NO ADOPTION IN ESWATINI - DPM’S OFFICE

MBABANE – With the ever increasing number of OVCs and many babies being dumped – adoption in the country is still not an option.
This has been the case for almost five years now.  

As early as Wednesday, the office of the deputy prime minister (DPM) reiterated that there are no adoptions being effected at the moment in Eswatini.
In his written responses to Senate, the Deputy Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, said the office was still to set up processes of adoption both in local and inter-country adoption prescribed by the Children and Protection Welfare (CPW) Act of 2012.

Interestingly, the DPM’s Office has been in defiance of a court judgment issued by High Court Judge Sipho Nkosi in March 2016, where the court ordered that former DPM Paul Dlamini to establish an Adoption Committee within 90 days.

 Screen

The Adoption Committee according to the Act, is expected to vet and screen prospective adoptive parents and adoptable children. The question on the status of adoption in the country had been raised by Deputy Senate President Ndumiso Mdluli. The court order had been issued by Judge Nkosi following an application made by the late Parliament employee Archie Motsa and his wife, who had informed the court that since 2014 they had been trying to adopt a child. 

Section 55 of the CPW Act states that  a child is adopted if the child has been placed in the permanent care of a person in terms of a court order that has the effects contemplated in Section 69.

The purpose of this part is to give effect to the Hague Convention on Inter-country adoptions.
The law states that a child may be adopted if the adoption is in the best interest of the child and adoptable.

Orphan

A child is adoptable if the child is an orphan and has no guardian or caregiver who is willing to adopt the child or the whereabouts of the child’s parent or guardian cannot be established.

A child could also be adopted if they have been abandoned,   parent or guardian has abused or deliberately neglected them or has allowed the child to be abused or deliberately neglected.

Persons  who can adopt according to Section 57, include a prospective adoptive parent who  shall be – fit and proper to be entrusted with parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the child.

“Willing and able to undertake, exercise and maintain those responsibilities and rights; twenty five years older than the child to be adopted; and properly assessed by an adoption social worker for compliance,” reads the Act.
The DPM is expected to establish an adoption committee under the Department of Social Welfare, regional committees for adoption.

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