New life for abandoned and abused babies
FAIRVALE - Impilo Child Protection and Adoption Services appeals to community members for assistance in its demanding and expensive vocation, providing a place of hope and a new start for the youngest and most vulnerable members of society.
Impilo, which is named after the Zulu word meaning ‘life’, occupies a cosy house in Fairvale, from which unassuming headquarters stems a wide network of dedicated people determined to improve the lot of unwanted, abused and orphaned children.
“We pride ourselves on our networking,” said director Sue Krawitz, describing the system of foster homes and care centres with which Impilo interacts to provide for the needs of 100 to 120 children, from therapy and schooling to case management, court work and family interventions. The organisation’s primary focus is on under-fives, but its various facilities support vulnerable children up to 18 years and sometimes beyond.
“We are looking for the best solution that’s permanent for those children,” said Krawitz.
At the Fairvale centre, where Impilo’s services are centred around adoption, 12 babies aged from birth to three-and-a-half years receive 24-hour love from a dedicated team of caregivers and volunteers. Many of Impilo’s babies have been abandoned or removed from abusive situations, and others are given up by birth mothers unable to introduce a baby into their own difficult circumstances. Adoption, says Krawitz, is the last resort for vulnerable mothers and their children, and the aim is often to return children to their biological families. Vulnerable mothers receive extensive counselling to ascertain whether adoption is the best option, as well as post-birth support to avoid future unwanted pregnancies, and their babies receive several months’ individualised care at Impilo before they are given into the care of a meticulously-screened adoptive family.
Such an intensive process requires enormous investment, and Impilo struggles to survive on inadequate subsidies and private donations. The organisation welcomes support of any kind, from new foster homes for its network, to administrative and child-care volunteers. Its most urgent need, however, is a vehicle to provide transport to and from hospitals, police stations, court and the locations from where children are rescued, and to continue its wide-reaching work in the lives of Johannesburg’s most vulnerable.
