the Portfolio Committee.

The information in our possession indicates that adoptions with court orders, dated as far back as 2019 have not been registered. As a result, parents who reside outside the country are left with no option but to leave their children behind because they do not have the new birth certificates, which display the particulars of the new parents. It also prevents them from applying for passports.

In desperation, some parents have approached the courts to force the department to register the adopted children, but the department is adamant about ignoring the court orders.

The DA submitted 121 adoption orders to the department today, and we expect the department to do the right thing and register these children to give them a chance at a new life with their new families.

Issued by Angel Khanyile, DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, 9 November 2022