South African Child Law: Adoption, Surrogacy, and Artificial Fertilisation

Vocabulary flashcards covering core South African family law terms and principles regarding adoption, artificial fertilisation, and surrogacy under the Children's Act.

Adoption

A legal process governed by the Children's Act that results in the transfer of parental rights and responsibilities, terminating all legal ties and rights of biological parents.

Adoptive Parent

An individual who becomes a full legal parent for life through permanent adoption, regardless of whether they are married or single.

Children's Act

The legislation in South African law that governs child law, including adoption and surrogacy agreements.

Best Interests of the Child

The paramount consideration and constitutional requirement governing all legal decisions concerning children in adoption and surrogacy.

High Court Confirmation

The mandatory judicial approval required to make a surrogate motherhood agreement valid and legally enforceable.

Surrogate Motherhood Agreement

A legal contract governed by the Children's Act under which a surrogate carries a child for commissioning parents, requiring High Court confirmation to deem the child born to the commissioning parents.

Commissioning Parent

An individual or couple who intends to raise a child born via surrogacy; must be at least 18 years of age.

Surrogate Mother

The woman who bears and gives birth to a child for commissioning parents, holding no legal parental rights if the surrogacy agreement is validly confirmed.

Artificial Fertilisation

Medical procedures used to achieve conception—including IVF, artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and embryo donation—which explicitly exclude natural intercourse or natural conception.

In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)

A form of artificial fertilisation used in assisted reproduction where donor genetic material creates no parental rights for the donor.

Donor

An individual who provides sperm or egg for artificial fertilisation and retains no parental rights or responsibilities post-fertilisation.

Recipient Parent

The mother or person who undergoes artificial fertilisation and lawfully becomes the legal parent of the resulting child.

Embryo Donation

A form of artificial fertilisation that involves implanting a fertilised embryo into a recipient mother.

Commercial Surrogacy

The practice of compensating a surrogate mother beyond necessary expenses, which is illegal in South Africa.

Invalid Surrogacy Agreement

A surrogacy agreement that lacks High Court confirmation, causing full legal parental rights to remain with the surrogate mother who gave birth.

Adoption Consent Requirements

The legal necessity of obtaining consent for adoption from the biological parents (if capable) and from the child if they are mature and capable of understanding the process.