“As a father, with an undocumented wife, I am not recognised. I am unable to apply for my children’s documentation. My children cannot access grants and other services. Even when I show my ID to apply, officials say they need my wife’s documents and she is not documented. About two years ago social workers said they would assist me, but they never came back. I have no hope in them anymore and my family suffers a lot ...” Case study Case study L.G. was born in South Africa to a South African father and an undocumented foreign mother. Home Affairs refuses to register her because her mother has no form of identification. This is in spite of the fact that her father is present, willing to register his child and has a South African ID document. The Births and Deaths Registration Act allows either parent to register a child’s birth. However, when a child is born out of wedlock, in order to register the child in the father’s surname – for example, in the case where the mother has no identity documents and thus cannot register the child in her own surname – the mother must be present and willing to sign consent to acknowledgement of paternity. But in practice, mothers are not permitted to sign such consent if they are not themselves documented. As a result, their children remain undocumented regardless of whether the father is a South African citizen. Such children are effectively in the same position as if both parents were foreigners. The Children’s Act allows fathers to obtain court orders confirming paternity in such cases, but this is not well known or advertised. Lawyers for Human Rights is assisting L.G.’s father is obtaining such a court order so that he may register his children. Promoting citizenship and preventing statelessness in South Africa: A practitioner’s guide 77