The Supreme Court of Appeal has condemned the actions of Gauteng social workers who interfered with adoption processes by disregarding the choice of two young mothers to give up their children for adoption, by trying to place them in the care of biological relatives instead.
The SCA was scathing in its judgment against the officials who sought to remove the children from the only families they had ever known.
They were legally adopted in 2023, yet government officials insisted that their adoption processes should start afresh.
Justice Nonkosi Dambuza, writing for a unanimous five-judge bench, described the determination to uproot the children as “gravely unsettling”.
In the first case, a 23-year-old university student concealed her pregnancy in 2018. Although she consented to adoption, social workers repeatedly approached her family to insist they should be considered as caregivers, prompting the prospective adoptive parents to abandon the process.
In the second case, another university student chose adoption after previously being expelled from her parents’ home following her first pregnancy.
The department argued that biological relatives deserved preference to preserve children’s cultural identities and family connections.
Sue Krawitz, operational director of Impilo Child Protection and Adoption Services, welcomed the judgment. She said both mothers were adults who had received counselling and made informed decisions that warranted respect.
The court was particularly disturbed that officials wanted to remove the children without establishing that their adoptive families were unsuitable.
“There is no conceivable reason why they should be wrenched from their families,” Dambuza said.
The judges upheld findings that the officials’ conduct and departmental guidelines were unlawful and unconstitutional.
- The Supreme Court of Appeal condemned Gauteng social workers for interfering in adoption processes by ignoring the wishes of two young mothers who chose to give up their children for adoption.
- The children, legally adopted in 2023, were nearly removed from their adoptive families by officials who insisted on restarting adoption processes to place them with biological relatives.
- Justice Nonkosi Dambuza described the attempt to uproot the children from their adoptive families as "gravely unsettling" in a unanimous judgment by a five-judge bench.
- The court found the officials' conduct and departmental guidelines unlawful and unconstitutional, emphasizing no evidence was provided that the adoptive families were unsuitable.
- Sue Krawitz of Impilo Child Protection and Adoption Services supported the judgment, highlighting that both mothers were adults who made informed and counseled decisions deserving respect.
