Separation adds to social workers' load
“We need to invest in our children if we want a world; a country; a community that is a peaceful, growing and prosperous one,” said Director of Grahamstown Child Welfare, Woineshet Bischoff at the organisation’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.
Bischoff spoke of a renewed focus by social workers on parents, as the key to bringing about positive changes in families.
Grahamstown Child Welfare currently has more than 42 cases in which children are still to be placed in foster care. This is just one of the indicators of the scale of the organisation’s work locally that emerged at this week’s AGM.
Substance abusing caregivers was another factor adding to the organisation’s high case load, as is an increasing number of parenting plan cases – the structuring of care and contact of a child when the parents live separately.
According to Grahamstown Child Welfare’s Annual Report, 76 percent of social workers’ time was spent on consultations, in a year in which 1 740 clients were attended to at their offices, and 320 new cases were opened.
Projects include the Sun City Aftercare Programme, the Ikhaya Losizo Cluster Foster Home Scheme and the Child Protection Action Forum, as well as a community care workers programme to support social workers.
A highlight of the event was the presentation by sculptor Bruce Little of trophies he had made to winners of the Takkie Tax Challenge.
Winner of the schools category was Victoria Primary and the business category was won by the Rhodes University Health Suite.