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Submission to
Portfolio Committee on Social Development
Introduction
- The South African Council of
Churches (SACC) is the facilitating body for a fellowship of 26
Christian churches, together with associate and affiliate para-church organisations. Founded in 1968, the SACC
includes among its members Protestant, Catholic, African Independent,
and Pentecostal churches, representing between 16-18 million Christians
in South Africa.
SACC members are committed to expressing jointly, through proclamation
and programmes, the united witness of the church in South Africa,
especially in matters of social and economic justice as they pertain to
matters of national debate. The South African Council of Churches
welcomes this opportunity to make submission on the Children's Amendment
Bill [B19B-2006]. We are delighted that South Africa has moved
another step closer to bringing legislation for the care and protection
of especially vulnerable children in line with international obligations
to the rights of the child. While we have a little further to travel in
order to finalise the Children's Act, there is much to be thankful for
in this piece of legislation. Our particular emphasis in this piece of
legislation is to affirm our support, care and compassion toward the
many poor, vulnerable and destitute children who rely simply on a
nation's care and respect for their dignity, protection and survival.
CHAPTER 5 - PARTIAL
CARE (PC) and CHAPTER 6 - EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT (ECD)
- Faith based communities and
many others use their physical and human resources - such as their
premises and dedicated people - to enhance the upbringing, development
and care for children on a daily basis. Many do so for little or no
reward under trying circumstances. Some of the programmes offered, range
from crèche facilities to pre-school programmes as well as after-school
care. The SACC affirms the idea that service and program delivery to the
community will be enhanced by more coordinated participation between
government departments. We recommend that such coordination include the
resources organized at local level by the many civic and faith
communities. To this end we recognise the need for the setting of norms
and standards as well as for procedures of registration for partial care
facilities. We caution, however, that unless procedures for registration
are efficiently coordinated and integrated into inter-departmental
responsibility, a cumbersome bureaucracy may result in community
involvement in partial care facilities being a disincentive rather than
invitation to dedicated and gifted voluntary workers.
- The rationale for separating
chapters 5 and 6 appears unclear. There is a close link between partial
care (and the registration of the facility) and the programme, ECD.
Women, mothers and grandmothers of the Churches - indeed very often
whole families and extended families - play significant roles of caring
for and raising children and therefore in their early human and social
development. We support the wholistic view of
development in the definition at s91(1). In
line with the international statues for the rights of the child,
however, we point out that the terminus ad quem
for ECD is age 8. In light of the developmental impediments created and
furthered by the legacies of apartheid, disease and disability, we call
for the ECD programme and services to be provided "to age 9"
(s 91(1) and 91(2)(b). We also support the call
by Disabled Children's Action Group (DICAG) to take into account not
only the child's chronological age but also his/her developmental stage
since many children with disability will come late into ECD.
- We affirm the inclusion of a
compulsory national strategy in the departmental strategy including
special needs such as "disability and chronic illness" (s92(1)). Registration, as stated in 1 above, needs
broader and inter-departmental coordination as well as simplification.
The SACC welcomes legislation for the provision of ECD programmes at
provincial level but recommends that the MEC responsible be obligated to
fund the provision of such programmes (s93,(1) to read :" The MEC
for social development of a province must ...": delete
"may"). This recommendation is to apply to all instances in
the Bill where financial provision for services to be rendered is
regards as optional ("may").
- In order to ensure that the
legislation provides ultimately for an effective and integrated service
for ECD, PC and Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) we suggest
either the creation of linkages with these sections of the Bill or
condensing these chapters (ECD, PC and PEI) into one comprehensive
chapter.
Chapter 8 - Prevention
and Early Intervention
- This section aims at the
prevention of neglect, abuse or inadequate supervision of children that
may lead to breakdown of relationships and family structure which may
hinder the provision of the child's needs. It is also aimed at
preventing recurring problems in the family environment that may
adversely affect the child's development. Should the child come into
conflict with the law, this section aims at diverting him/her away from
the criminal justice system and the child and youth care system. The
provisions aim at the preservation of the child's family structure, an
avoidance of removal from the family environment as well as the
development of parenting skills by parents and/or care-givers in order
to safeguard the well being and best interests of the child.
- We affirm this paradigm shift
from the earlier statutory (legal-criminal) approach to a social and
human developmental model. This transition requires all round capacity
development, training and a commensurate provision of resources for it
to work effectively. A key point for the identification of and response
to child vulnerability - like the provision of care support and/or
professional referral - is at the school.
- We repeat our previous
recommendation that some form of inter-sectoral
mechanism, enforcing the cooperation of the departments of Education and
Social Development is crucial to realization, effective delivery and
success of this developmental approach. This approach should be widened
to acknowledge, for instance, the already active work performed by many
civil society organizations and faith communities, especially church
based organizations. This dynamic and creative approach will also
benefit from a broader pool of social assistance by drawing in to the
work of professional social workers - already understaffed - auxiliary
social workers and other categories of child and youth workers from
within these communities and organizations.
- We recognize too that
municipalities - even though the employment of social work professionals
may not fall into their sphere of competencies - have an obligation to
cooperate with the other spheres of government to ensure the delivery of
these services. As with the previous section, we believe that the
obligations of the MEC to provide financial resources for this service
be clearly articulated as "must" and not "may" (146
(1)). An effective inter-sectoral mechanism
for these services could include, amongst others, the departments of
Health, Education, Social Services as well as health, medical and social
work professionals from civil society and local municipalities. Delivery
at the local level could be checked for delivery by the Integrated
Development Plan - compulsory for all municipalities - in terms of the
provisions for children in need of care and protection.
Children with
disability
- Clause 11 of the Children's
Act recognizes the state's obligation to provide care and protection for
children with disability. The SACC underlines and supports, amongst
others areas of concern and opportunity within the Bill as indicated by
the Disabled Children's Action Group (DICAG):
- Legislation is required at
the local level to ensure that children with disability receive
universal access to services for children as well as specialized
services;
- Prevention services and
programmes include the prevention of disability through the provision
of poverty eradication services thereby aiming at the elimination and
prevention of diseases and disability associated with chronic poverty,
e.g. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome etc.; and
- Appropriate training and
capacity building within the ECD, child care work and police Sectors on
being equipped and sensitive to a range of skills required to
communicate and interact with children with disability.
HIV & Aids, Foster
Care and Cluster Foster Care
- Due to the inequity between
the amount of the Foster Care Grant (FCG) and the Child Support Grant
(CSG), families are using foster care as a poverty alleviation measure.
Children and caregivers needing income support become locked into a
system of expensive child protection. The use of FCG as poverty
alleviation detracts from foster care as a provision for child
protection since it is not reaching the need (236 000 new orphans in
2004 and total number of FCG beneficiaries in 2004 is 250 000). The
government needs to distinguish between "social services and
protection services" and "poverty alleviation". Not all
orphans are children in need of care and protection. The FCG should be
reserved for children in need of care and protection and who have been
placed in foster care by the courts. A universal CSG - something like a
guaranteed income extended to age 18 - should be used to support
relatives looking after children. Kinship care should not be
administered by social workers but by other social service professionals
such as child and youth care workers. There needs to be a range of
options for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC's)
that enable them to be dealt with outside of the court system and social
work services. Poverty alleviation needs to be de-linked from the court
system.
- Court-ordered kinship care is
still relevant for children who have had to be removed from home while a
family member has taken responsibility for that child. The SACC supports
the call to stop the use of FCG as a poverty alleviation mechanism. The
exploration of formally bringing together "extended family"
for support of orphans and vulnerable children in the spirit of Ubuntu/Botho is worth exploring. One such model,
Cluster Foster Care, proposed by the National Association of Child and
Youth Care Workers appears to be a viable option as long as it does not
become a cheaper form of child and youth care centre.
- The Foster Care system,
intended for the protection of children is facing redundancy due to
increased numbers of children in the care of relatives. The Department
of Social Development reported that the numbers of children in foster
care had by May this year increased by 700% since April 2000. As a
result, children in need of care and protection are unable to be dealt
with by the protection services and social workers. In the context of South Africa's
HIV & Aids pandemic where poverty is a major contributory factor, a
coordinated thrust of social services, social security and social
assistance is required to work together in a well coordinated manner if
a measure of poverty eradication is to be achieved. One solution,
frequently raised by the SACC, the labour movement and other civil
society organizations, would be to take seriously the extension of the
CSG to age 18, non means tested and extended as the first step of a
universal income grant.
Discipline of children
- The South African Council of
Churches welcomes s139 because it seeks to advance a culture of dignity,
respect and equity of relations within which our children may be able to
flourish as human beings. The DSD is warmly commended for fostering
legislation that seeks to recognize children's rights as human rights -
children are human beings too - through the proposal to prohibit
corporal punishment as well abolish the common law defence of
"reasonable chastisement". Furthermore, the SACC welcomes the
ongoing support for the role of parental responsibilities by the State
as it makes available programs on positive discipline and parenting in
line with the Constitutional values of human dignity, respect and
equity. We welcome too the prospect that outcomes of such programmes are
likely to initiate an environment of trust, rather than fear, respect
rather than control and, thereby, provide for a culture that contributes
to order through respect, peace building and nonviolence.
We support this clause because we believe that it will contribute
positively and significantly to turning the cycles of reported violence,
abuse and neglect against children in the long term.
- In order to bolster our
argument from a religious perspective, we include attach a FAQ on
Religion, Positive Discipline and the Abolition of Corporal Punishment.
We shall only allude to the problem as faced in the public arena. In the
Christian context there are differing approaches and interpretations to
texts as they may refer to violence in the past. The question that many
religious supporters of corporal punishment refuse to ask is, is the
text they quote sacred or is the interpretation thereof sacred? Clearly
the former may be true for some but the latter more questionable for
many others. If there is, then, no one interpretation agreed to by all
Christians, there is not an agreed position which may be termed
"Christian" or religious. The point here is that it is NOT the
task of the legislature to decide on or arbitrate between contending
sides of scriptural interpretation. The matter of punishment as it is faced
by the policy makers is a question of human rights abuse, when practiced
in whatever form. The Church therefore has a duty to the public and the
citizens of South Africa to encourage it in legislation that seeks the
best Constitutional value - Ubuntu/Botho -
even if the "reimaging" of these
values challenges the traditions and thought of the religious
establishment. The DSD is to be commended in the same way that political
institutions are commended for the abolition of slavery and the creation
of the United Nations as an institution that was established to broker
peace for a war torn world.
Child Headed
Households
- The SACC welcomes the
provision of a mentorship scheme for the care and material support of
children living in child headed households. The SACC has no hard and
fast opinion about whether the recognized age limit of a child heading a
household should be 15 or 16. The SACC is concerned that a requirement
for the provincial DSD to recognise a child headed household - and
therefore for them to receive assistance - is a social work
investigation. The SACC calls for the recognition of 150 (2) of the
Children's Act - that all children living in a child headed household be
treated as children in need of care and protection - and that a mentor
be appointed during the investigation. We suggest that abandoned
children be included in the definition of child headed households.
Child and Youth care Centres
- The SACC commends the DSD for
the provision of these centres whose services include a range of treatment
and therapy to children who are challenged with the need for care and
protection. We also welcome the provision of Shelters. Since the work
done in these centres is of a challenging nature, we call on government
to secure the work of professional social and youth care workers.
Children on the street
- While we welcome the
provision of Shelters, we remain concerned that the delegation of
responsibility to municipalities for their registration might not happen
in the spirit of inter-sectoral cooperation
with provincial government. We affirm, however, the importance of
municipalities' responsibility for delivering on care and protection of
children at these Shelters. We also affirm the expanded norms and
standards expected of personnel at these centres.
Conclusion
- The SACC has worked with
civil society in general and with the Children's Bill Working Group in
particular over the past years. We know that the Department of Social
Development and particularly Minister Skweyiya
voices our concern for children when he says that "children are
everyone's business". We are together in the concern that both
government and civil society look forward to a comprehensive form of
legislation that will provide for an environment conducive to the well
being, development and flourishing of children distinct from what we had
witnessed under apartheid. For these reasons we make the calls in this
submission trusting that the best foundation for legislation over the
next decade that seeks to deal with children in need will be reached as
speedily as is possible.
10 August 2007
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