An evaluation of the implementation of alternative care as stipulated in the South African Children's Act

Herselman, Marinei https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6621-5392

Title: An evaluation of the implementation of alternative care as stipulated in the South African Children's Act
Creator: Herselman, Marinei https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6621-5392
Subject: Children's rights -- South Africa
Subject: Orphans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Africa
Subject: Foster home care
Date Issued: 2018-01
Date: 2018-01
Type: Doctoral theses
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/29215
Identifier: vital:77613
Description: Each day, the safety and well-being of some children across South Africa are threatened by child abuse and neglect. While the developmental approach to social welfare services is widely endorsed by government policy in South Africa, there are significant gaps between these policies and the actual implementation thereof. The process of implementing alternative care and returning the child to the family in the shortest possible time is crucial for the child’s development. Social workers are responsible for providing children with safety in the form of a safe environment of care, foster care or Child and Youth Care Centres. In the absence of clear guidelines, social workers continue to experience chronic challenges in implementing this approach. As this research is undertaken within the social developmental approach to child welfare, the researcher elevated the implementation of alternative care and deemed it necessary to include Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems approach as a conceptual theoretical framework as part of the study. This study intended to evaluate the implementation of alternative care in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and to make recommendations on how the system might be improved. In evaluating the implementation challenges of the social developmental welfare approach, the ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner assisted in developing a conceptual framework to understand the interrelatedness between the systems infused with the elements of the developmental approach. A qualitative approach was employed and three data collection methods a semi-structured interview schedule, a focus group discussion and in-depth interviews) were utilized. Data was collected from participants who were social workers, biological parents of children in alternative care, children in Child and Youth Care Centres and foster and temporary safe care parents. Rich answers to questions were provided enabling the researcher to understand the complexity of the phenomenon that was being studied. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The study revealed that there appears to be a lack of understanding of what constitutes the child’s best interests; secondly, that there is a need to improve the current implementation of alternative care and to adjust and rethink current policy and implementation practices for improvement of services rendered. Thirdly, South Africa has embraced the developmental social welfare approach to service delivery for marginalised and vulnerable groups however, when its implementation is evaluated, as it has been in this research, it becomes evident that it is mired in infrastructural and resource problems and that the entire system is somewhat crippled. The study concluded that alternative care is not fully conducted within a developmental framework as envisaged and recommends that the lack of social worker involvement in the process need to be addressed by decreasing caseloads and providing mandated training on the roles and responsibilities of the social worker involved in the process. In any organisation, the newly employed staff should undergo intensive training to equip them with working skills to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in terms of the job required. Furthermore, it is recommended that foster care services be divided into a section for the orphan population and those who is in need of statutory interventions. Infrastructural and human resources call for better cooperation and networking between the Departments of Social Development, NGO’s and other service providers. Effective intervention strategies should be implemented that will educate and empower social workers in the field of child protection services. It is recommended that tailor-made approach be implemented specifically for children in alternative care, separating the statutory aspects of child placement from other aspects such as prevention and early intervention services. The study has ended with suggestions for areas of further research for the benefit of the social work profession and the clients it seeks to serve.
Description: Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2018
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (xviii, 331 leaves)
Format: pdf
Publisher: University of Fort Hare
Publisher: Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Language: English
Rights: rights holder
Rights: All Rights Reserved
Rights: Open Access

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