UK order for boy denied

A South African court has refused to order the return of a seven-year-old British boy unless a UK court confirms he will not be placed in the welfare system.

Yesterday the Pretoria High Court refused an application by the boy's father and the UK's Central Authority to have the boy returned home after his mother fled with him to South Africa in December.

Saying he was "concerned first and foremost" about the child, Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann postponed the matter indefinitely.

The judge said that he was not prepared to make an order until it was certain that the UK would allow the boy to stay with his grandmother there.

Bertelsmann ordered that the matter could only return to his court once the UK court rescinded two orders it made for the boy to be removed from his mother, 39, and placed in foster care. These orders were made pending the finalisation of a court battle launched by the boy's Jamaican-born father, 62, for contact rights to his son.

The mother, 39, who had opposed the application, claimed she fled to avoid having her son taken away from her after an investigation by a court-appointed guardian. Mother and son left the country on the eve of the final court proceedings.

The guardian found that the boy was "not currently having his needs met" in his mother's care and reported instances of poor supervision, isolation and school absence. She also found that the boy's father was not "a suitable option" as the child's primary caregiver.

Last month, the father, who lives in Wales, approached the Pretoria High Court seeking the return of his child to British soil.

The mother has refused to leave voluntarily, fearing arrest and the loss of her son.

Professor Ann Skelton, director for the Centre for Child Law, who is acting for the boy, recommended that he return to England to live with his grandmother until the court proceedings are finalised.

Bertelsmann was concerned about the boy being placed with strangers, as he is a "loner", not comfortable with strangers and "not adept in social skills".

The boy will continue to go to school in Limpopo, where he is currently living with his mother.