STEP-PARENT ADOPTION Centre for Child Law v Minister of Social Development 2014 1 SA 468 (GNP)

Abstract

Adoption in South Africa takes various forms, including step-parent adoption (Ferreira Interracial and intercultural adoption: A South African legal perspec- tive (2010) 2). Chapter 15 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (the Act), which regulates adoption, infuses a democratic and child-centred ethos into South African adoption law (Mosikatsana and Loffell in Davel and Skelton (eds) Commentary on the Children’s Act (2007 revised 2012) 15-2). As with any newly implemented Act though, it also comes with its own challenges and problems. Unfortunately adoption in terms of the Act is an area that has not been explored much, and there is a complete dearth of authority when it comes to step-parent adoption. The application brought in Centre for Child Law v Minister of Social Development was thus welcome not only because it had the objective of achieving clarity for the parties to the particular dispute, but also because it offered an opportunity to achieve certainty regarding the manner in which the relevant sections of the Act should be interpreted.