Recommendations for the medical evaluation of children prior to adoption in South Africa

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Authors

Haeri Mazanderani, Ahmad F.
Du Plessis, Nicolette Marie
Lumb, J.
Feucht, Ute Dagmar
Myburgh, Marcelle
Mayaphi, Simnikiwe Horatious
Lekalakala, M. Ruth
Swanepoel, De Wet
Georgakis, H.
Avenant, Theunis Johannes

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Health and Medical Publishing Group

Abstract

The current legislative framework in South Africa (SA) supports adoption as the preferred form of care for children with inadequate or no parental or family support. There are an estimated 3.8 million orphans in SA, with approximately 1.5 - 2 million children considered adoptable. As a means of improving services, newly drafted adoption guidelines from the National Department of Social Development will in future require both non-profit and private sector adoption agencies to obtain a medical report on a child prior to placement. However, no local guidelines specify what an appropriate medical examination entails or how it should be reported. For the purposes of proposing and developing such guidelines, an open forum was convened at the Institute of Pathology, University of Pretoria, in March 2013. These ‘Recommendations for the medical evaluation of children prior to adoption in South Africa’ emanate from this meeting.

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Keywords

Adoption, Orphans, South Africa (SA), Medical evaluation, Vulnerable children

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Mazanderani, AFH, Du Plessis, NM, Lumb, J, Feucht, UD, Myburgh, M, Mayaphi, SH, Lekalakala, MR, Swanepoel, DW & Georgakis, H & Avenant, T 2014, 'Recommendations for the medical evaluation of children prior to adoption in South Africa', South African Medical Journal, vol. 140, no. 8, pp. 544-549.