Distinctive cultural attitudes of Xhosa people towards adoption

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to outline the distinctive cultural attitudes of Xhosa people towards adoption, so that pertinent organizations might approach adoption in a way that was sensitive to differences in culture. Section A covers the problem statement, the orientation of the research, the goal, and the process used. The limitations of the study, definitions of the key concepts, and the research methods are all presented together with a literature review. The concise version of the problem statement is as follows: Many African societies are either unfamiliar with or against the formal severing of blood ties. This implies that the placement of children with somebody other than their parents, whether a friend, relative, or orphanage is not considered when deciding the future of children. Formalized adoption is, therefore, still a foreign notion in many African societies and is rarely used. In addition, earlier studies overlooked the diversity of African cultures, and instead focused on African communities. The study question that was used: What are the distinctive cultural attitudes of Xhosa people towards adoption? One research objective resulted from the problem statement. Purposive and availability sampling, both non-probability sampling techniques, were used in the study's twofold sampling design. A questionnaire created by Gerrand (1997) was used to gather quantitative data. The following themes have all been the subject of literature studies: adoption, intercultural adoptions, adoption of unrelated children, and family formation in African communities. Section B comprises of a single article that contributes to the findings of the research. The researcher employed a questionnaire to gather quantitative data and included demographic data to assess the construct validity of many variables, including the birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted children. The conclusions were put together by making use of several concepts. This phase of the study aimed to quantitatively validate the attitudes of the Xhosa population towards adoption. The questionnaire was completed by 163 respondents in total, but only 159 were chosen,

because they best represented the Xhosa cultural group in the Mthatha community, Eastern Cape Province. Section C summarizes the findings and recommendations of the research study. Future research possibilities and recommendations made to pertinent institutions are discussed. Section D contains the annexures.