It is important for the Honourable Member to note that adoption is regulated in terms of the Children’s Act (Act No. 38 of 2005), which outlines which processes must be followed to protect the best interest of the child. The Department has to follow all the regulations to comply with the provision of the Act.
1. (a) It should be noted that there is no backlog for adoption applications. The total number of adoption cases that the department is currently processing is 41, with provincial breakdown as follows:
Province |
Number of applications being processed currently |
Eastern Cape |
10 |
North-West |
8 |
Mpumalanga |
6 |
Northern Cape |
4 |
Free-State |
0 |
KZN |
13 |
Gauteng |
0 |
Western Cape |
0 |
Limpopo |
0 |
TOTAL |
41 |
(b) Not applicable as there is no backlog
2. (a) Refer to (b)
(b) Refer to (b)