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November 2007
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS |
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Alumna Wins Two-Year Legal Struggle to Adopt South African Baby
Oprah's magazine, O, has recently covered the story. So have numerous other periodicals in the United States and abroad. Now, alumna Althea (Lewis) De Gree, KSB/BSBA ’89 is finally home with her family and adopted daughter, Ruth Joy (or “Baby R” as she came to be known in the South African papers), where together they are celebrating the end of a long, hard-fought legal battle. The De Gree family was not looking to add another member. Althea and husband Django, who met while in college and both sang in gospel choirs (Althea with the AU Gospel Choir), already had six children ranging from ages 1 to 12 and were very happy. But when close friends who were in South Africa as missionaries showed them pictures of an orphaned infant, the De Grees started to change their thinking. “We figured that we were capable of adding another child,” recalls De Gree. “We thought to ourselves, ‘there’s not much difference between six and seven children.’ We already had plenty of clothes, toys, etc. So we wanted to do it.” What they could never have planned for was an emotionally and financially taxing court process that tested the family’s will for two and a half years. When they started the adoption process, Ruth Joy’s foster mother, the lawyers, and people within the adoption network told the couple that it would be an open and shut case. “Ruth Joy was found by police officers, abandoned, and a huge search for the biological parents had already turned up nothing,” recalls De Gree.
However, after the South African Children’s Court claimed there was no process for international adoptions, citing a seemingly outdated policy that does not allow adoptions to a specific list of countries (including the United States), the De Grees took the case to the South African High Court. Again, their case was dismissed because of the same policy. But they received just enough encouragement throughout each court process, that they decided to take it another step further. In this case, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeals. “We told our six children that we would go until the end with this – until someone in South Africa says to us, ‘Absolutely no, you cannot adopt Ruth Joy,’ we will keep pushing,” says De Gree. Still, the Supreme Court came back with a three-to-two vote against allowing the adoption. The family, having already invested tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, telephone bills, and traveling costs, thought to themselves that the saga might be coming to an unfortunate end. But finally, relief came in the form of yet another court. “After the last verdict, we had a two-week window in which to apply to their Constitutional Court,” says De Gree, “a court which had only been in existence since 1994.” After a court-hired advocate for Ruth Joy produced a 54-page document summarizing the best scenario for the child, the De Grees finally received some good news. The Constitutional Court ordered that the case be heard again by the Children’s Court – the place they had started the entire process. “The Children’s Court voted in our favor, and after a long journey back to the States, we are finally home,” says De Gree, who with her husband has since started a fund to raise money for their adoption costs and to increase public awareness of South African children needing adoptive parents around the world. De Gree adds, “It wasn’t right for her to have to stay there. South Africa has millions of homeless children. We look forward to starting some wonderful traditions with Ruth Joy.” Having already accomplished success in the corporate world, De Gree is enjoying her role as caretaker of a full household. “AU moms should know that it’s OK to stay home and raise the next ‘mover and shaker.’ There’s a lot to be said for slowing down long enough to impart what’s important on your child.” “We still stop by AU all the time…I’m hoping that my children will get in!” -David Ferraris | |||||
