On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 2:07 PM

 

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 2:07 PM

, Greg Zane Peta Press <gredaye@gmail.com> wrote:

[continued]

This recap can simultaneously structure a way forward because your Mrs. Wigget proposed a three month trial period to the original Hearing at the Children’s Court in George.

On June 4th 1998 the Court incorporated her proposal in its Order.  It set up a procedure for someone OTHER THAN her [JCS] to decide WHEN this three month trial period would commence.

When JCS summarily reduced our access in Johannesburg to an hour once a week (we had three days a week in George) we turned to the Department for help.  Abbreviating what then occurred…  JCS tricked us into becoming clients of a different Welfare agency instead of them, namely of the Department.

We were then assigned to Yollanda Macallister supervised by Lerato Ramabulana.  The best option forward for the Department from here is probably to find they erred by failing to communicate with Mrs. Wigget.  But they didn’t actually err.  They were commandeered to ignore her by their superiors, Mrs Jacobs and Mrs Prodromou.

Within about six months Yollanda and Lerato were reassigned and for about the next seven years we never received any services because this post was never filled (there was no social worker available to serve any people residing in our area.)

In 2006 we made a special effort that led to Fundiswa Mhlakaza being assigned to our case.  Thanks to her we completed a parenting course successfully.

She couldn’t make further progress owing to non-cooperation from JCS.

We then relocated to KZN for two years.  During this time both of Peta’s parents passed away.  Our efforts to interact with the Department in KZN were hampered by non-cooperation from Joburg.  So then Fundiswa simply mailed the file straight to us.

In 2009 we brought it with us here to Gordon’s Bay.

We’re willing to technically receive Zane back for a three month trial period because we’re confident we can demonstrate our success as parents during this time (then make it permanent.)

To bring about this result the Department needs to launch an inquiry (use its powers) to:

• Get JCS to explain why they’ve failed to recommend the 3 month trial period – in all the time that’s passed since ’98.

Meanwhile the Department itself can direct the three month trial period, Mrs. Wigget suggested, must now commence.

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 1:07 PM

 

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 1:07 PM,

Greg Zane Peta Press <gredaye@gmail.com> wrote:

Rowina:  please forward this to Mr. Hewu.  I’ve got his phone number, but not his email!

Dear Mr Hewu,

Thanks for the brief ‘getting acquainted’ phone call last night.  We agreed this is a difficult and complex situation.  Our immediate concern is to avoid your Department trying to overpower us because it perceives us as a threat.

We’ve been down this road already – in Gauteng – and all it proved is:  the Department (there) could overpower us temporarily by withholding services or providing them ineptly.

We’re not a threat to the Government of South Africa or to our child.  We reside here.  We’re a positive force for good struggling right alongside you with greater insight now – since our ordeal – into the tremendous challenges those less fortunate than us must face.

Having given the matter more thought overnight, I’m satisfied that by escalating it to you the Nabela Louw and Davis team chose a person who probably has the authority to sort this out.

From here I propose we make a genuine effort to work this out, between us, before involving other parties.

Here’s a brief recap that also structures a way forward against the backdrop of our reasonable request for our son to be released unconditionally from this highly irregular and flat out wrongful and improper foster placement.

Owing to our concerns, and in the interests of a smooth working relationship we’re sending this email out in pieces while we compose it “online”.

A revised and edited final version will follow at the end.

Kind regards,

Mr and Mrs Press

[Recap to follow]

 

 

 

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 11:35

 

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 11:35

AM, Greg Zane Peta Press <gredaye@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Nomfundo, Marie, and Shirley,

So then…  we sent them this email.  The main part of it is this commentary (excerpted here)

Commentary:

Therefore (if emails from us to schnerb@eject.co.za continue being ejected) this will constitute vital acknowledgment photos of Zane’s kin will awaken his dormant true identity.

For a long while our emails did continue being ejected.  But unexpectedly when we sent a fwd of our first email TO YOU to them, it did get through.

Our next email will resume from this.

Note:  we also put the conclusion to the email (below) in bold font – for emphasis.

P & G

From: presscentre@hotmail.com
To: schnerb@eject.co.za
Subject: technical details of permanent failure shtik
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2010 01:30:33 +0200

Rabbi and Rabbanit Schnerb and family,

We’ve gained a different perspective since the previous email.  Anyway, I resume at (4) from where it ends.

One of your addresses did eject …the incoming:  “We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information… . The error returned was: 550 550 user’s mailbox over quota, (state 14*)”

Well done!

Hope this doesn’t mean Zane’s leap of faith has permanently failed.  Resending it from pressenter@in.com instead of resenting it:  we found the user’s mailbox no longa ova quota.

Grand!

Following our lengthy Schnerb-Press vibration gestation period (or alphabetically…) our Neimann.Press.Rodin.Shnerb…. gyration syncopation:  all of us were resourceful, we all won.

This makes it worth the plotz, and makes us strong!

1.  I think I’m clever, imaginative etc.  Zane seem to think me boring, stupid & predictable.  So… for a long time already Peta and me prepared to reassign fresh… new… values to our father, mother, and son variables.

When it become feasible.

Which – let’s not kid ourselves – might never happen.

We’re only… biological parents.

Orthodox Jews do place a much higher value on biological parents than Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection does… !

Commentary:

He thought he would be our son, so far he’s someone else’s.  This thought (decision) was his leap of faith; this thread is ours.

2.  We hereby issue a blanket amnesty to everyone – including us – for all the ungodly acts of identity theft involved in executing the following plan.

We’ve awarded 4 “Zane” email addresses to different franchises in the Press Group.  (Not mocking anyone – just having fun!)  Some of Zane’s forgotten cousins – my brothers’ and sisters’ cognoscenti kids – are receiving emails from him already!  Even they….  don’t know what’s going on!   Here’s what’s going on: –

To re-insinuate this grandson in among the others, we – pretending to be him – are constructing relationships with his cousins for him:  from the emails him and them send us.

There’s more!  Passwords for Zane, Chaim, Devora, Nechama, Daniella, Yitzchok, Miriam…  Yaakov, young Avroham and Keila are available on request.   Who knows who will… eventually send emails from these 4 ‘ghost’ email addresses!

Of course WE know your foster siblings have been helping you figure out your life for a long time already Zane!

Commentary:

“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” ~ Oscar Wilde

insinuate n-sny-t ~ to cause someone to be accepted by gradual approaches or maneuvers.

3.  Was our leap of faith email deliberately ejected?  Sadly (it seems) yes.

Even if… this assumption is correct, we had already sent half the photos as attachments the day before – after Rabbanit Schnerb made the shocking revelation (on the phone) she couldn’t get… the flikr link to work.

This email was not returned.

Rabbanit Schnerb may have experienced a genuine knee-jerk instinctive disinclination to show said photos to her Shlomo (our Zane.)

Commentary:

Therefore (if emails from us to schnerb@eject.co.za continue being ejected) this will constitute vital acknowledgment photos of Zane’s kin will awaken his dormant true identity.

The attitudes of some members of the Press family towards our own Jewishness could be an alternative explanation why a Rabbinat emulating the Maiden of Ludmir  might think it best to run away from contact with our family.

Because according to the laws of tzniut Peta, Zane, the Schnerbs – even me – should try to avoid the company of uncouth individuals and situations where an atmosphere of levity and depravity prevails.

Let’s see.

4.    Finally – ready to resume from where we were up to.

This is how it’s been for twelve and one half years!

Every time we try our hardest to catch up – you Schnerbs and Neimanns  use the awesome insight into Hebrew wisdom you possess – to surge ahead.  But now…  the prospect of acquiring a controlling interest (51%) in this wisdom, by reeling Zane back in, stands in front of us like a huge rock on a smooth beach. 

Commentary:

*Right.  Lets progress from state 14 to state 15.

Greg

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On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 11:24 AM

 

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 11:24 AM,

Greg Zane Peta Press <gredaye@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Nomfundo, Marie, and Shirley,

The Schnerbs present as quiet spoken, unassuming, gentle people:  the ideal foster parents.  They know they fit this profile and being seen as stalwarts of their community is a source of pride to them.

Rabbi Schnerb unfortunately has poor vision; therefore he cannot drive.  Every weekday morning  the whole family piles into their minibus and Mrs. Schnerb(Jacqui) chauffeurs him to work and drops off the 7 kids (still living at home) at their respective schools.  He teaches at a primary school (we think – maybe high school.)  To try and make ends meet he works a second job (teaching at a Yeshiva – religious instruction) and  his third job – of course – is as the assistant rabbi at the Keter Torah Shul adjacent to their house; where they stay rent free as part of this arrangement.

Together with Zane and a child they adopted they have ten children in all, 3 of them born after his placement with them.

Rabbi Schnerb hails from the Bronx, a burough of Manhattan.  The couple met in Jerusalem, he then immigrated here, where his wife’s father (Sidney) had no choice but to help them out financially to support their ever-increasing brood.

Sidney had two or maybe three children and lives within his means.  He supervises the maintenance of some office blocks and apartment buildings.

The “power” in this family resides with the females.  Jacqui’s mother, Linky, stands by her daughter, who is a lot like her but had three times as many kids!

Both women have strong tempers with which they rule the roost.  As best we can tell some sort of inversion of common sense has occurred in this realm because Jacqui and Moishe (Rabbi Schnerb) subscribe to the philosophy that:  the more children you have

• the happier you are
• you’re doing what the Torah teaches (more than people who have fewer children)
• the more status you have in the community.

Superficially it’s the ultimate win-win combination.

In practice it means Jacqui has convinced her mother that she must
[A] continue to subsidize her daughter’s household, and
[B] Sidney has a couple of drinks in the evenings or on the weekends.  Pshew, why not.  We don’t think he’s an alcoholic.  He works hard.  Supporting two families:  we don’t think he signed on for this!  But according to Jacqui his drinking has deprived both her mother and father of the right to criticize her or interfere in their household.  Because:  her husband is a Rabbi (doesn’t drink) and she, by having more children, has (at least according to her husband) somehow become a worthier Jew than her parents.

The fact her father helps them out financially, and they had more children than they can afford falls out of this equation.

Our concern is:  with Moishe working so hard to try to make ends meet, and Jacqui driving round in the mini bus all day transporting this large brood here and there, shopping, and everything else, Zane receives a low amount of personal attention.

This fact continually gets overlooked together with the fact he chose to be born to parents in their 40’s with a strong likelihood of growing up as an only child and receiving tons of personal attention.  A lot of the time his “parental figures” are his older foster siblings.  In addition to this there’s little stimulation in the foster home, because:  they’re humbly poor.  They never go out to films, the circus or the zoo; and hardly ever take vacations – they can’t afford to.  We do appreciate the positive advantages of a large friendly family, multiple overlapping relationships, and so forth.  I have 6 brothers and sisters; Peta has three.

Sometimes we cannot help but wonder if the Schnerbs sensed an opportunity to be rewarded for their good deed of fostering a child in this world – instead of the hereafter – by adopting the grandson of a very wealthy man (their effort to adopt Zane failed in 2002.)

Zane is getting shortchanged more than he’s being helped.

At the time of sending the emails copied below – trying our utmost to give the foster parents the benefit of the doubt – we tried to forge a closer relationship with Jacqui by tranfering the fairly pleasant tone of the relationship we had meanwhile struck up with Linky (her mother) over to her.

1. Presumably encouraged by her Mom, Jacqui at least spoke to me on the phone.  Usually she or her husband hangs up if they answer.  But it’s usually one of their children who answers.  Over years we’ve developed varying degrees of rapport with these kids.  Most of them say nasty, catty (rude) jeering things to us then hang up.  Some of them pass the time of day for a short while and offer small amounts of “news”.  Jacqui told me she clicked on the link and couldn’t see the photos.  For about 24 hours I acted accordingly and tried to send the same photos by downloading and attaching them.
2. It then became apparent she was just lying.
3. She had no intention of letting Zane see these photos of his OWN family because they have also lied to him and told him we are NOT his parents.
4. They then used the preferences of their email server to start screening out all emails from us.

We know that JCS gave them a course in how to be foster parents, and their training included course materials that must have pointed out SUITABLE, QUALIFIED foster parents must BE PREPARED to accept the emotional wrench that comes with parting from their ward.

Although we copied members of my family (living abroad) with the following email we realistically never had expectations of much response or participation from them.

The problem is:

• them and us are NOT agreed on all the things we tried to posit we are – or should be – agreed upon.

 

• we tried to act as if all the blame for everything that’s gone wrong in our relationship with them is caused by mistakes we made from that we learned from.  This simply isn’t true though.  They keep making HUGE “mistakes” and getting away with all of them. (Their ‘mistakes’ in fact are conscious ploys.)

 

• The primary reason we went up to Johannesburg from George was because we counted on being able to attend the shul, right next door to their house, EVEN IF they tricked us out of having the same amount of access we had been having in George.  We did this INSTEAD of remaining in George to appeal against the Foster Order.  They then obtained an interdict stopping us from either going to their house or to the shul (named Keter Torah.)  Ever since they’ve bragged about this.

The reference to them chasing us out of Keter Torah at the end of the email below refers to this.

But…  in applying for this interdict they attached a copy of the foster order that was retyped by their lawyer to try and eliminate the flaw that makes it null and void.  This is very damning evidence against them.  They obtained custody of our child by stealth and trickery.  They KNEW the foster order was flawed right from the outset.

This sort of behavior is the ANTITHESIS of what’s expected from decent Jews.  The Scherbs are very good frauds.

Please don’t expect us to be more tolerant and patient than we already have been.

Gregory and Peta

Date: Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 8:09 AM

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Greg Zane Peta Press<gredaye@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Subject: VIR DIE ONMIDDELIK TOESIG VAN ANNETJIE DU TOIT i.v.b Zane/Shlomo Press
To: ACVV Strand <acvvstrand@mweb.co.za>

Kunjani Annetjie!

 

I am going to phone you momentarily to discuss this.

 

The attachment contains an english language version of the document you gave me.

 

The first or “top” version in navy blue has passages in red where I have CHANGED what you wrote, and passages in green where I’m uncertain about the accuracy of my TRANSLATION which I did entirely without a dictionary!

 

Below this in black is a version where the passages in red (changes) remain unchanged (like in the original) i.e. the whole thing is in a black font.

 

Just in case you have difficulty opening the attachment the top version is also pasted into this email below.

 

In no way is this translation meant to suggest you should send this to Tania in English instead of Afrikaans.

 

I translated it firstly to understand it better myself, and secondly so that you can (today or in the future) send an english version to JCS as a gesture of convenience in view of the fact the foster father doesn’t speak Afrikaans since he grew up in the VSA.

 

• I’m not sending this instead of coming to see you this morning!

I’m sending it now to give you time to look over the translation and GIVE ME TIME TO WRITE SOME FURTHER THOUGHTS CONCERNING ALL OF THIS.

 

Depending on what you email back I will either come to meet you at the ACVV offices forthwith (and write down my ideas by hand while there) or exchange a few emails with you and THEN come to your office at around 11am (?)

 

Now here is the text:

 

 

 

BACKGROUND CIRCUMSTANCES OF MR. AND MRS. PRESS.

 

 

1. Identifying details of the parties:

 

1.1 Biological father                      :    Charles Gregory Press

Born:  22/12/1956

 

1.2 Biological mother                     :    Peta Hillary Press

Born:  20/09/1955

 

1.3 Biological child in Foster Care    :    Zane Press also known as Shlomo Zalman

Born:  31/10/1997

 

1.4 Residence                               :    Aristea Crescent 4

GORDONSBAAI

 

 

 

2. Present social circumstances:

 

2.1   Housing:

 

They live in a neat modern residence in a good neighbourhood on the slopes of the Hottentots Hollands mountains in Gordon’s Bay.  It is a double story home but the couple use only the ground floor for living in.  There are two spacious bedrooms above with toilet facilities.

 

A woman comes every weekday to clean the house and help with smaller personal tasks as well such as the care of Mrs. Press and three dogs.

 

 

2.2   Finances:

 

A private social worker, Mrs. C. Hollard of Somerset West administers Mr. and Mrs Press’s finances and gives them a weekly stipend on which to live.  I am told the Press couple receives R20 000/month to take care of all their living needs.  This includes their Health Plan and payment of the rent for the house and also the wages of the cleaning lady.  The car payments for the family’s new model Volkswagen beetle are approximately R3500/month.

 

 

2.3   Health:

 

Mr. and Mrs. Press present as healthy people.  Mr. Press contracted tick bite fever, but other than this we aren’t aware of any health problems.  I’m told they don’t use any medications.

 

Mrs. Press walks only with great difficulty; if she walks short distances Mr. Press supports her.  She is usually in a wheelchair.  She uses her arm and hand effectively when she eats and drinks, but she cannot dress herself.

 

Mrs. Press’s care is primarily provided by Mr. Press and he is proud that he makes a success of it.  Our office has nevertheless pointed out to him when her clothes have not been clean, she smelled of urine, and when the bed linens haven’t been clean.

 

 

2.4Relationships

 

2.4.1     Mr. and Mrs. Presses relationship consists mostly of the physical and emotional support that he provides for her.  She can do very little for herself and feels worried and unsafe if she can’t see Mr. Press or if he talks on subjects that unsettle her.  Mr. Press sometimes gives a meaning according to her or asserts this or that is what she thinks or feels.

 

Mr. Press feels responsible for her affairs and care.  He stands by her and focuses nearly fulltime on her needs and demands, (mostly for physical care or proximity).  He sometimes gets impatient with her if he’s busy with a conversation and she demands his attention.  He will then reprove her like she’s a child and then Mrs. Press later becomes so worried and noisy (shouting) that Mr. Press loses his patience with her and/or the Social Worker concludes the session.

 

The Press couple are inter-reliant upon one another and will languish if one of them is hospitalized or dies.

 

2.4.2     Mr. and Mrs. Press have evidently no longer had a relationship and contact with their biological child for some years.  Mr. Press finds it unacceptable because the High Court judgment states they can have contact with their biological child Zane/Shlomo after he’s 10 years old.  During our weekly sessions Mr. Press always criticizes this outcome from the Judgment as well as other conditions in the decision concerning contact with their child.

 

It is clear that the couple has hardly any information about their biological child’s

 

• developmental phases;
• scholastic achievements and development;
• health;
• personality development and fields of interest;
• likes and dislikes;
• social life,
• therapeutic and developmental results of professionals service providers supporting Shlomo;
• success or lack thereof and comfort level within his foster placement, and so forth.

 

Our office will like very much indeed for the Children’s Court report and notes and also written feedback concerning the abovementioned information to be sent to it.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Press possess only those photos of their biological child that his sister Suzanne obtained for them and they very much want to have photos of Shlomo that will create a portrait for them of his childhood up until today.

 

Mr. Press avers that over the years they have sent gifts and letters, photos, and such things to him, but that they never received any reaction from him indicating he did receive them.  This makes them feel helpless and suspicious towards the foster parents and the Jewish Community Welfare organization’s cooperation.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Press feel completely shut out of their child’s life and can therefore not help drawing up certain conclusions about how it’s going with him.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Press’s rights as biological parents, Shlomo’s physical and emotional developmental process and rights, and also the foster parents’ rights have been discussed with them more than once and accordingly a time period of two years has been suggested to slowly build up contact with Shlomo.  This outcome is very difficult for Mr. and Mrs. Press to accept because their yearning for their child has accumulated over some many years.

 

It will become apparent whether such a time period is genuinely necessary and this office believes that a working document certainly can be arranged through this and your own office so that all parties – but especially Shlomo’s needs – are well served by it.  See proposals in point 5 of the report.

 

2.4.3     The Social Worker has come to know Mr. Press as someone who does not have a relationship based entirely on trust with his family members.  After he and his mother worked out some deep issues and his sister Suzanne came to visit him around September/October 2009, we got the impression they resolved the longstanding impasse and he now communicates freely with most of his far flung family members by skype and email.

2.4.4     His financial arrangements are evidently in transition, with the temporary role of Mrs. Hollard in a caretaker position currently evolving into a joint venture arrangement mediated by Suzanne.

 

 

3. EVALUATION

 

3.1Mr. and Mrs Presses current lifestyle evinces context markers of stability and being able to live independently and self-sufficiently with financial support.  Questions remain about Mrs. Press’s physical care that sometimes isn’t all that can be wished for, and over the need for her to take medication to manage her anxiety and screaming better.

 

3.2 The High Court judgment in 2000 (Case no.:  99/30814) plays a big role in this couples’ life.  Mr. Press maintains a certain interpretation throughout the discussions and him and the Social Worker differ over this but we can talk about it without a breakdown in the trust between us eventuating.

 

3.3Much of the discussions entered into with the couple were constructive, because Mr. and Mrs. Press are concerned about the welfare of their child.  It appears that professional people have previously found it necessary to withhold contact and information from the parents owing to the following factors:  the Court decision in 2000; certain events involving Mr. and Mrs. Press, and safeguarding the interests of the child concerned.  As a consequence of the above reasons the biological parents, Mr. and Mrs. Press did not have contact with their biological child for five years and also received no information about him as a result of this.

 

Over the years Mr. and Mrs. Press have genuinely tried hard to reach out to their child by means of gifts, photos, CD’s, letters and so forth.  No response or acknowledgment has been forthcoming that these have been received.

 

3.4This office should receive the information concerning the child involved as set out in point 2.4.2 of this report, so that it can be given to Mr. and Mrs. Press and family reunification services can slowly be phased in.

 

3.5A working document must be drawn up by professional persons, biological parents, and foster parents to begin implementing the exchange/contact between the biological child and his parents.

 

 

4. Conclusion:

 

4.1The parents concerned, Mr. and Mrs. Press yearn to make contact with their biological child.  Their mode of living reveals that they are prepared to make adjustments and therefore already require some kind of reassurance.

 

4.2They shall with genuine insight taking into account the developmental program of the child concerned, Zane Press, the fact they don’t know each other, and have no relationship with each other:  need to be prepared not to unsettle his life and patiently await the day of phasing in a workable plan to finally build up a relationship of trust with their child.

 

As a result of the young age of the child concerned a time period of two years during which a stable and emotional bond between the child concerned and his biological parents Mr. and Mrs. Press is put in place step by step is proposed.

 

 

 

———————————————-

A.M. DU TOIT

SOCIAL WORKER

 

 

5. PROPOSAL:  CONTACT BETWEEN CHILD CONCERNED, ZANE PRESS, ALSO KNOWN AS SHLOMO ZALMAN AND HIS BIOLOGICAL PARENTS, MR. CHARLES GREGORY PRESS AND MRS. PETA HILLARY PRESS

 

 

• General idea:  Zane Press also known as Shlomo Zalman’s interests will be acknowledged and taken into account by all participants with the drawing up and implementation of this working agreement.

 

• This contract will go into effect a week after all the interested parties have participated in the finalization hereof.  The professional people involved will oversee the parties to the final contract and give them notice of the said date of commencement.

 

• It is important for all the parties to be conscientiously prepared about the processes and goals in this proposal.  Proposals for the duration of the implementation of a step are dependent on the reaction of the child concerned, and the co-operation and support of the foster and biological parents.  It is important that the phasing in of the contract does not become so hasty or delayed that it doesn’t serve and protect the interests of the child involved.  A healthy balance is built into this proposal and serves as a guideline for the parties to create a good bond between the child concerned and his biological parents.

 

5.1GETTING ALL THE PARTIES READY

 

It is important that the child involved, his parents and foster family receive preparation to make contact with each other for at least two months.  Professional people will carry out this preparation with the necessary information available to them until the foundation for a long-term relationship between the Press family members has been manifested.  Mediation by professional people over two months shall amongst other things include:

 

¨     those concerned have sufficient background knowledge about each other,

 

¨     their expectations of each other and for contact are realistic;

 

¨     they have knowledge of the outcomes which will be in the best interests of the child concerned;

 

¨     the parties are willing to honor the agreement and

 

¨     a teamspirit to work together to make family contact a success.

 

 

5.2FIRST CONTACT

 

Over three months.  The child concerned and biological parents write short letter with a photo of them enclosed every three weeks.  Letters must be neutral throughout and use their fields of interest as the subject matter.  Letters may not contain more than 200 words.  Letters must be read by the social worker concerned and he/she can make suggestions and give examples in order to help the participants with this.

 

 

5.3ASSESSMENT

 

After five months professional people should do assessments to determine the extent of

 

• biological child’s family feeling toward his parents;
• biological parents’ compliance with the contract they signed;
• foster parents’ giving their support to the arrangements of the contract they signed.
• If the child concerned needs more time before moving on to the next step of contact.  In other words:  if the child involved needs more time before taking the next step, the child involved and his parents continue with their exchange of letters for two more months.
• Guideline for letters is achieved.  Sending of photos can cease.

 

 

5.4 SECOND FORM OF CONTACT:

 

Over three months.  Biological parents can contact their biological child telephonically for three minutes every two weeks on a Sunday between 17:00 and 17:30.  It is suggested the foster parents obtain a cell phone with a speakerphone; they use to listen to the conversation to provide the child concerned with the necessary emotional security.  Length of the call must be monitored and the child involved or foster parents can switch off the phone without any explanation when the three minutes are up.

 

Exchange of letters can continue if desired.  Guidelines in 5.2 still apply.

 

 

5.5         THIRD FORM OF CONTACT:

 

5.5.1     Over three months.  Telephonic contact can now be extended to six minutes every second week.  The same procedural rules as set out in 5.4, are followed.

5.5.2     In the eventuality where it transpires that the biological child cannot or does not want to talk for the entire six minutes the biological parents must respect his wish and try again to hold his interest for six minutes the next time.

5.5.3     Exchange of letters words can be increased to 350 words.  The same procedural rules given in 5.2 are followed.  A photo of the parties can be sent together with the letter once a month.

5.5.4     Foster parents can help the child involved to this year (second year of contact) phone his biological parents on their birthdays, anniversary, and on father’s and mother’s day.  Biological parents may phone Zane/Shlomo on his birthday between 17:00 and 17:30 and send a present of not more than R200 ahead of time.

 

 

5.6         ASSESSMENT

 

Social Workers should now evaluate the development of closeness, family feeling, and collaboration between the biological parents, child concerned, and foster parents.  If the situation developed as hoped, can transfer over to the next form of contact, if not must persevere with the existing form of contact.  This is to say:  contact can be just so much increased, or reduced according to the relationship developing between the biological parents and child.

 

 

5.7         FOURTH FORM OF CONTACT

 

5.7.1     Over four months:  Parents can from now on send a requested gift of R100 together with a friendly card to the biological child every second month.

5.7.2     Telephonic contact is every Sunday now.  Guidelines as set out in 5.4 are followed.

 

 

5.8         FIFTH FORM OF CONTACT

 

Over 3 months:  Parents telephonic contact is extended to Wednesday evenings between 17:00 and 17:30.  Telephone call duration is 3 minutes.

 

 

5.9         ASSESSMENT:

 

Social Workers do assessment to determine how far

 

• biological child’s family feeling towards his parents has progressed;
• biological parents have complied with the contract they have signed;
• foster parents provided their full support with regard to the contract they have signed.

 

If progress is as hoped, can continue on to the next from of contact.

 

 

5.10      SIXTH FORM OF CONTACT:

 

5.10.1  Over 3 months.  Parents use skype to talk with biological child, Zane/Shlomo, between 17:00 – 17:30 for 5 minutes.  Telephonic contact on Sunday is replaced by this.

5.10.2   In the second month Social Workers begin to prepare the child concerned and biological parents for the possibility of a visit with each other in person.

 

 

5.11      ASSESSMENT

 

5.11.1  Social Workers do assessment as set out in point 5.9

 

 

5.12      SEVENTH FORM OF CONTACT

 

5.12.1  If Zane/Shlomo is ready to make physical contact with his biological parents the Social Workers begin with face-to-face visits of two hours every week.  For two months.

5.12.2  Face to face visits can be extended to 4 hours, then a morning visit; and a day visit of 8 hours.  The visits can be extended from month to month provided biological child and his parents demonstrate with the necessary support that they bond with each other and are at ease.

 

 

 

————————————                            ———————————Signed:  C.G. PRESS                                             Signed:  P. H. PRESS

 

 

 

————————————-                           ———————————-

Signed:  M. M. SCHNERB                                        Signed:  J.  SCHNERB

 

 

 

————————————-

Signed:  S. Z. PRESS

 

————————————-                            ———————————

Signed:  Social Worker                                     Signed:       Social   Worker

ACVV Strand                                                    Dept. of Social Development,

Johannesburg

 

 

————————————-

Signed:  Social Worker

Jewish Community Services,

Johannesburg

 

 

Signed at ______________________ and ______________________ on the

 

_____ of January, 2010.

 

 

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