Mother’s struggle to get help for her big family
MISCOMMUNICATION and frustration have led to a drawn-out battle for assistance in accessing support services for a struggling Kraaifontein single mother whose selfless decision to look after her deceased sister’s children has thrown her into poverty.
After the death of her sister in 2015, 49-year-old Vuyiswa Mtsitshe, who was already a single mother to three kids, took into custody three of her sister’s young children, while the other five siblings went to live with other relatives.
Mtsitshe said in the beginning everything was okay and life had resumed for the family of seven, with the children in school and well. However, out of the blue last year, she arrived home to see another of her sister’s children had been left in her care by Child Welfare.
She said: “Everything was okay for some time, until last year when my nephew was brought to me out of the blue without my knowledge by social workers. I found out later that it was because he had turned 18 and was no longer being supported by the State so they left him to me. Still, I took him in too and looked after him.
“Then, at the beginning of this year, I got another surprise when my sister’s other two children, twins, arrived on my doorstep and said they weren’t being treated well so they had come home to me. I was shocked and overwhelmed. I now had nine children under my care, but remained a single parent and the sole provider. I am struggling.
“I didn’t know where to start and worse I soon realised that one of the twins wasn’t well. She wasn’t adjusting well and when I looked into it I discovered she had been sexually assaulted by an uncle.
“Our social worker has been hard to work with since the beginning. She promised to assist me with getting the children’s financial support transferred but till today we have nothing. I have asked so many times. When these children arrived here they had nothing, not even clothes,” said Mtsitshe.
Mtsitshe also claims the social worker’s negligence is why the situation has escalated. She believes she was given Sassa forms with errors, initially, resulting in the drawn-out process to get the funds transferred to her. She also believes that because of the friction, the social worker is refusing to write an essential letter that could assist her in applying for a house for her nieces and nephews.
Yet despite the complaints about her, social worker Vuyokazi Mvubu maintains she has been working to the best of her ability to assist the family.
She said: “It’s not true that I haven’t been working to assist the children. I have been working hard to make the transfer happen. The Sassa documents have been prepared and are ready to be submitted.
“Regarding assisting Vuyiswa to get a home for the children, that is not within my scope of work and I have advised her to visit the correct departments for help.”