Editorial | Joslin: Is the state at fault too?
Testimony this week suggests that Joslin Smith should have been taken into state care long before she went missing on 19 February last year, when she was six.
The child’s mother, Kelly Smith, her partner Jacquen Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn have been charged with the kidnapping and human trafficking of the child. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Last year, charges were withdrawn against the fourth accused, Lourentia Lombard, who turned state witness.
Most people agree that keeping the state out of the affairs of citizens and families is ideal. This encourages individual agency and discourages government dependence.
But when a child, in particular, is in danger from his or her own parents, and when family and community interventions have failed, when must the state step in?
By all accounts, Joslin and her two siblings were being raised in a home that was highly dysfunctional.
According to testimony from a social worker, Smith was on tik while pregnant with Joslin, and also swore at and threatened to stab her eldest son and assault her grandmother. She was allegedly in a physically abusive relationship with Joslin’s biological father. Drug use by all three accused — and Lombard — has been well documented in the trial. This includes smoking of tik on the day that Joslin went missing.
Earlier state intervention, in this case, when Smith was still pregnant with Joslin, may have changed the trajectory of what will now be the tragic legacy of the Smith family.
Or would it?
Statistics are scant, but the foster care system in South Africa has its fair share of critics. There is a severe backlog, inadequate resources and a shortage of trained foster parents, meaning high turnover rates.
Smith’s grandmother was trying to look after Smith’s son. Witnesses have also described to the court how they provided food for the family. So there was family and community intervention. But it wasn’t enough.
A capable and caring state, one that is committed to the welfare of citizens, will ensure that those citizens are empowered to make informed choices when families are confronted by recalcitrant members.
But by all accounts, Smith knew to approach the department of social development when looking for intervention for her drug use. Her grandmother knew to approach the same department when Smith posed a danger to her then eldest child.
This leaves us with personal responsibility.
Knowing that being in an abusive relationship or being a drug user is not only detrimental to your health and life, but also to your children and other family members, is key.
We know that cycles of violence and abuse can be broken, but it takes a massive, often painful effort from the abuser, the abused, the entire family and often a courageous community, together with the state, if necessary, to do so.