Give a Child a Family Africa seeks temporary safety parents on South Coast
By opening your home, even temporarily, you can help ensure that children grow up surrounded by care, dignity and security.
Give a Child a Family Africa (GCF) is appealing to individuals and families from all areas, backgrounds and races across the South Coast to consider becoming temporary safety parents for vulnerable children.
In times of crisis – such as neglect, abuse, illness, abandonment, or sudden family breakdown – children may need immediate, short-term care in a safe and nurturing environment.
Temporary safety parents provide this essential care while social workers support and strengthen the child’s biological family, with the goal of reunification wherever it is safe and possible.
Temporary safe care can range from a single day or night to a few weeks or even several months, depending on the child’s circumstances.
There is no fixed timeframe, as each case is assessed individually. If a child is unable to return safely to their family, the process of matching them with a suitable foster family will then begin.
Foster care is generally a longer-term placement for children who cannot return to their biological families after removal.
Children who are placed in secure family environments, even for a short period, experience greater emotional stability, individual care, and a sense of belonging.
A family setting provides warmth, consistency and reassurance during what is often one of the most uncertain times in a child’s life.
In contrast, institutional care, while sometimes necessary in emergencies, cannot offer the same level of personal connection and attachment that a family can.
GCF firmly believes that children belong in secure families.
Temporary safety parents play a vital role in protecting children while their families receive the support they need to heal and stabilise.
Importantly, a person does not need to be perfect to become a temporary safety parent – only willing.
What matters most is a safe home, a compassionate heart, and the willingness to provide care, patience and stability to a child in need.
GCF provides full screening, training and ongoing professional support to all approved safety parents.
Contact Anna-Karin Öhrnstedt on email anna-karin@gcf.org.za or 039 3172761 or 071 0741733.
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