US couple's adoption hopes still
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US couple's adoption hopes still alive
| Karyn Maughan July 11 2007 at 09:35AM |
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| Two child welfare bosses convinced the Supreme Court of Appeal that abandoned Baby Ruth should not be adopted by an American family, because there were plenty of local homes for her.
While finding that the relationship that the De Grees had built up with Ruth should not be taken into account to determine what would be in her best interests, Judge Theron did not dispute that the couple would provide Baby Ruth with a loving home. She said the couple could still apply for guardianship in the Children's Court. But following the controversial ruling, Wilson stated that, even if the De Grees had approached the Children's Court, "they probably would not have been allowed to adopt this child because at the moment, as I say, we are not working with America". Mabetoa agreed, telling Metro FM that "we do not have a working agreement with the United States". Wilson claimed under oath to the appeal court that local parents could be found for Baby Ruth and that there was a "waiting list for female babies". "Over the past few years there has been an encouraging increase in the number of local black adopters approaching the agency, and we always have people on the waiting list! There is no acceptable reason why a female baby should be placed out of the country when there is such a demand within the country," she said. But speaking on Metro FM after the appeal court's ruling, she said that while there was an "encouraging increase in the number of black adopters who have been coming forward", this "still goes nowhere near the number of families needed to adopt the children who are waiting for families". She then appealed to the community: "Please look at adoption as an option for infertility or just if you want to increase the size of your family or just offer a child a home." In an application to appeal against Judge Theron's majority ruling, which was strongly contested by Senior Appeal Judges Jonathan Heher and Faan Hancke, the De Grees' attorney, Debbie Wybrow, said Wilson and Mabetoa's radio statements showed that Judge Theron's reliance on their evidence was "ill-founded". The statements further demonstrated that "Ruth's best interests would not be served by forcing the De Grees into an exercise in futility", she said. Arguing that the De Grees urgently needed to be granted leave to appeal the appeal court's ruling, Wybrow quoted from Judge Hancke's decision. "The legal process has been fiddling for more than 18 months while the child's prospects are being consumed. "Ruth is in limbo. She is a very young child, who cannot be cared for as she has been indefinitely," she said, adding that the De Grees' court battle was, and continued to be, "an unexpected trauma" to them.
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2007 Jul 11