From the news desk

Kidnapped baby found through school media

Share this article

By Wardah Wilkinson

A Bishop Lavis toddler was found this morning after he was kidnapped allegedly by his biological parents. It’s believed the child who was removed from his parents, after social workers found his parents to be unfit. Beogan Paulse, a 17-month-old toddler from Bishop Lavis was placed in the care of his maternal grandmother, after social workers from ACVV, a non-profit organisation were informed of the parent’s living conditions.

The ACVV, which is part of a few designated child protection organisations in South Africa  affiliated with the children’s court, conducted an investigation on his parent living conditions. The mother was found to be unstable due to being unemployed and homeless and living on the streets of Green Point. The court then placed the toddler in the care of his maternal grandmother. Under the children Act 38 OF 2005, a child can be removed from his or her parent if the court finds that the parent does not act in the child’s best interests.

The Bishop Lavis FSC unit Detective Mac said Beogen was kidnapped from his grandmother’s house in Bishop Lavis at the end of March in 2018. He was unable to answer as to why the grandmother only reported the child missing on Tuesday 10 April 2018.

“The child was taken and placed in the care of a safe parent, which is the grandmother. This is where the biological mother went and stole the child. We view this as kidnapping,” said Detective Mac.
The child was found on Wednesday morning after the Pink Ladies, an independent organization searching for missing person, created awareness of the child on social media. The FCS unit of Bishop Lavis thanked the Pink Ladies for their assistance.

“It was the work of the Pink Ladies who placed the pamphlet on social media that created awareness. Many people from the community responded since last night. Through their information, we managed to locate the child in a building safely with the biological parent,” he said.

“Thank you for all the responses to the post,m especially the positive information we were able to follow up, and secure the safe recovery of this child,” said the Pink Ladies.

Mac said the court and the social workers will decide where the child would be placed, after he returned the child to the social workers offices, due to the toddler being a child of the court.

“The parent Jamie Lee Paulse and her boyfriend Shannon October was arrested, and they will appear in the Bishop Lavis Magistrate Court on charges of kidnapping,” he added. VOC


Share this article

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

WhatsApp WhatsApp us
Wait a sec, saving restore vars.