Unraveling the Legal Knots around Inter-country Adoptions in De Gree v Webb

P Moodley

doi:10.17159/1727-3781/2007/v10i3a2803

Abstract

With reference to the case of De Gree v Webb 2007 SCA 87 (RSA) and developments in the field of international and South African child law, this contribution examines some challenges posed to the judiciary in particular with regard to inter-country adoptions and the application of the best interests of the child principle in this context. In traversing the area of inter-country adoption law against the background of provisions from related international treaties, the author alludes to some key aspects that may require attention in South Africa in years to come. Pending the promulgation of regulations in terms of the Children’s Act the author furthermore comments on the role that co-operative governance and implementation of the 2006 Guidelines for Inter-Country Adoption may play. 

Highlights

1 Introduction The four separate judgments by the learned Judges of Appeal in the matter of De Gree v Webb1 signifies to the reader the contentious terrain that intercountry adoptions has become in South African law
The facts of the case are that the appellants, an American couple of AfricanAmerican descent had been trying since 2005 to adopt baby R, who was found a few days after her birth abandoned in a bucket under a tree in the Roodepoort area
R was taken to a shelter, ‘Baby Haven’, run by the first and second respondents, American citizens, resident in South Africa, and who since January 2005, have been appointed the foster parents of R

Summary

Introduction

The four separate judgments by the learned Judges of Appeal in the matter of De Gree v Webb signifies to the reader the contentious terrain that intercountry adoptions has become in South African law. The first part of this contribution examines the legal conundrum within which we are trying to facilitate inter-country adoptions and the second examines the best interests of the child principle against the backdrop of the judgments in the De Gree matter

De Gree v Webb considered

Conclusion