Parenting training breaks abuse cycle
Supporting parents is critical to national development – report
WITH their huge case loads, South Africa’s social workers are so stretched they are “chasing ambulances” rather than doing preventative work in vulnerable communities that could help eradicate the factors that breed crime.
Crystal Theron, a social worker and former deputy director in the Presidency, says there are only 25 000 registered social workers in the country, although it was determined several years ago that at least 44 000 social workers were needed to properly implement the Children’s Act, which Theron helped craft.
“If you do the sums, we have 25 000 social workers trying to do the work of 44 000. You have this challenge that the Act, although it’s been termed the Rolls Royce of children’s legislation… we just don’t have the warm bodies to implement it.
“Usually, we get there too late. It’s like we’re chasing ambulances. We need more social workers on the ground. They would be able to do the preventative work to strengthen communities – that’s the object of the legislation.
“This preventative work can stop children from getting into the criminal justice system.
“When you link up with a family where there’s a threeyear-old and a five-year-old and the father is an alcoholic and the mother is negligent, our role is to get there and empower… to capacitate them to take better care of their children so they don’t become statistics.”
Institute for Security Studies crime experts Gareth Newham and Chandre Gould have long called for more social workers to help create safer communities, particularly for children, as an intervention into the factors that contribute to the risk of violence.
But yesterday, acting police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane scoffed at this, remarking: “What is it that social workers are going to do to bring down contact crime?
“Crimes are being committed by people wielding illegal firearms,” he said, after presenting the 2015/16 crime statistics, reported News24.
“As the SAPS, we do our best to bring these crime levels down, to ensure the same social workers are able to do their work in our communities.”
A paper released last April, by Gould and Catherine Ward, “Positive Parenting in South Africa, Why Supporting Families is Key to Development and Violence Prevention,” found positive parenting to be vital to the creation of non-violent skills that help keep children safe, as enshrined in the Children’s Act.
“Parenting has a direct impact on children’s behaviour, which affects their ability to realise their potential. Parents face multiple challenges and stressors.
“Harsh, inconsistent parenting, exposure to violence in the home and community and corporal punishment increase the risk that children will grow up to use violence, or to be the victims of violence themselves.
“Supporting parents is critical to national development.”
Over the past two years, Theron and her team, supported by the Department of Social Development, have been running ongoing parenting programmes in communities across Gauteng.
The prog ramme first started in Eldorado Park to help parents of drug-addicted children.
Social workers are now being trained to train parents “on their case loads” about effective parenting.
“We came up with a parenting programme on how to communicate, discipline, boost self-esteem and to look out for drug use.
“We get amazing feedback. It’s wonderful when you see a dad come alone; the next session he brings his mother as well. Or when you get young woman, who are not even par- ents, come and learn,” she said.
Shahieda Omar, the clinical director of the Teddy Bear Clinic, agreed. “If you look at children who have backgrounds of adversity such as alcohol and domestic violence, they are more likely to become perpetrators of violence.
“If we can address those factors by looking at the family component through a parental programme teaching parents to bond with their children, that is a protective factor that can break the cycle of abuse.
“It’s about teaching them coping skills, managing stress, addressing impulse control and anger management. It may seem basic but these skills can have positive, long-term effects on the well-being of the child and society as a whole.”