Pretoria - Four years ago, two babies - Girl M and Boy Z - born to different mothers in the same hospital were swopped. Now a panel of experts has recommended that each mother keep the child she has been raising.
This recommendation will be considered by the parties before the matter goes back to court. The ultimate decision, however, lies with the court.
The mistake only came to light recently when one of the children’s fathers wanted a paternity test and it turned out that neither he, nor the mother, were the child’s birth parents.
Then came the question of what to do, seeing each child had been raised by the other’s biological mother.
A panel of experts has recommended that each mother keep the child she has raised to date.
But, at the same time, the two can have contact with the children who are, biologically, their own. A team of experts will assist with this.
Girl M and Boy Z were born on August 2, 2010, at the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg. When it was revealed later they had been swapped at birth, one mother wanted her baby back, while the other was happy to keep the child she had raised as her own.
To find a solution called for the wisdom of Solomon, and the high court in Pretoria called on the head of the Centre for Child Law, Professor Ann Skelton, to investigate the dilemma and to make recommendations to the court.
On Tuesday Skelton filed her recommendations and it was revealed that both sets of parents have bonded with the children they have raised and want to keep them. Even the father who at first questioned paternity and the mother who wanted to give her baby back, are now happy with the current arrangement.
A team of experts, led by a psychologist, has been working with the mothers and the children prior to Skelton’s appointment to the case and will continue assisting them.
Skelton, working closely with the experts in various fields, met with the mothers – the one identified as NS and who raised Girl M and NN, who raised Boy Z.
NS thought she was shown a girl after birth but a nurse took the child away as the mother needed oxygen. She saw the baby the next day and she had a tag around her wrist with the mother’s surname. She happily raised the girl as her daughter for three years until the hospital called with the news that the baby had been swopped at birth and was not hers. The mother was devastated.
NN has a similar tale to tell. She gave birth and the nurse showed her a girl before taking the child away. When the mother recovered after three days, she went to search for her baby but found a boy in the nursery, bearing her surname.
NN argued with the staff that she had given birth to a girl, but they convinced her it was a boy. A paternity test requested by the father revealed the child was not theirs.
The hospital, after receiving the alarming news, investigated what may have happened that day. They realised the same midwife had attended to both mothers. It emerged that the name tags and hospital files had accidentally been swopped by the midwife.
It was said that the hospital was also very busy that day, with very few staff present. The result was that one midwife attended to several mothers and things became confused.
Skelton, meanwhile, reported that she had also spoken to the fathers of the children concerned. The girl’s (non-biological) father said he loved her and had named her after his mother.
Z’s family also reported that he was part of their family and they no longer wanted to part with him.
As parental rights only flow from biology – the dilemma is that each set of parents don’t have legal rights over the child they have raised. Given the extraordinary circumstances, Skelton recommended a process called the de facto adoption of each child by the parents caring for them to make the relationship legal.
Skelton meanwhile said a civil claim against the Health MEC by the parents following the baby swopping was very likely.
She said although this would not solve all the problems, it would assist the families.
She called on the MEC to concede the merits so that the matter can be dealt with swiftly.
Pretoria News