NEW PARENTAL LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS COME INTO EFFECT

THE NEW leave entitlements under the Labour Laws mendment Act, for parental, adoption and commissioning
parental leave, came into effect on Januar y 1.

Webber Wentzel reports that the legislation was passedlast year.

The law firm says the entitlements are for unpaid leave. Employees are eligible to apply to the Unemployment Insurance Fund for income replacement benefits during the leave period.

1. Parental leave: an employee who is a parent of a child is entitled to 10 consecutive days' leave, which can be taken from the day on which the child is born, or on the date on which an adoption order is granted, or on the day that the child is placed with the prospective adoptive parents.
2. Adoption leave: an employee who is an adoptive parent of a child below the age of 2 is entitled to 10 consecutive weeks of leave. It can be taken from the date on which an adoption order is granted, or on the day that the child is placed with the prospective adoptive parents. The other parent will be entitled
3. to parental leave.
4. Commissioning parental leave:an employee who is a commissioning parent in a surrogate motherhood agreement is entitled to 10 consecutive weeks of leave.

| ORNICO - StaffReporter (11 JAN 2020)

Have a look at the below article as well 

South Africa’s new parental leave laws are here – this is what you need to know

Adopting your Step Child? What's the process?

Elke Day of Adoptcare shares this insightful article with us.

Download it here

What happens when adoptive parents no longer want the adopted child?

CapeTalk's Pippa Hudson speaks to Steven Nicholson, the Executive Director of Arise Cape Town to find out what the law says about adoptive parents who want to relinquish their rights as adoptive parents.

See the full article here: http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/14248/what-happens-when-adoptive-parents-no-longer-want-the-adopted-child

Swapped babies to remain with families raising them

Three judges of the Pretoria High Court decided on Monday that two toddlers swapped at birth must remain with the families who have raised them.

Click on the image to read the full article:

Children’s Amendment Bills: Ubuntu and the ongoing child protection debate

An interesting read:

The public hearings held by the government portfolio committee tasked with assessing the Children’s Amendment Bills were a stark reminder that many sectors of government still believe that ubuntu is the panacea for all of our orphans’ ills. In the context of child protection, ubuntu is epitomised by community-based care and the principle that no child is left behind. But ubuntu alone is not the solution.

Click the image below for the full story.

Can new fathers take maternity leave?

Q & A on News 24

QUESTION: My partner and I, a couple in a registered civil union, are planning to have a baby, either through a surrogate or adoption. While this is very exciting, it is also stressful as both my partner and I have full-time employment. Would either my partner or I qualify for maternity leave?

Click on image for the full article

Lies, damned lies and statistics: Unravelling South Africa’s child trafficking conundrum

A very thought provoking article 

In modern society there are few things as truly evil as human trafficking, especially when it involves children, and Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba’s argument for those afflicted by the scourge is compelling. But his supposed solution has once again been called into question along with the statistical basis for the plan. It begs the question that if the minister’s strategy is really about solving South Africa’s child trafficking problem why, in a style reminiscent of ‘Saving Private Ryan’, is he willing to risk the lives and livelihoods of many for the sake of the ones and twos. While it is difficult to ignore the fervor with which he speaks, it is equally difficult to avoid the sense that his department is playing an elaborate game of Top Trumps with stakes that are appallingly high. Beyond the oratory, what does the research say about how to prevent trafficking?

(Click the link below for the full article)

#ChildProtectionWeek - It also takes a village to rescue a baby

From news24.com 

2015-06-09 09:06

Sergeant Nolan Wallace comforts the ice-cold but crying baby girl as he carries her from the pit latrine. (Supplied)

The story in today’s Witness about the rescue of a newborn baby girl that was tossed down a pit toilet has both uplifting and depressing elements.

What would drive a mother to do this, is the first of many questions readers may have when reading the story. It is easy to look on in judgment of the mother that threw the baby into the toilet, and while this can never be condoned, it was probably the action of a desperate woman who may have felt she had few other options.

A study by the National Adoption Coalition published online may help answer the questions formulated in response to this story. The 2014 study quotes Child Welfare SA’s estimate that more than 3 500 babies were abandoned in South Africa in 2010.

They say the contributing factors to child abandonment are restrictive legislation, poverty, mass urbanisation, high levels of violence — ostensibly gender based violence and rape, extreme gender inequality, high levels of HIV/Aids, and diminishing family support.

The study also highlights African ancestral beliefs which indicate that the ‘Western’ practise of adoption is seen as problematic.

The National Adoption Coalition also touches on the sugar daddy phenomenon as a cause of teenage pregnancy and says abortion remains a contentious issue with women choosing this option often being labelled as immoral rather than as a woman making an informed and responsible choice.

The study also says that 65% of abandoned babies are newborn and primary site of abandonment is toilets, drains, sewers and gutters. Rubbish sites are the second most used location to leave an unwanted child.

The old adage that it takes a village to raise a child is perhaps particularly apt in the context of child abandonment.

While it is easy to blame government for not placing enough emphasis on birth control, sex education and social welfare support, society must look to itself and ask what more could be done to support and assist desperate mothers.

The beacons of hope here are that the baby survived, thanks to her rescuer.

It is not the first time that Search and Rescue policeman Lieutenant Jack Haskins has lowered himself into the putrid recesses of a pit latrine to rescue an infant. Haskins has once again shown that his courage and dedication to helping the community he works in is both selfless and heroic

Thousands may be stuck in foster care

Originally seen on IOL on the 15th April.
by Lisa Isaacs

Cape Town – Thousands of children could be stuck in the foster-care system for years and prevented from being adopted.

This happens when biological parents refuse to sign away their parental rights, causing the children emotional trauma, foster and adoption experts say.

Sihle Ngobese, spokesman for Social Development MEC Albert Fritz, said at the end of February there were 28 657 children in foster care.

“Parents sometimes withhold consent for adoption because of cultural and religious factors, stigma and the belief that their circumstances will change in the short term, and then they will be able to care for their child themselves,” he said.

Eloise Loots, a social worker at adoption assistance organisation Procare, said when children were removed from biological parents’ homes, many parents were unwilling to co-operate or consider putting their children up for adoption.

“Many of these parents don’t see that their life circumstances may not be in the best interests of the child. For some it is a case of: ‘This is my child, how can someone else take care of my child’,” she said.

In some cases, Loots said, foster parents would prefer to foster a child with the aim of adopting them, a process they felt was within their control, instead of using adoption services where they were screened and matched with a child.

“They would rather identify a child, take them in as a foster child and decide if this will work out. If it doesn’t work, then the child is moved. They often identify a child they feel they fall in love with… and the child is not adoptable.”

Foster parents could pursue adoption through the courts, taking years as social workers needed to assess what was best for the child.

Ngobese said the Children’s Court dispensed of parental responsibilities and rights of parents when they were unreasonably withholding consent for adoption.

“It can cause a lot of heartache and trauma. The child develops a need to protect themselves. They shut off and don’t trust people,” Loots said.

Melody Inglis, social work supervisor at the Cape Flats Development Association, said the organisation would see one or two adoptions a year, with dozens of new cases in their offices each month, including those of children removed from homes where there was abuse or neglect. In March they received 36 cases.

Children were fostered for different time frames and biological parents given the chance to improve their circumstances, Inglis said. If they could not, the child was again fostered. If the same foster family was unable to accommodate the child, another suitable home was found, said Inglis.

After two years, foster parents could adopt a child, but if the child’s biological parents had not signed away their parental rights, they faced a lengthy court battle.

Child rights NGO Molo Songololo director Patrick Solomons said: “To give up parental rights is not easy. Some children are in foster care for many years. It can cause stress and anxiety; some feel they don’t fit into their family environment.

“They may feel isolated and marginalised. Some feel they are a throwaway child.”

lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za

Cape Town