Waited For

WAITED FOR is my first feature-length documentary that interweaves three stories of lesbians that adopt across race in post-Apartheid South Africa. It is currently playing on the festival circuit.

South Africa has a most advanced constitution, it promulgates equal rights for all. Despite this progress, when it comes to adoption – lesbian couples are at the bottom of the priority list. WAITED FOR weaves three personal stories of adoption. Inter-racial couple Kelly and Leigh-Ann embark on the journey to adopt a baby. For a year they let old-fashioned socialcrats vet their house, relationship and cultural sensitivities, and wait for the phone to ring. New Zealander Pip and South African Lee have two adopted daughters that have introduced more pink in to their lives than they were anticipating. Pip views New Zealand as an escape route, but Lee is not convinced and wants the girls to grow up in South Africa. Single mother, builder and recovering addict Paula trusts that the multiracial environment she has raised her 2-year old in won’t turn him into a “coconut”. Gentle and thoughtful, personal, yet quietly political, the film plots the various stages of the process, and the five mothers discuss their fears, joys, frustrations and expectations of adoptive motherhood in “post-race” South Africa.