At last, dad is allowed to take Baby T home

At last, dad is allowed to take Baby T home
By Karyn Maughan

For the first time in her short life, eight-month-old Baby T will sleep under the same
roof as her dad.
Jose Williams, who refused to agree to his daughter's adoption and has spent
thousands of rands in a legal battle for the right to care for her, will be able to take
her home on Friday.
The adoption agency which has had custody of Baby T during Williams' long court
battle believe he is "on the right track" to get custody of her.
The Pretoria Children's Court on Tuesday granted an order declaring the home
Williams shares with his mother and sisters a "place of safety" for Baby T, granting
him custody until December 1.
On that date, and following a court-ordered investigation into Williams' ability to look
after Baby T, the Children's Court will decide whether to grant him supervised
custody of her for two years.
Williams' attorney, Shaun Mabetshu, said Williams would apply for guardianship of
Baby T in the Pretoria High Court during that time.
Williams, 26, - who has not missed a chance to visit Baby T at the institution that
has been her home since she was born - said he had "complete peace" about
yesterday's Children's Court hearing.
"I was as calm as can be. I have prayed so long for this day, and God gave me
complete peace," he said.
"It has been a difficult eight months for Williams, who has been forced to watch his
daughter cut her first teeth, forming the beginnings of words and growing out of her
baby clothes hundreds of kilometres away from her family.
"To give her back after the hour that I am allowed to see her is very hard," he said.
"She definitely has her own personality. She's very friendly and she likes to be
entertained. When she hears her favourite doll singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, her little
head nods and she looks around to see where the noise is coming from."
Williams plans to spend the days before his daughter arrives home buying clothes
for her to replace all the ones he previously bought for her, which she outgrew
before she could even wear them.
The entrepreneur spent thousands of rands on lawyers' fees, drug tests and a
social worker's assessment of his suitability as a parent, after learning that Baby
T's mother wanted to have her adopted through the Abba Adoption Agency, which
he fiercely opposed.
Williams and his mother discovered that his daughter had been born on his March
26 birthday only after receiving an SMS from Abba Adoptions social worker Leoni
Greyling.
At the time, and despite Williams refusing to agree to his daughter's adoption, Abbaahad removed the newborn infant to a place of safety.
Steve Biko Academic Hospital records show Greyling claimed Abba would get
Williams' consent for the removal, which the agency never did.
But Abba manager Katinka Pieterse is adamant that the agency took custody of
Baby T only because it had been asked to do so by the Children's Court.
She praised Williams for "doing his best to get his child back".
"We will be investigating the parties involved in order to make a recommendation.
"Mr Williams is co-operating with us and I think we're all on the right track now," she
said.