THE divorced mother of an 8-year-old child must submit herself to random urine drug screening, and attend and complete psychological assessment to help her with anger management and impulse control, before she can have phased-in contact with the child.
The father of the child turned to the Western Cape High Court to have a parenting agreement between him and his former wife revised. A court earlier called in the help of experts, after the mother recently assaulted the child.
The child, a girl was living with her mother but after the assault the father went to fetch her.
The mother’s sister sent the father a recording revealing that the mother had assaulted the child and threatened to repeat the assault. On the very same day, the father removed the child from her care.
In the earlier decree of divorce, the mother was given the status of being the primary carer of the child, and the father was awarded standard rights to maintain contact with the child.
It was revealed in court that in 2019, the father obtained a protection order against the mother. This, amongst others, prohibited her from committing acts of domestic violence against the child.
This application was triggered by concerns and allegations of physical and emotional abuse by the mother against the child, even after the domestic violence order was obtained against her.
A psychologist who investigated the situation found that the mother lacked parenting skills. She shouted at the child and was not ready to have the child in her care for long periods.
It was found that she needed to engage in individual therapy where she could learn to control her impulses and frustrations. The mother also needed to learn ways to deal with anger in a more constructive way.
According to the psychologist, the mother had to stop using drugs and alcohol. The expert told the court that the mother's volatility was a concern and she needed to maintain a drug free lifestyle.
The father told the court that the mother of the child needed to prove that she had changed and that there should be a mechanism in place to ensure that this happened.
He agreed that the phasing in of the mother’s contact would protect the child, but she had to prove that she had changed her ways.
Judge Constance Nziweni said the best interests of a minor child were entrenched in the Constitution as a constitutional right of every minor child that was paramount. The high court as an upper guardian of all children had a special duty to protect children.
She said, “As such, this court can interfere with parenting to prevent serious harm to a child and protect the welfare of a child.”
The judge was concerned that the mother had reportedly had a drug relapse recently.
Thus, in her order, the judge made it clear the mother had to undergo random drug tests, and anger management courses, before she is allowed to have full contact with her daughter again.
Pretoria News
zelda.venter@inl.co.za
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