Hamilton family appeals to South African court to adopt little girl
Hamilton family appeals to South African court to adopt little girl
By Lynn Wolstenholme
Source: Loudoun Times-Mirror
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 2007
Ruth Joy, 2, of South Africa, has been waiting to find out if a Hamilton family will be able to adopt her. Ruth's case will set a precedent for international adoptions between South Africa and the United States.
Dona DeGree and her family were “devastated” when they heard the news that their request to adopt 2-year-old Ruth Joy, who was abandoned as a newborn and found head-first in a bucket, was denied, 3-2, by the South African Constitutional Court.
The DeGrees' case not only affects their family and Ruth Joy. It is setting the groundwork for other international adoption cases in South Africa.
“The outcome of the DeGrees' application will influence all future adoptions of orphans from South Africa,” said Debbie Wybrow, the DeGrees' attorney in South Africa. “Families from around the world will be affected, and none more so than American families wanting to adopt.”
The court stated that the DeGrees “are fit and proper persons to adopt” Ruth, but “while it may indeed be in [Ruth's] best interests to be adopted by the appellants, the process the appellants have chosen is fraught with difficulties.”
In June 2004, Dona and Django DeGree decided to adopt a child to add to their already-large family of six children. They visited Baby Haven, an orphanage in South Africa run by friends David and Caroline Webb. Once they met Ruth Joy, the DeGrees fell in love with her and spoke with lawyers to begin the process of adoption.
What they were told would be a “slam-dunk” case turned into more than two years of paperwork, court cases and emotional struggles.
In November 2005, the DeGrees traveled to South Africa for an adoption hearing in the the High Court. After awaiting a verdict for more than five months, they learned that the judge dismissed their case. The DeGrees then went to the Constitutional Court.
“There have been so many times that I have just wanted to crawl under a ball and say I can't do it anymore,” said DeGree. “But I tell myself that if you don't do it, who will?”
The court said the DeGrees should go before the Children's Court to adopt, but according to Wybrow, “long before the DeGrees even started their process of having Ruth placed with them, the South African authorities had indicated to several other American families that they would not be allowed to approach the children's courts for adoption orders.”
“Some of those families then successfully approached the South African High Court for sole guardianship and sole custody of their children,” Wybrow added. “There had been no change in the attitude of the South African government at the time the DeGrees started their process of applying for Ruth. Going to the Children's Court was therefore not an option.”
“This is their way of tying things up. They want to keep it at that level so they can work out their own issues and work out a process,” said Dona DeGree of the court's verdict. “The only ones they are hurting are the children.”
Once the DeGrees' High Court application was under way, Wybrow said she again phoned the Children's Court, only to be told their application could not be heard without government approval. Wybrow then asked the government if Americans could adopt, and was advised that they could not because no working agreements were in place between South Africa and the United States – despite the fact that the Hague Convention, an international treaty that covers procedures for international adoptions, is not yet part of South African law. The United States is in the final stages of implementing the treaty.
The DeGrees have until June 22 to file paperwork for an appeal to the Constitutional Court. They must state how their constitutional rights have been violated and come up with a whole new argument. They hope to have their appeal heard in early August.
If the appeal is accepted, DeGree said she and her husband will fly over and bring Ruth home. If the appeal is denied, they will go to South African President Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1999, to seek his intervention.
As DeGree struggles with the process of adopting Ruth, she sees how her children deal with the battle.
DeGree said as she gets out the kids' summer clothes, her children point out items to set aside for Ruth. One daughter placed a photo of Ruth at the table, “so she is with us instead of just praying for her.”
DeGree tells her children, who already think of Ruth as a sister, “We are not giving up. This is just one more hurdle, a test of endurance. We would never leave you and we are not going to leave Ruth. Mommy would never leave you. We are here to fight for Ruth and to bring her home.”
Contact the reporter at lwolstenholme@timespapers.com