Sanet van Moerkerken believes her service as the programme manager at the Springs and KwaThema Child Welfare Society is her life’s purpose.
“I started working here on January 7, 1991. I came for the interview on a Friday and started work on Monday. It was my first job, so it felt like I was thrown into the deep end,” said van Moerkerken.
“Some of the matters I had to deal with in the same week were quite sensitive,” she explained.
The social worker said she has not looked back.
“I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger but that was never on the cards. I always knew I wanted to work with people somehow,” she said.
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Van Moerkerken discovered she could serve people by being a social worker when a college visited her school to educate youngsters about the career.
“My father was not comfortable with me attending that college in Cape Town; we were in Heidelberg,” she explained.
She then shelved her dream for a little while.
“Every other application I made to other institutions fell through. And that is how I went back to pursuing social work,” she added.
Van Moerkerken believes it was the hand of God that led her to her career.
“As soon as I focused on this path, everything started happening very quickly in my favour. Soon after applying to the college, I was on a train to Cape Town,” she said.
After seven years of working as a social worker at the organisation, van Moerkerken was promoted to programme manager.
Her responsibility at the organisation includes ensuring the social and auxiliary workers adhere to statutory requirements.
“I liaise between the organisation and the courts, as well as the Department of Social Development and any other organisation,” she said.
Van Moerkerken also serves on the management board.
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“We have six social workers and three auxiliary workers struggling to deal with a heavy workload. Social workers who work for the State, on average, could sit with 80 cases each.
“There was a time when our social workers were working about 200 cases.”
She admitted this makes it difficult to attend to each case timeously.
“We want to be involved in more preventative methods rather than having to end up removing children from their homes,” she said.
“We really want to help families resolve issues as soon as they are reported to us. This will reduce the need to intervene by removing the children from their families.”
Van Moerkerken said one of her greatest challenges is helping the families understand they have the children’s best interest at heart.
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“Sometimes we are seen as bad people for removing children from certain environments. They fail to focus on the circumstances that lead us to intervene in the first place. People can be difficult.
“Families who come back to thank us for doing our work, even when it is hard, make it all worth the trouble. I know this is where the Lord wants me,” she said.
The community is encouraged to help the organisation where possible.
“We are very grateful to our committed donors, especially in such difficult times. We can always use the help. People can volunteer their expertise in different fields as well,” she explained.
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