On the Early Breakfast Show Relebogile Mabotja spoke to National Adoption Coalition of SA (NACSA) spokesperson, Pam Wilson and Child protection advocate and researcher, Dee Black discussed why adoption is still taboo in black communities.
Adoption advocate Dee Blackie, who has conducted extensive research into the subject over the years, believes it’s got a lot to do with ancestral considerations.
From a traditional perspective, families are guided and connected by their ancestors who help them understand who they are and it gives some people an uneasy feeling about who they are bringing into the fold when a person’s ancestry is unknown, as would be the case in an adoption.
National Adoption Coalition of SA (NACSA) spokesperson Pam Wilson concurs, saying that black communities tend to be more apathetic towards adoption because some fear that they will provoke the wrath of their ancestors if they bring in a child whose background is unknown – worse so if it is a boy child – who doesn’t share the family bloodline, but who would ultimately carry the family name forward and be in line for any future inheritance.