A judge in a provincial city made an interim care order for a newborn baby who was due to be discharged from hospital. The baby had been born with positive toxicology due to the mother’s addiction. The mother indicated that she was very anxious to overcome her addiction difficulty but that she was not in a position to care for the baby at the present time.
The social work team leader told the judge that the newborn baby remained in a hospital in another city and that the baby’s mother had now returned home. She said that the mother was currently homeless and the baby was not yet medically fit to be discharged from the hospital.
The lawyer for the Child and Family Agency (CFA) reminded the court that this matter had been mentioned a week previously and that there had been some concern regarding the jurisdiction of the case as both the child and the mother had been in hospital in a different city (and therefore a different court jurisdiction) at that time. The judge said that she was satisfied on the matter of jurisdiction at this point as the mother had now returned to the court’s jurisdiction. The lawyer for the CFA said that the child takes its residence from its mother.
The team leader told the court that a pre-birth assessment had been done. The issues of concern were the mother’s mental health, the mother’s addiction problem and the fact that the mother claimed to have worked as a sex worker. She had admitted that she was not in a position to care for her baby but said that her mother would be in a position to help. Unfortunately, the relationship between the mother and the baby’s grandmother had deteriorated with the result that there was very little family support to help to care for the baby.
The team leader stressed that the baby’s mother was very anxious to recover from her addiction problems and had been in a stabilisation centre in another city, which was the reason that the baby had been born in that place. The baby had presented with positive toxicology at birth and neonatal care was necessary. The baby’s health would need to be monitored long-term. The CFA lawyer asked the team leader if access would be provided for the baby’s mother and the team leader said that she would be strongly promoting the access.
The judge asked if the mother had indicated who the baby’s father was but the mother had said that she had no idea of the baby’s paternity. The team leader said the mother had two other children but neither of them lived with her.
The judge said that an emergency C-section had been carried out and that the baby was now fit to be discharged from hospital so that an immediate plan was essential. The mother had indicated that she could not care for her baby at this time and that she needed to tackle her own difficulties. The judge made an interim care order for the baby for a period of 28 days and appointed a guardian ad litem to the baby.