Switched At Birth

South African mother refuses
to hand back switched baby
Two children mistakenly swapped at
birth four years ago at centre of painful
dispute between families over future
custody
The two babies were confused in Boksburg,
east of Johannesburg, in 2010 Photograph: Jo
Foord/Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley
Two mothers in South Africa have
discovered they are raising each other's
daughters after they were mistakenly
switched at birth in a hospital four years
ago.
But while one of the women wants to
correct the error and reclaim her
biological child, the other is refusing to
give back the girl she has raised as her
own, posing a huge legal dilemma.
Henk Strydom, a lawyer for one of the
mothers, who cannot be identified
because of a court order, described the
inadvertent swap as a travesty and
tragedy that is unlikely to have a happy
ending.
Both mothers gave birth at the Tambo
Memorial Hospital in Boksburg, east of
Johannesburg, on the same day in 2010
and were discharged. "Nobody suspected
anything," Strydom said.
But last year one of the mothers, who is
33 and unemployed, sued her ex‑partner
for maintenance for her daughter.
Strydom continued: "The man denied he
was the father. A DNA test was done it
was found it was not his baby and not
her baby. She was devastated. She didn't
know what to do."
Eventually she met the other mother and
since last December they have been
attending joint counselling sessions,
arranged by the hospital. This has
included meeting their biological
daughters.
Strydom said of his client: "She said there
are resemblances to herself. She
conveyed to me that it was traumatic.
You can see it's not easy for her. She has
to care for a child that is not hers on her
own while her child is with someone
else."
The woman reportedly became unhappy
with the process and approached the
children's court in a bid to gain custody
of her biological child, but the other
mother refused. Strydom agreed to
represent the woman, who has one elder
child, pro bono.
"It's a tragedy. She wants the baby back
but it seems the other mother is
reluctant. It's four years later: you can
understand she doesn't want to give up
her baby."
Earlier this week the high court in
Pretoria appointed the University of
Pretoria's Centre for Child Law to
investigate what will now be in the best
interests of the children, which is the
guiding principle under South African
law. It must report back within 90 days.
Strydom added: "Your guess is as good as
mine what the court may decide. It's a
travesty. How do you rectify it after four
years? The longer you wait, the more
traumatic it will be. But whatever
happens, someone won't be happy."
He said at this point, he and his client do
not want to sue the hospital or
government health department, which is
currently helping with the case and
providing counselling.
The Centre for Child Law will now
interview the mothers and fathers as well
as any other person with a "significant
relationship" with either of the girls. The
children and mothers will undergo "full
and thorough" clinical assessments and
may be seen by a psychologist.
Karabo Ngidi, an attorney with the
centre, said: "What's going to happen
must be in the best interests of the
children. Biology is an important aspect
but not the only one."
The families are of Zulu ethnicity and so
Zulu tradition, culture and customary law
will be a factor, she added. It is also still
possible the ex-partner of the mother
taking legal action could be the biological
father of the girl who was switched.
It is not the first child-swap case to come
to light in South Africa. In 1995, two
mothers were awarded damages after
their sons, born in 1989, were
accidentally switched at the
Johannesburg hospital where they were
born.
In 2009 in Oregon in the United States,
Dee Ann Angell and Kay Rene Reed
discovered that they had been mistakenly
mixed up at birth in 1953 when a nurse
brought them back from bathing. Last
year in Japan a 60-year-old man swapped
at birth from his rich parents to a poor
family was given compensation. He grew
up on welfare and became a truck driver,
whereas his biological siblings - and the
boy brought up in his place - attended
private secondary schools and
universities.
Bruce Laing, a clinical psychologist in
Johannesburg, said the long-term effects
of a baby swap could be "profound",
"terrifying" and "incredibly
traumatising". He told the Times of South
Africa: "An increasingly complicated
situation is that some resentment
towards a child that is not yours might
occur. The parents might always be
thinking 'What if?'"