According to Embrace Village, a part of TLC Children’s Home organisation, the systemic failures within our social services extend far beyond the immediate crises we often hear about.
They permeate the very fabric of our society, quietly devastating families and, in particular, fathers. These men, who should be celebrated for their willingness to step up and take responsibility for their children, are instead met with an almost insurmountable wall of bureaucracy that belies the simplicity and purity of their intentions.
It is a tragedy that goes largely unnoticed, yet its impact ripples through generations. Managing director Pippa Jarvis shared: “Take, for example, the heartbreaking ordeal of one father in our community. As a South African citizen whose fiancée, the mother of his child born in May, hails from Lesotho.
“In a just world, this father would be able to easily assert his rights and responsibilities toward his child, ensuring that his name appears on the birth certificate, granting the child their rightful claim to South African citizenship and all the protections that come with it. But in our world, the process is anything but just.”
Proof needed
The South African system, in its flawed wisdom, insists that fathers like him undergo an expensive and arduous process to ‘prove’ their paternity.
This process, which is especially punishing to those who earn modest incomes, demands a DNA paternity test.
Before even reaching that stage, the parents must secure an array of documents: the South African father’s ID, the foreign mother’s passport, ID photos of both parents and the infant, an affidavit from the father stating his intention to claim paternity, an affidavit from the mother affirming the father’s nationality and supporting his claim, and finally, proof of payment for the test, which costs a prohibitive R2 250.
All of this is required simply to have the father’s name added to the birth certificate. All of this allows the child the basic right to their father’s protection, to healthcare, and to a life free from the stigma and difficulties that come with having only one legally recognised parent. “The process is not only laborious but deeply insulting,” highlighted Jarvis.
Support the Father Fund
“It sends a clear message to fathers that their commitment to their children is somehow suspect, that their desire to be a part of their child’s life must be verified and validated by a system that seems designed to exclude them.
“For fathers working at the lower end of the pay scale, this process is almost impossible to navigate. The time, money, and effort required are too much, and so many fathers, despite their best intentions, are forced to abandon the fight. Their children, from the very moment of birth, are cut off from them, legally and emotionally.
“This is not just a bureaucratic oversight; it is a profound injustice. It denies children the security and identity that come with knowing their father and denies fathers the joy and responsibility of fatherhood. This system does not just fail fathers – it fails families and society as a whole,” she explained.
Embrace Village recognises this injustice and hopes to establish a Father’s Fund in the future. This fund would aim to help fathers navigate these cruel and unnecessary hurdles with greater ease and dignity, ensuring that they can claim their rightful place in their children’s lives. Because every child deserves to know their father, and every father deserves the right to be a part of their child’s life. Anything less is unacceptable.
For more information, contact 011 948 7917 or email embrace@tlc.org.za
