CHILDREN’S PROTECTION AND ADOPTION ACT (as amended at 01 December 2002) 56 Service of process (1) Any summons, rule, subpoena or notice in connection with any proceedings in terms of this Part may be served without fee by any police officer in the manner prescribed by the rules made in terms of the Magistrates Court Act [Chapter 7:10] for the service of similar documents in civil proceedings in magistrates courts, unless any other manner of service has been prescribed in terms of subsection (11) of section five or by registered letter. (2) Any writ of attachment in execution of a contribution order shall be executed by the messenger of the magistrates court of the district in which the property to be attached is situated, and the messenger’s fee and charges for the execution shall be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of any such property attached in execution and shall be levied in addition, and in preference, to the sum payable in terms of the contribution order. (3) Save as is provided in subsection (2), no costs of any proceedings in terms of this Part or of any appeal in terms of section fifty-four shall be recoverable by any party thereto from any other party, and no court fee shall be payable in connection with the issue or lodging of any document in any such proceedings or appeal. PART VII ADOPTION OF CHILDREN 57 Jurisdiction and procedure in relation to adoption order (1) The court having jurisdiction to make adoption orders in terms of this Part shall be the children's court established in terms of subsection (1) of section three within the jurisdiction of which either the applicant or the minor resides at the date of the application for the adoption order. (2) For the purpose of any application in terms of this Part, the court shall appoint a probation officer to act as guardian ad litem of the minor upon the hearing of the application with the duty of safeguarding the interests of the minor before the court: Provided that, where the child is being adopted following a decision by its mother to give it up for adoption, the Director shall appoint a probation officer to act as the child’s guardian ad litem from the time the child is born or the mother makes the decision, whichever is the later, and the probation officer shall be responsible for safeguarding the child’s interests from his appointment until the completion of the adoption proceedings.59 (3) Applications for adoption orders shall be held in private and no persons, other than those permitted by the court, shall be present at any proceedings relating to such applications. 58 Power to make adoption order (1) Upon application in the prescribed manner by any person desirous of being authorized to adopt a minor who has never been married, the court may, subject to this Act, make an order authorizing the applicant to adopt that minor. (2) Where an application for an adoption order is made by two spouses jointly, the court may make an order authorizing the two spouses jointly to adopt but save as aforesaid no adoption order shall be made authorizing more than one person to adopt a minor. (3) An order may be made authorizing an applicant who is the spouse of the parent of a minor to adopt such minor and, notwithstanding section sixty-four, such adoption order shall not terminate the rights and legal responsibilities existing between such adopted child and the said parent and his relatives. 59 Restrictions on making adoption order (1) An adoption order .shall not be made except with the consent of the Minister in any case where— (a) the applicant is under the age of twenty-five years; or (b) the applicant is less than twenty-one years older than the minor in respect of whom the application is made: Provided that— 31