Child welfare celebrates eight decades of service
Staff at the Pinetown Child and Welfare Centre has been striving to support and assist local children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected.
THE Pinetown Child and Welfare Society will be celebrating their 81st Anniversary in November.
The centre has been striving for the last eight decades to support and assist children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned, but it also has been running various programs to provide support to the parents and guardians of children within the community.
The centre’s social workers primarily provides counselling and facilitates the process of placing the children in foster care.
“In addition. the centre runs a granny program, which aims to empower, support and teach grandmothers, who are often left as the guardians of their grandchildren. They are often left unprepared for the task of taking care of children and adolescents, as they have deal with drugs and defiant adolescents,” said Nirmalla Pather, the director of the centre.
The centre also deals with many HIV cases where children have been affected or infected with HIV. Where children have been orphaned by the epidemic the centre often facilitates foster care, and with children who have been infected the centre’s staff refers the child to a clinic where he or she can receive medication and treatment. Counselling and empowerment programmes are also provided to the children who are infected and affected with HIV.
According to Pather the centre also provides support to parents who are having difficulty in raising their children through social work intervention as well as training in growing and maintaining a vegetable garden.
The centre also strives to improve the education and self esteem of children, therefore the centre provides programs such as The Girl Child program, which gives young girls with the opportunity simply to be children.
“Young girls are often forced to take on responsibilities that are beyond their years, especially when one parent or both have passed away. We provide them with play time and counselling,” said Pather.
Young women and youth are also a focus point at the centre. Counselling and victim empowerment is provided to young women under 25 years of age. Teenagers are can also turn to the centre for education with regards to pregnancy, safe sex, hygiene and life skills.
“We also provide the youth with financial literacy education, especially the youth who have failed matric, or were unable to find work after they matriculated.
The celebration of the centre’s achievements were doused recently, when the centre was robbed for the fifth time. All of the centre’s laptops and other equipment was stolen, and most of the doors were smashed beyond repair.
“I do not understand how people can steal from an NGO that strives to save the lives of innocent children. It just shocks me,” said Pather.
“Luckily, we receive a lot of financial assistance from the Rotary, the government and the lottery, and the Open Door Crisis Centre assist the centre with trauma counselling,” said Pather.
