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Othandweni Family Centre
Othandweni, which means "Place of Love", is situated in Mofolo South, Soweto and offers residential care to children. The
primary aim of Othandweni is to place children with suitable families. Those children who cannot be placed immediately stay at Othandweni for as long as is necessary. The need for facilities such as Othandweni is greater than ever as the incidence of child abandonment, abuse and neglect is
increasing. In addition to the ever-increasing case load, we are now faced with a growing number of AIDS orphans and HIV+ babies in need of shelter, special care and attention is necessary for these children. This facility caters for 90 children from the ages of birth to 18 years. The Centre comprises of two sections - the nursery and the cottages.
The Nursery
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The nursery aims to provide care, stimulation and protection for the 30 babies and toddlers it has the capacity to take in. Where necessary, the children are nursed back to health while waiting for adoption, foster care or re-unification with their families. The babies' health is ensured through using individual feeding charts, frequent weighing and taking babies for immunisation and regular check ups at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
The babies and toddlers in the nursery receive 24-hour supervision by qualified childcare workers. The toddlers are provided with stimulation and appropriate activities during the day. Some of the younger children attend the Impumelelo Early Childhood Development Centre, which gives them an important and valuable introduction to the outside world. |
Regular meetings are held with the Child and Family Unit to monitor the progress in placing babies with adoptive and foster families, or in re-uniting them with their families of origin. It is important that the babies be placed as soon as possible so that they do not experience prolonged institutionalisation, which is detrimental to healthy development.
The Cottages
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The Cottages offer supervised care in a family setting to 60 school going children and teenagers. The aim of the cottage system is to minimize the effect of long-term institutionalised living and to create a homelike environment.
There are five cottages divided into age groups, ranging between 5 and 18 years old. There are usually four children in each bedroom, and they live under the care of a qualified childcare worker.
The children living in the cottages attend educational and lifeskills programmes and attend meetings conducted at the Centre by the staff of Othandweni. The courses aim at teaching the children important "life topics" such as violence, crime and HIV/AIDS. The cottage system aims to achieve a discharge rate of at least 12 children from the cottages per annum. This we hope to achieve by either returning the child to his or her family of origin, or by placing the child in a suitable foster home. |
As well as providing residential care for the children, Othandweni aims to provide suitable and constructive therapeutic programmes in accordance with each individual's needs. We strive to achieve improvement in a child's behavioural changes in regard to coping with the stresses and demands of daily life.
By liaising with the Foster Care Department and Adoptions Unit of the Johannesburg Child Welfare Society, we will be able to recruit prospective foster parents and adoptive parents for our children as quickly as possible. We also carry out intensive family reconstruction work with the families of origin, in the hope that the children will be able to return home as soon as possible.
Due to abuse, neglect and disrupted backgrounds, many of our children cannot compete in the formal job market when they turn 18. In order to provide them with useful skills with which to make a living, we are running
life skills training and small business skills
courses, which cover a range of vocations from beauty therapy to motor mechanics and security guard work.
For the same reasons, some of our children attend special schools, and we also offer homework supervision in the afternoons. There is a pressing need to source funding for remedial classes for children with learning disabilities and/or poor academic performance. Many of the children are academic years behind their peers, and find it difficult to cope with schoolwork.
Services To Destitute Mothers
A rather unique small project that we run offers emergency shelter to destitute mothers and pregnant women, who are accommodated in rooms in the main building. We offer food, shelter, and medical treatment for the mother as well as any necessary treatment for the newborn baby. Our social workers also provide counselling to the pregnant women, informing them of the options available to them.
Services To Adoptive Parents
Temporary accommodation is available for adoptive parents who wish to bond with their adoptive children at Othandweni before taking them home. Social workers are on hand to advise and guide the newly adoptive parents through the early stages of adopting a child.
Community Involvement
Othandweni is fortunate to have the friendship and commitment of doctors who, on a voluntary basis, visit the nursery every Thursday to assess the progress of the babies.
We also have several committed volunteers who spend quality time with the babies and older children. Volunteers compliment the staff/child ratio and ensure that there is always someone available. Church groups, based in Soweto, encourage their congregations to become host and foster parents to the older children and to collect items needed by the facility. When a child turns 18 years and cannot be returned home, we
try to source a willing host family in the vicinity. The host family acts as a substitute home base for the child, providing advice and support. We have found that children who have lived in institutions find it very difficult to adapt to life outside, and the pressures to find a job and a place to live extremely challenging. Our host parent project seeks to alleviate these stresses placed on the child and to provide him/her with supportive and encouraging adult interaction.
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