A Durban couple's emotional adoption journey

FOR a Durban couple the journey to becoming adoptive parents was not an easy one.

- NADIA KHAN [e-mail]

They had endured poor service from welfare services and heartbreak before they decided to go with a private adoption.

The 38-year-old woman said she and her husband, 39, began the screening process for a private adoption in 2017.

“As someone who was adopted, I always knew that when I started my own family, I would want to adopt — that was the only way for me.

“So, when I got married it was quite a difficult topic to bring up with my husband.

“Fortunately, I have a wonderful partner, who was happy to go the adoption route,” she said.

The mother said over the next few years, they were dealt several blows until they were able to take their daughter home in December 2019. She was 3 months old at the time.

“On three separate occasions we received calls that there was a baby ready for adoption. We would prepare to take him or her home, but only to arrive at a facility and be told that their parents had changed their minds. This left us heartbroken and in tears.

“After the third loss, I told my husband I could not do it anymore and that maybe parenting was not on the cards for us. However, about two days later, my husband received a call from our social worker saying there was a crisis (abandoned) baby in rural Umtata, and there was no one to take her in.