South Africa - Apply for Consult Family Advocate

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To apply for consulting a family advocate in person, the applicant has to visit the office of the Family Advocate at the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in his/her province.
2. The contact and address details can be found in the following link: Link
3. Visit the office and inform that you want to consult the Family Advocate at the relevant department.
4. You may have to fill a form containing the matters that you want to get consulted and advised by the Family advocate.
5. Or if you want to lodge a complaint on any matters that the Family Advocate deals with, obtain a Complaints form from the relevant department.
6. Complete the application as required with relevant information about the complaint.
7. Make sure you have attached all the documents listed in the ”Required Documents” section of this page.
8. Now submit it to the concerned official in the relevant department at the office and pay the fees prescribed (if any).
9. Depending upon the requirement and application of the applicant, the dispute will be handled by the Family Advocate by conducting required interviews and hearings from both the parties.

Apply through Email

1. If you want to lodge a complaint at the office of the Family Advocate through Email, you have to complete a Complaint’s form and send it to the email address of the office of the Family Advocate.
2. Download the Complaints form in the editable pdf by clicking the following link: Link
3. Complete the application in your computer itself with all the required information under relevant sections.
4. Attach scanned copies of all the supporting documents for the concerned dispute, with your mail.
5. Refer “Required Documents” section of this page or you can enquire the office about this, describing your dispute.
6. After completing the application form, click on “E-mail form” button at the bottom of the document and email the completed form along with all the documents required.
7. The Department will contact you within two working days of receiving the complaint to advise you of what will be done and expected time it will take.
8. Depending upon the requirement and application of the applicant, the dispute will be handled by the Family Advocate by conducting required interviews and hearings from both the parties.

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Required Documents

• Completed complaints form (if required)
• Proof of parenthood
• Proof of guardianship
• Divorce order of parents (if applicable)
• Request or recommendation letter from court (if applicable)
• Required fees
• Previous Report of the concerned dispute (if any)
• Formal notice (if any)

NOTE: Required documents may vary depending upon the dispute.

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Head Office
Physical Adsress: Momentum Centre, 329
Pretorius Street,
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Postal Adsress:Private Bag X81
Pretoria,
0001
South Africa
Tel: 080 002 0007
Email:[email protected]
Website link

Eligibility

• When a child is born out of wedlock and his/her biological father wants to acquire full parental rights and responsibilities, the father should consult a Family Advocate.
• Parents, who cannot agree on how to exercise their responsibilities and rights to their child, can seek the consultation of a Family Advocate.
• Parents who have applied for divorce and the court has recommended them to attend a Family Advocate’s consultation to make a decision about their minor children.
• Any other people (e.g. grandparents) who want to exercise/ acquire full parental rights and responsibilities can consult a Family Advocate.

Fees

The family Advocate renders his/her services to the public free of charge. The parties to a legal dispute may be required to pay for additional expert reports, e.g. psychological evaluation, and other forensic tests where those are critical to the determination of the child’s best interests.

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Complaints form: Link

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Processing time varies based on the dispute raised.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• The Family Advocate mediates parent’s disputes over parental responsibilities and rights, then places or registers the parenting plans at no cost.

• The Family Advocate assists the parents by providing qualified, motivated and well equipped professionals (Family Advocate, Family Counsellors and Family Law Assistants) who will provide child focussed mediation between parents who want to exercise their parental rights and responsibilities.

• The Family Advocate provides legal information (not advise) and helps the parents by facilitating and or monitoring that an agreement that will be in the best interest of their child.

• Family advocate recommends to court on how parents can within their circumstances care for the child and provide courts with reports in litigation matters

• The Family Counsellor will conduct a forensic investigation that will assist in determining the best interest of the child.

Required Information

• Personal details
• Identity document number
• Address information
• Contact details
• Complaint details

Need for the Document

You may obtain the services of the Family Advocate if you have a dispute relating to either the best interests of a child and/ or parental responsibilities and rights. The purpose of the Family Advocate is to promote and protect the best interests of minor/dependent children in legal parental responsibilities and rights disputes.

Information which might help

Refer for more information: Link

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Link

Others

More information which might help people.