Child Welfare annual report

The society’s chairperson, Johan van Niekerk, and programme manager Sanet van Moerkerken, presented the following highlights from the year.

Chairperson’s report delivered by Johan van Niekerk

Due to the social and social auxiliary workers being heavily burdened, the society made an urgent request to the Department of Social Development (DSD) for funds to appoint additional personnel. DSD approved the appointment of two additional social workers to enable the staff to catch up with the backlog created by the constant flow of new cases.

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While each social worker still has in excess of 200 cases, with the additional social workers, we have made a lot of progress.

The assistance from the Springs Children’s Court has been wonderful and we would like to thank Carla Verster for her passion, professionalism and urgency with which she approaches each matter.

She has helped to finalise many of the long outstanding cases and we have seen progress being made.

Finances: I am in awe of the miracle we see year-on-year as this organisation manages to survive with the funds available.

Thank you to each individual and business, and our staff who diligently contribute money, necessities, services, time and skills to ensure the continuance and success of this organisation.

Motor vehicles: Our vehicles are old and we have a number of businesses in the Springs area who have partnered with us to ensure these vehicles are kept in running and in roadworthy conditions.

We thank Nico Pretorius from Kwikfit and Danie and Malan Tredoux from KhumbaTechnical services who have gone above and beyond to assist us with our vehicles.

Programme manager’s report delivered by Sanet van Moerkerken

Our four vehicles frequently broke down, making them unreliable at times.

Princess motors agreed to service the Chico vehicles in an attempt to prevent further problems but that did not entirely solve the problem.

We are therefore in desperate need of fully functioning vehicles and an application will be made at the National Lotteries Commission as soon as possible to address the issue.

An application to the National Lotteries done in 2014 was approved and in May 2018 some funds were received.

This money was allocated to Asibavikele, Mama Zama groups and girl child groups, with some allocated for the daily functioning of the office.

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Springs and KwaThema Child Welfare is reaching out to the community

The society ran two successful community projects.

• Boys were included in the girl child project which saw 35 children between the ages of 10 and 17 participate in the discussion around the risks in the community they reside in and equipping them with knowledge for their own functioning and protection in the environment.

• Mamma Zama sought out mothers and caregivers who did not have strong bonds with their children and equipped 45 caregivers and 56 babies and toddlers with skills to improve their relationships.

Court: The presiding officer at the Springs Children’s Court was replaced by Verster who is well respected and, so far, any decisions taken since she started have been adhered to which allows for consistency.

She has also addressed some of the problems previously faced with the court process and to rectify these.

Board: The society would like to have a broader representation of board members, with a wider pool of expertise, and invite people to submit their CVs if they would like to be considered for inclusion on the board.

The society would also like to obtain the services of a dedicated full-time fund-raiser.

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Child Welfare is looking for parents

Foster parents: Limited placement opportunities (the number of available foster parents) remains another huge challenge as this causes the already stretched foster parents to be over used with some having six or more children in their care.

The willingness of community members to assist to be screened as foster parents or temporary safe care parents residing in the society’s demarcated areas needs to be addressed to increase the number of available foster parents.

Challenges: Financial support from community members and corporates to assist with operational expenditure is needed and corporates are reminded that the society is registered to issue Section 18A certificates for tax exemption.

Expert skilled management members, including IT, project planning (buildings), assistance with proposal writing and additional board members, are all needed.

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Fund-raising:

• The society participated in the sixth Tekkie Tax Campaign which makes the community more aware of the services being rendered.

• A successful fund-raiser was held at Emperors Barnyard with 120 people attending.

The oldest daughter of the Monster House couple was the guest speaker and told attendees how the society helped her, including giving her the opportunity to complete school and rise above her horrific circumstances.

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