Adoption and the Needs of Adoptive and Biological Parents: The Value of HSF – Marie Elizabeth Kruger

Main points discussed:

• Social Work is a profession in own right and, as we work with people’s lives, we need to be accountable in our service delivery. By utilizing aids such as the Heimler Scale, enhances the efficiency of the practitioner.
• Adoption is a very emotional field to work in and is therefore regarded as a field of specialization in South Africa. The adoption social worker are dealing with the two opposites of intense emotions i.e. on one hand the biological parent who have to make the most difficult decision they will ever be confronted with vs the adoptive parent who would do anything to be able to have a child. To create a proper balance between these two parties requires special skill and dedication.
• The biological parent(s) experiencing a pregnancy crisis is in emotional turmoil. They have to make the most difficult decision in the best interest of the child. In order to be able to do so, counselling is extremely important as they need to be able to live with their decision for the rest of their lives. Through utilizing HSF, they are able to get a better understanding of themselves, their reasons to consider adoption and most important, their own future plans.
• The emotional impact of Infertility and the emptiness of not being able to have a child, is not something to be taken lightly by the professional counsellor. When considering an adoption it is imperative to determine the prospective parents’ motive for adoption as well as their commitment to permanency planning for a child. The thorough screening of the prospective adoptive parent is thus very important. In this regard, HSF is a valuable tool to utilize in order to work through the unresolved emotions of infertility, determine their emotional maturity, identify possible problems areas that can impact on adoption and last but not least, ensure that the facts in the written report on recommending an adoption is scientifically verified.