Global best practice indicates that parents should advise their children of their adoption as soon as possible, however, black adoptees are often not told that they were adopted by their parents, as fear the stigma associated with adoption.
Global best practice indicates that parents should advise their children of their adoption as soon as possible, however, black adoptees are often not told that they were adopted by their parents, as fear the stigma associated with adoption.
Adoption is still taboo with us Africans. If you take someone else’s child, it’s not my blood-life. If it is first born, it cannot be given inheritance. A child will want a name and will cry for a name. A friend of mine discovered that her father was not hers at his death. She wanted to give input into his funeral arrangements but the family told her, ‘it is not up to you, he is not your father’. She was devastated, and she told me that she hated her mother for not telling her. (Adoptive mother)
This young black couple are wanting to adopt. Neither of their families know that they are wanting to do this. The couple believe that they are taking a risk with their ancestors, but they are desperate for a child. They plan to pretend that the child is theirs, and not to visit their family whilst they are supposedly pregnant. They have agreed that when he has grown up, they will do some kind of ritual to help him, but in the meantime, no one needs to know. (Social worker)
