Apply In-Person

1. To apply for consenting to adoption in person, the person who wants to give consent has to visit the nearest children’s court or South African diplomatic or consular mission in his/her nationality.
2. The contact and address details of the children’s courts in each province can be found in the following link: Link
3. Visit the court or office of any South African diplomatic or consular mission and obtain the application form for consenting to adoption, from the concerned department.
4. The application form can also be downloaded by clicking the following link – Form 61 (Consent by parent or guardian to the adoption of a child): Link, Form 62 (Consent by child to adoption): Link
5. Make sure you have attached all the documents listed in the ”Required Documents” section of this page.
6. Then, complete the application form with required information and attest it in front of the presiding officer of the court or any official concerned at the office.
7. After completely filling the consent form, it should be handed over to the person who needs the consent for adoption as directed by the presiding officer or officer concerned.

• Completed application form
• Copy of Birth certificate
• Copy of Identity document
• Proof of age copy
• Proof of parenthood or guardianship

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Head Office
Chief Directorate: Promotion of the Rights of Vulnerable Groups (Child Justice and Family Law)
Physical Adsress: Momentum Centre, 329
Pretorius Street,
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Postal Adsress:Private Bag X81
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Tel: 080 002 0007
Email:servicedelivery@justice.gov.za
Website link

• A parent or guardian of the respective child, who is going to get adopted, should apply to give consent.
• Any child, that is going to be adopted and he/she is 10 years or older, can apply to give consent on his/her own.

Please contact the authorities concerned for fees details.

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

• Form 61 (Consent by parent or guardian to the adoption of a child): Link
  
• Form 62 (Consent by child to adoption): Link
  

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Please explain processing time taken in obtaining the document/certificate.

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

• Consent must be given in writing. If it is given in South Africa, the person or persons giving the consent must sign it in the presence of a presiding officer of the children's court, who shall then attest to the consent.

• Consent granted outside South Africa must be signed in the presence of and attested to by an officer in the service of a South African diplomatic or consular mission, or by a judge, magistrate, justice of the peace or public officer of the country concerned.

• Although the consent should contain the names of the proposed adoptive parents, the children's court may admit consent by the child's parents or guardian which does not contain the names or any other particulars of the proposed adoptive parents if it is satisfied that the best interests of the child will be served thereby.

• Name of the applicant
• Identity number
• Name of the child concerned
• Address details
• Name of the person adopting

Consent is written permission by the biological parents, or where there are no biological parents, by a guardian, that is given to prospective adoptive parents to adopt a child. A child can also consent to adoption if he or she is 10 years or older.

Refer: Link

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

Place some external links which might help.

More information which might help people.