Kamogelo Seekoei

Kamogelo Seekoei

Ever more people want to adopt abandoned babies after Sowetan published a story on Tuesday detailing the plight of unwanted children who are being abandoned on street corners by their mothers.

The Door of Hope in Berea, Johannesburg, a centre where mothers can dump their unwanted babies, said it had since received an increased number of calls from people interested in adopting.

Kate Allen, the director of the centre, said they received five calls on the day the story was published.

She said it was her heart's desire to have more black people adopting children.

She also said all the people who had called the centre were black women.

"It is a positive sign that black people are starting to adopt because there is a serious need for adoption," she said.

Allen also said it was always better that children were placed in their own cultural groups, but where that was not possible they organised interracial adoptions for them.

Sowetan reported that thousands of children a year are being abandoned, with the number reaching at least 1200 in three provinces alone.

We also reported that the number of babies adopted last year was 2 352. Only 877 of them went to black families.

Though there was still a need for people to come forward and adopt, Allen said she was excited because a significant change in belief had been achieved.

Renee Ferrera, a social worker from Pretoria, said though more children are being adopted, more could still benefit from adoption.

"We have seen some positivity in recent times, which is really exciting, but we can still use more people who want to adopt."

Ferrera attributes the increase of children waiting to be adopted to the scrouge of HIV-Aids that is crippling the country.