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The
Child and Family Unit is the first point of contact that a client has
with the Johannesburg Child Welfare Society. Our staff members interact
daily with clients (children and their families), significant others and other professionals. The primary goal of this
department is to do prevention work and family preservation.
The South African Police
Services (SAPS), the education and health care systems, other NGOs,
religious groups, members of the community, parents or family members
themselves, make contact with the JCWS office to report suspected cases
of abuse, abandonment and neglect. A team of social workers investigate
the allegations and children in immediate danger of ongoing abuse are
removed and taken to a place of safety.
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A children’s court enquiry
is then opened whereby all cases are evaluated and referred for further
intervention. The
Child and Family Unit is the first point of contact that a client has
with the Johannesburg Child Welfare Society. Our staff members interact
daily with clients (children and their families), significant others and other professionals. The primary goal of this
department is to do prevention work and family preservation.
The South African Police
Services (SAPS), the education and health care systems, other NGOs,
religious groups, members of the community, parents or family members
themselves, make contact with the JCWS office to report suspected cases
of abuse, abandonment and neglect. A team of social workers investigate
the allegations and children in immediate danger of ongoing abuse are
removed and taken to a place of safety. A children’s court enquiry is
then opened whereby all cases are evaluated and referred for further
intervention.
CFU offers statutory
services as these are not provided by the State. We therefore play a vital role in the provision of
these services. The children, and where indicated, parents or extended
family members are assisted through the appropriate legal action
required to protect the child’s best interests. This may include the
temporary or permanent removal from the parents and placement in foster
care, a children’s home or in adoption. Criminal procedures are also
dealt with in cases of abuse.
The Child and Family Unit is also
involved in recruiting, orientating and screening potential adopters
and place children in adoption. Social workers counsel women
considering consenting to the adoption of their children and manage the
temporary and permanent placement of the child.
Programmes
Life skills programmes are conducted with
groups so as to equip them with parenting skills. This positively
impacts on their functioning as they acquire new skills to cope
independently and to make informed decisions about the lives of their
children. Less cases of neglect and abuse are reported as a result.
The
HIV and Aids pandemic continues to pose a challenge to our services as
we are dealing with more cases of children who have been abandoned,
orphaned and neglected due to the disease. It is with real sadness that
we lose children to this disease.
A high influx of people to the inner-city
has increased our caseload. It is difficult to help these people
as most of them do not have legal documents e.g. children’s birth
certificate, identify documents.
If you are interested in adopting a child through the JCWS, please
contact us.
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