The Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues wishes to advise U.S. prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) and adoption service providers (ASPs) that, as of May 11, 2020, the South African Central Authority (SACA) has instituted a temporary moratorium on all intercountry adoptions “during the state of national disaster.” We are currently seeking more clarification on how this will impact cases in progress. We understand SACA will not issue any new Article 17 letters at this time. However, once the moratorium has been lifted, priority will be given to all applications received prior to the moratorium. At this time, the Department of State has not received specific information about a timeframe for when Intercountry Adoptions in South Africa will resume, but we understand SACA plans to lift the moratorium once the travel restrictions are relaxed within the country.

Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov for information. We will update this site as new information becomes available. For questions about this notice, please email the Office of Children’s Issues at adoption@state.gov.