Poor adoptions leave children in limbo … only 524 adopted in 10 years

Auleria Wakudumo

Despite steady improvements in Namibia’s child protection system over the past decade, adoption remains one of the country’s weakest child welfare interventions.

The situation has left many vulnerable children without the opportunity to grow up in decent permanent family homes and better shots at progressing in life.

The Namibia Child Care and Protection Statistics report 2014–2023 reveals that only 524 children were adopted nationwide over the past 10 years, despite thousands of children receiving various child protection services.

While the country has made notable progress in expanding psychosocial support, responding to violence against children and strengthening other protection services, the report highlights persistently low adoption rates, declining foster care services and regional disparities as key challenges that continue to affect vulnerable children.

The findings suggest that although more children are accessing protection services than ever before, many who cannot safely remain with their biological families are still not finding permanent homes through adoption, raising concerns about the accessibility and reach of one of the country’s most important alternative care programmes.

Adoptions