FOSTERING | SAFE CARE

KIN Care – Part 1

South Africa has approximately 5.4 million orphaned and vulnerable children. The need is clear. KIN Culture exists to provide a sustainable, long term solution for our nation’s children. In our aspirations to move from a dream to a plan of action, we would like to ‘sketch’ some of the possible scenarios surrounding child care.

South Africa’s Children’s Act 38 of 2005 makes provision for the care of children under the following criteria:

1. Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCC)

The term CYCC is a broad term used for institutional centres that care for children and youth below the age of 18. These centres can range from baby havens, to places of safety and even juvenile detention centres. The traditional “children’s home” also falls under this classification.

2. Temporary Safe Care

This is when a person or married couple makes themselves available and register with their local Designated Child Protection Agency (DCPA) to open their home for the temporary safe care of children. Children are placed in temporary safe care for a three-month period, during this period the safety parent fulfils the full parental role of the child and the social worker must investigate the case of the child, to bring a suitable arrangement to the court within the three months of the placement.

3. Foster Care

Foster Care is when a person or married couple makes themselves available and register with their local Designated Child Protection Agency (DCPA) to open their home for the care of children for a period of two years.The social worker is responsible to support the foster parent for the duration of the placement and must also facilitate family visits throughout the period of placement, where possible.

4. Adoption

An adoptable child according to the Children’s Act is a child whose biological family have either passed away or have legally given up their parental right over the child. Such a child is then placed on the Register on Adoptable Children and Prospective Adoptive Parents (RACAP). An adoptive family is a family (single parent or married couple) who have be registered as an adoptive family by a local Designated Child Protection Agency (DCPA) and placed on the RACAP.

South Africa has approximately 5.4 million orphaned and vulnerable children. The need is clear.

Caring for South Africa’s orphaned and vulnerable children is a privilege. KIN Culture subscribes to a biblical worldview when it comes to children, meaning that we care for children from the understanding that God is a loving father who values these children.

Want to get involved? Join us at our upcoming KIN Care Info Evening on 6 September 2016 – email your name and cell number to info@kinculture.org