Toddlers swapped at birth stay put

Court rules that two five-year-olds must remain with parents raising them THE two toddlers who were swapped at birth will remain with the parents who have been raising them as their own. The Pretoria High Court ruled yesterday that the five-year-old boy and girl will be considered to have been adopted by their “psychological parents”. Judges Aubrey Ledwaba, Peter Mabuse and Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen decided it was in the best interests of the children not to be returned to their biological parents, but that they will have contact with their biological families. Lawyers for the parents and children made their final arguments to the court yesterday. The court accepted the recommendations of Professor Ann Skelton, director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria, who was appointed by the court last year to represent the children and investigate what would be best for them. The parents had previously expressed concern about the cultural impact of giving up their biological children and accepting the other child, but Skelton said that according to customary law expert Thandabantu Nhlapo, performing certain rituals would “make things right with the ancestors”. His report to the court identified three such important rituals – naming the child, introducing the child to the ancestors and fortifying the child against illnesses. Nhlapo is a retired professor in private law and former deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town. From 2004 to 2007, he was chairman of the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims appointed by former president Thabo Mbeki. The father who uncovered the swap when he asked for a paternity test is not happy with the ruling. He had wanted his daughter returned to him.

Earlier this year, he had asked for an expert on traditional beliefs to prepare a report because he was a Zulu and the family raising his daughter were Pedi. But he abandoned reliance on this report. His attorney, Tshego Phala, said yesterday the man was not in agreement with the court’s decision but accepted it. The other parents, who would not comment, had agreed with Skelton’s recommendations. Skelton argued that the children should be considered as having been adopted to give the parents rights and responsibilities over the children they had been raising. Until now, they had been exercising parental rights which they did not have by law. Skelton said it would be an affront to the parents’ dignity to make them go through a formal adoption process, which could be tedious, while they had no hand in swapping their children. The children were swapped at birth in the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg in August 2010. The mistake was discovered almost three years later when the mother raising the boy claimed maintenance and the father asked for a paternity test. The results revealed they were not the child’s biological parents. An investigation disclosed that a midwife dealing with both births on that “very busy” day mixed up either the babies’ files or their name tags. The parents must within 30 days agree on someone to be appointed as parenting coordinator, who will mediate the process going forward. The judges said they would provide full reasons for their decision at a later stage.