Education Commons^™

Cultural Factors That Influence Domestic Adoption In South Africa, Greta N. Buckenberger

CARE Conference: Vulnerable Children and Viable Communities

South Africa has a long and rich cultural history and this history has impacted domestic adoption in a myriad of ways. These cultural factors include ancestral beliefs, infertility, family structure, and apartheid, and they all affect adoption policies and how the public perceives adoption. Unfortunately, these factors usually result in negative results for children in kinship care or children waiting to be adopted. Kinship care is the informal, non-governmentally regulated practice of relatives caring for children. South Africa’s cultural factors of ancestral beliefs, infertility, family structure, apartheid, and the AIDS crisis all impact domestic adoption.