No easy answers in baby swop case
The courts are to decide on the fate of two babies swopped at birth after a recommendation by experts that each remains with the mother who raised them. Vivian Attwood reports
THERE was never going to be an easy answer to the dilemma facing two young couples whose babies were swopped at birth, and raised by the wrong mothers for four years.
As the Pretoria High Court prepares to rule on the issue of whether the children should go back to their biological mothers, their futures remain uncertain. The Head of the Centre for Child Law, Professor Ann Skelton, has recommended that the children – a boy and a girl – be allowed to remain with the mothers who have raised them, but visit their biological mothers and have ongoing psychological support.
The mixup of the children happened at the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg in August 2010, immediately after they were born.
Although both mothers are said to have protested they had given birth to a baby of the opposite gender to the one they were handed after labour, their protests were reportedly brushed of. Both women have subsequently bonded with the children they have raised, said Skelton.
The mistake was detected earlier this year when the father of one of the children demanded a paternity test, allegedly because he felt the baby his partner claimed was his, looked nothing like him.
On Tuesday, following an indepth psychological evaluation of both the children and their mothers by a team of stateappointed experts, Professor Skelton recommended the babies stay where they were. She said both mothers refused to relinquish the child they had come to love as their own.
Skelton said as the mothers currently did not have legal rights over the children, because they were not biologically their own, a process called de facto adoption should be expedited. She said it was “likely” that both mothers would seek compensation for the disastrous baby swop from the Health MEC.
We asked KZN-based educational psychologist Felicity Tonkinson whether the decision, if approved by the court, would have long-lasting emotional consequences for the boy and girl involved.
“This is a tragic case. It is a very good thing that the moms have bonded with the babies they took home, though.
“If the parents and children are closely monitored and guided by professionals and the parents are emotionally stable and accepting of the unusual situation, there is a good chance the children will thrive. The state will need to pay for this.”
Dr Velaphi Mkhize, president of the Umsamo Institute in KZN, and a specialist in African traditions, values and practices, said that the recommendation to the court was an excellent one, and was fully in line with historic African practice.
“This sort of thing used to happen all the time, and is referred to as ‘collectivism’. If I had only daughters and my brother had sons, he would give me a son and I would give him a daughter to complete his family. It was known as ukusisa,” he said.