http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/babies-falling-victim-to-childcare-act-1.1005543
 

MEC for Social Development Meshack Radebe cuddles one of the orphans at the Shepherds Keep Home for abandoned babies on the Bluff during a visit recently. Photo: Steven Naidoo

December 21 2010 at 09:02am
By OLIVER METH THE MERCURY 

 Kwazulu-Natal’s MEC for Social Development, Meshack Radebe, has promised to legally adopt two Aids orphans from the Shepherd’s Keep Home for abandoned babies on the Bluff. 

 He visited the home on Monday to present food hampers as part of the department’s Christmas giving to organisations for the work they do. 

It was believed Radebe would start the adoption process early next year, to add to his family of eight children.  

He promised a loving home for both the children and an education bursary.  

“I’ll watch them grow to be doctors and lawyers,” he said.  

“These children are vulnerable, they need love and with people adopting them, it can give them a bright future,” said Radebe.  

The MEC and his wife plan to visit the home together before they begin the adoption process.  

The founder of the home, Cheryl Pratley, welcomed the MEC’s pledge to adopt.  

She said the main requirement for becoming adoptive parents was “the means to provide a home with love and the basic necessities that children need”.  

She said Radebe was “setting a good example to other citizens to provide good homes for children to grow up in”.  

At least three babies a month are taken to Shepherd’s Keep Home and it is predicted that the number of abandoned children will rise drastically over the festive season. The home houses 20 children from Durban and surrounding areas “mostly referred by police who find them in dumps, bus stations and public toilets”.  

“Donations to the home are most welcome,” she added. – The Mercury