Programme Description
This programme seeks to address the gap between the “spirit” of the Children’s Act (family-based care) and the institutional reality that exists for children.
Temporary Safe Care (TSC) with screened and trained parents in the community provides an alternative to institutional care in a facility. Children in need of care and protection will immediately be placed with a TSP by a case manager after first having contacted GCF for availability.
All of the children’s medical, therapeutic and care needs are taken care of by the TSP, with the support of the GCF Team.
The TSP needs ongoing support and monitoring, especially in their first years of being a Temporary Safe Care Parent
South Africa – Rest of Africa
Social work professionals in the organisation is responsible for the recruitment of the TSP’s.
Recruitment of TSP’s is done by a team of people in the organisation
The Social Worker allocated to this Department is responsible for the assessment/screening and the compulsory five-day-long training of the prospective TSCP who is willing to receive children in need of care and protection.
All TSP have to be cleared against the National Child Protection Register.
Once TSP are approved they are placed on the database, ready to receive children needing emergency care.
A TSP is available 24/7 and once a child is placed with them, the GCF multi-disciplinary team will make home visits and further assessments, such as health, therapy as well as other risk matters.
Children are placed with TSP by a court order, where they can stay up to six months or until home circumstances have improve
Problem Statement
The lives of many children in South Africa are precarious. The country’s substantial resources are not being used efficiently and effectively to realise that their rights are key to their survival, protection and critically their equal and optimal development. This leads to negative cycles of poverty, poor development and inter-generational exclusion.
Children experience high levels of violence, including physical and sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment, safety risks and more.
Avoiding family breakdowns is GCF’s first priority. However, the reality in Ugu District is that there are children who will need urgent placement.
Enabling parents to take on the emergency care of children who require special care, as they have been displaced from, their families of origin prevent the child from entering institutional care, as from there they will either return to the biological family, family of origin or be given a new family via foster care.
“Children Belong in Secure Families”
Target Group
GCF seeks to create a database of assessed, screened and trained Temporary Safe Care Parents (TSP) who can be utilised by case managers in emergency care situations within the UGU district to ensure that children are placed in a secure family-based setting as an option of first choice wherever possible.
Churches, women’s groups, schools and clinics are areas that are targeted for recruitment of TSP.