Verulam NGO to open foster home
THE difficulty of finding a safe place for abandoned and abused children at government facilities during weekends has led to the Verulam Child Welfare Society starting its own pilot project, a three-bedroom foster home.
Mala Govender, a social worker supervisor at the Verulam Child Welfare Society, said the home, which still needed some furnishing, would be a safe place for three to four children, who would be cared for by a house mother.
The Verulam Child Welfare Society was established 84 years ago with just one social worker, and today the non-governmental organisation has a total of 10 social workers, four administrative staff and two general assistants. The organisation is one of several that are hosting a marquee at the eLan Gold Cup at Greyville.
The organisation works in the area of child protection, and takes referrals from Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, Thuthuzela Care Centres, schools and Child Line.
The 10 social workers also oversee 1 200 children placed in foster care homes, who are assisted by the organisation until they are 21.
“We work with children from 14 informal settlements around Verulam. We also have youth empowerment life skills programmes in schools, which are conducted during school holidays, and we reach 4 500 learners each year,” said Govender.
The skills development programmes included HIV training and awareness, and lessons on the dangers of social media.
“We warn them about child pornography and while we don’t slam the use of social media as it has some positives, we teach them to be cautious when using social media,” she said.
Children from pre-primary level upwards took part in the programmes.
“When it is Child Protection Week we work with about 60 educators, who we teach how to do referrals when it comes to children that have been abused. We bring in advocates and the SAPS to talk on identifying abused children and how to deal with them.”
She said teachers welcomed the training programmes as they were eager to learn more about how to deal with these social problems.
“There are some areas around Verulam that are rural and in some instances teachers are faced with the difficulty of dealing with parents who have accepted damages (‘blood money’) from perpetrators (of abuse) for their abused children,” she said.
The organisation also worked closely with the community, and annually 50 local volunteers joined its volunteer programme.
“We talk to them about helping us and how they are our eyes and ears in the community. We also have foster parent workshops, which are largely attended by the elderly, who so often in many communities are looking after foster children.”