Gran in adoption court bid

DURBAN: A Durban grandmother dashed to the high court on Friday to stop her drug addict daughter removing her grandchild from her care so that she could be adopted by a relative in Saudi Arabia.

The grandmother has until now been almost the sole caregiver of the 15-month-old girl, but says recently “large amounts of money” had been deposited into a bank account in the toddler’s name. She believes this is for travel and passport costs for a proposed adoption by her own sister and husband in Saudi Arabia.

Acting Judge Guido Penzhorn granted an order declaring the grandmother a co-holder of parental rights and responsibilities and interdicting the parents from removing the child from her or from concluding any adoption agreements. A family advocate was ordered to investigate the matter and report back to the court on December 7.