The Gauteng Department of Social
Development received thumbs up for pioneering projects that support families.
These compliments were made by the United Kingdom Hope and Homes for
Children, CEO Mark Waddington during an interview on Power Lunch show in CNBC
Africa.
He outlined the importance of families and
keeping children in a family setting. Waddington added that institutions will
not look after children better than a family. If we can allocate money in the
familybased care as we have seen in South Africa especially in Gauteng, where they
are doing a great job like in Rwanda. It’s better to use the money to support families
than orphanages to secure the future, he said.
Waddington also warned against
commodification of children. When families are dysfunctional, those who are
affected negatively are children. Very often we have seen in many locations
child finders being recruited; going into families and actively persuading parents
to give up their children under the false promise of incredible education and opportunities.
There are orphanages where children are put under forced labour and some are
trafficked, said Waddington.
Gauteng Social Development strives to
empower families. One of the programmes is a homebased care model for
childheaded families that assists beneficiaries to access number of services.
This includes assistance in applying for identity documents, birth
certificates, social grants, referrals to health services and social workers,
when the need arises. The child care youth workers develop a relationship with
the beneficiaries and their families to assist with their support and
empowerment.
Source: Gauteng Province