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CHILDREN’S ACT: DRAFT AMENDMENT BILL GAZETTED FOR COMMENT
- 26 September 2025
- Social Development
- SA Legal Academy
The Department of Social Development has gazetted a draft Children’s Amendment Bill for input by 26 October 2025. Among other things, the proposed new piece of legislation seeks to address issues affecting:
- the rights of unmarried fathers
- the care of abandoned or orphaned children
- medical testing of children in need of care and protection or adoption
- children in alternative care
- local and inter-country adoption
- surrogate motherhood
- rules relating to care and protection proceedings, and
- the hearing of child abduction matters.
In addition, the draft Bill seeks to provide for:
- the right of a child to privacy and the protection of their personal information, and
- the designation and functions of a national child protection register registrar.
At the time of writing, a memorandum on the draft Bill’s objects had yet to be made available. As a result, the context in which these amendments are being proposed is not clear. However, according to a media statement on the two Cabinet meetings at which the draft Bill was considered for release into the public domain for comment, once passed, enacted and operationalised it is expected to:
- address ‘weaknesses and inadequacies in the childcare and protection system across an array of services’, and
- ‘strengthen mechanisms to further protect children against violence, mistreatment, abuse, neglect and exploitation’.
Please click the links below for more details:
- draft Bill
- principal Act (updated) (SAFLII)
- media statement on Cabinet meetings at which the draft Bill was considered
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch
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