- Title
- The Road to R960: foster parents’ experiences of their journey to receiving a foster care grant in Port Elizabeth
- Creator
- Ndwayana, Philasande
- Subject
- Foster parents -- Services for -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Subject
- Foster home care -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Case studies
- Date Issued
- 2021-04
- Date
- 2021-04
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/51418
- Identifier
- vital:43273
- Description
- The focus of this study is on foster parents and how they have experienced foster care process, from initial stages of application to the payment of the foster care grant. Many children have been found to be in need of care and protection following a number of factors ranging from death of biological parents, abandonment or abuse. In South Africa, the Children’s Act 38/2005 upholds the best interests of children and prioritizes family care as opposed to institutional care. Hence, the rise in foster care placements. Prospective foster parents are selected and screened for suitability, once done they then go for approval at Court in a bid to enter into a legal contract so as to care for the child (Children’s Act No 38 of 2005, RSA, 2006). This statutory process is just one part of the road to accessing the foster care grant. However, there is also the view that foster parents are abusing the foster care grant when actually they are caring for other people’s children with the minimal assistance of R960. In a country such as South Africa, where poverty and unemployment contribute to family disintegration, it frequently takes social workers much longer than three months to finalise foster placements, which creates anxiety and uncertainty for the foster parents and the foster children. This qualitative study utilises an exploratory, descriptive research design underpinned by a narrative strategy of inquiry to explore and describe the experiences of foster parents’ journeys to obtaining the foster care grant in Port Elizabeth. The end result envisaged that there will be strengthening of service to clients, an understanding of how the processes and policies empower or challenge foster parents in an aim to render quality care to children and foster parents. And as such recommendations like employment of more social workers, refresher trainings for officials and the marketing adoption as an option of alternative care were mentioned.
- Description
- Thesis (MSW) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2021
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- Format
- 1 online resource (105 pages)
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- rights holder
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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NMU School of Behavioural Sciences
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