Actions speak louder than words . . .

The thought of adopting a child started a few years ago when I was still teaching at Ferndale Primary School. I was single but still wanted a child to love and raise. Artificial insemination was never an option for me as there are so many babies and children, some abandoned, out there in Cape Town and South Africa, needing loving homes. Over the years I spoke about it more and more with family and colleagues, but very often in life we talk more than we act ;-) In the end actions speak louder than words.

In my final year of teaching at Ferndale Primary school I had a little adopted boy in my class. I met with his new Mommy a few times and was very interested to hear the process she had been through. She told me that she has been involved in a childrens shelter in the area and that there was a great need for foster and adoptive homes in Cape Town. She ended up adopting this little boy and his twin brothers.

In my first year of teaching at Kirstenhof Primary School I was far to busy to act on my thoughts of adopting, although I did do some online research as to which avenues were the best to use in Cape Town or South Africa. I still continued chatting about it with family and colleagues. They all encouraged me to go for it!! I have to say at this point that the support that I have got from the beginning has been overwelming, but more about that later. I even phoned Child Welfare in November 2010 to enquire about the process. They invited my to an adoption orientation which clashed with prize-giving so I could not go. I chatted to another woman who had adopted a 2 month old little girl in December through Procare. Procare are based all the way out in Wellington. She told me that she had since met people who had gone through Cape Town Child Welfare and were very impressed.

In December 2010, while camping at the Wilderness, I decided that I had done enough talking about it and needed to start the process. At the same time I heard a radio news report about the increase in number of abandoned babies in the Western Cape. My heart went out to these innocent little bundles of joy. The first thing I did when I got back to Cape Town was I contacted Child Welfare and asked to be invited to the next orientation. All their social workers were still on leave. I could not wait to start the process. The secretary at Child Welfare said they would let me know the moment they had a date for orientation. At the same time I needed to book my December holiday and decided to go for a wooden forest chalet just in case by some miracle I managed to have my bundle of joy by December. It is, even now, difficult to know how long the process will take, but it is best to be prepared . . .