The Portfolio Committee on Social Development has recommended that the Social Development Department should approach the North Gauteng High Court to ask for an extension on a court order to clear the foster care backlog, as the deadline looms.
The North Gauteng High Court gave the Department of Social Development a deadline of 26 November 2020 to submit a comprehensive legal solution to the foster care orders backlog.
Acting chairperson of the portfolio committee, Dikgang Stock, said following the challenges relating to the tabling of the Children’s Amendment Bill in Parliament, which resulted in the bill being referred to the committee in August 2020, the committee has sought legal advice from Parliamentary Legal Services and the department’s legal services on how it should proceed with processing the bill.
Stock said the committee’s main concern is for it and the Select Committee on Health and Social Services to finalise the bill before the court’s deadline.
“The committee agreed with legal advice suggesting that the department should seek an extension of the court deadline. This will give the committee sufficient time to continue processing the bill in its entirety and manage the potential risk of possible further litigation,” Stock said.
Stock said the committee is aware that the benefits of going this route mean that the extension of the court order will provide an interim mechanism for management of foster care orders that are due to lapse.
“It also means that the Social Assistance Amendment Bill, which the committee passed in March 2020, is part of the legal solution the court ordered to be developed,” Stock said.
The Social Development Department has on previous occasions reiterated its commitment to ensure that no child in foster care placement falls through the cracks. – SAnews.gov.za
