Court victory for home schooling family!

The Doe family of KwaZulu-Natal were finally reunited on 14^th December 2015 after the children had been removed by social workers eight months previously for “not attending school”.

Their three eldest children (of whom the youngest is only three years old) were permanently returned to the care of their parents by the children’s court, which set aside all the previous orders which had caused the children and their parents great heartache. The children had been removed from the family in April 2015. The only reasons given to the court were that the children were not attending schools and that their parents were allegedly “indoctrinating” the children with their religious beliefs.

This original removal order initiated what Advocate Avril Potgieter (SC) described as the “most bizarre” case he had ever encountered. Adv Potgieter was the senior of three legal representatives engaged by the Pestalozzi Trust to represent the family. The other two were Mrs Paula Barnard, attorney from Pietermaritzburg and Adv Deon Schaup, who acted as junior to Adv Potgieter.

The court also refused to accept the recommendations of the social worker and other “interested parties” that the court orders the social worker to supervise the family’s homeschooling for a year.

The presiding officer on the 14^th of December 2015 was the third one since the case had started in April. He commented that there is nothing wrong when parents bring up their children in their own beliefs, and that such an upbringing makes the children better people. He also made it very clear that, in his view, these children should never have been before the court in the first place – the matter should have been dealt with by other means.

These remarks constitute a serious rebuke to the social workers who had brought the matter to court and had recommended that the children be removed from their parents.

The Pestalozzi Trust shares in the happiness of the family, and extends its appreciation for the commitment and the work of the legal team that the Trust had selected to represent the family at the cost of the Trust. Thank you also to those other homeschooling families who contributed to the costs of the case so far.

We cannot word this better than Mr Doe himself, who wrote to the Trust and the legal team, as follows, on behalf of his family:

“We as a family are extremely grateful for the roles you all have played in our lives and for standing on our side in this trying time that we have been faced with.

“It has been a difficult journey for us all and it brings unspeakable joy to us that you all have stood by our side especially when we felt like giving up and when we thought there is no hope. Words can never express our gratitude and appreciation towards you all.

“Mr van Oostrum, you are God sent and [my wife] and I have been speechless since the day the Pestalozzi Trust offered us their services. I pray there are more people like you on this earth and this too goes for Paula, Deon and Avril.

“God has granted us the victory today and He has come through strong for us all and to Him be all the praise, glory and honour and I thank you all that you have been available for God to work through.

“God bless you and your families dearly and may His hand be upon you all. Thank you very much and I pray we can all meet again to celebrate our victory, if God permits.

“Die Here wat ons dien, Hy is so wonderbaar”.