Services
Case Work
Group Work
Community Work
The Services We Provide
Place of safety for 20 children
Foster care screening and supervision
Investigation, prevention and treatment for vulnerable children
Counselling and guidance to families
Placement of abandoned children and HIV+ children
Re-unification services
Community projects such as Poverty Alleviation and ABET
Foster Parent Support Groups
Holiday Programmes for Foster children
Parenting skills group
Teen group
Awareness campaigns in the community
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of Benoni Child Welfare is to protect and promote the interests, well-being, safety and development of children within the context of family and community and to safeguard the rights of children.
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Case Work
A method of direct practice in social work typically conducted on a face-to-face basis with individuals, couples and/or families; it often involves case advocacy in that the social worker seeks to secure resources in the best interests of people that they are engaged with.
Case work at Greater Benoni Child Welfare entails rendering the following services to our clients:
Statutory Services
At this level, service beneficiaries’ quality of life or social functioning is compromised. It could require some form of statutory intervention, or it could require the movement of service beneficiaries from the most empowering to the most restrictive environment as they can no longer function adequately in the community. They may have to be removed from their normal place of residence, either by court order or on the recommendation of a service provider, to alternative care (e.g. foster care) or placed in a residential facility. This level of service includes protection services that endeavour to safeguard the well-being of service beneficiaries.
Counselling
Counselling, whilst being a catch-all term, used for describing of various professions, is, an important component of social work practice. (Rowland, 1993) It is a developmental process in which one individual (the social work counsellor) provides to another individual or group (the client), guidance and encouragement, as well as challenge and inspiration, in creatively managing and resolving practical, personal and relationship issues, in achieving goals, and in self-realisation. (Rowland, 1993) Whilst the relationship of social work with poverty and deprivation necessitates that most counselling activities relate to such issues, counselling has now become an active and interventionist method to achieve change in social situations and empower people to improve the quality of their lives. (Rowland, 1993) The activity depends upon client-counsellor relationships and includes a range of theoretical approaches, skills and modes of practice.
Crisis Intervention
This is a service provided for children believed to be abused or neglected by their caretakers and remain at risk even after initial services have been concluded. Service is designed to enable families to provide at least the minimum essentials of care for children to provide a safe and protective environment. This program need not be voluntary and court intervention is common. Continuing Protective Services is provided until the safety of each child can be assured or the minor is removed to a safer living arrangement. In this intervention we remove a perpetrator or victim from the situation that is negatively impacting on their social wellbeing.
Early intervention
Services delivered at this level focus on the early identification of risks, behaviour and symptoms in individuals, groups and organisations that could negatively impact on social well-being. The services are aimed at limiting the impact of the risk and preventing the development/progression of social problems. The interventions are designed to facilitate change in individual, environment and societal factors that could impact negatively on wellness.
Preventative services
This level of service delivery focuses on strengthening and building the capacity, self-reliance and resilience of service beneficiaries while addressing individual, environmental and societal factors to create conditions that enhance or support wellness. Services are focused on preventing development needs from developing into social challenges or risks. This includes the developmental services dealt with in the White Paper and the primary prevention of the development of a ‘disease’ or problem.
Foster care supervision Services
A foster child is a child who is removed from their parents and legally placed in the care of foster parents, in terms of the Child Care Act, through a court order. If you have been appointed a foster parent by a court, you can get a monthly payment from the government for your foster child. Not all foster parents receive a grant as some foster parents has the means to support the child/ren without the help of a grant. A foster care placement is renewed every two years after an assessment. We currently have 1430 foster children in the care of 1765 foster families that we render psychosocial services to.
Assessment
Assess the circumstances of each client holistically and establish their immediate needs in order to ensure that optimum psychosocial services are rendered to the client and or family.
Reunification Services
The aim of this level of service delivery is to enable service beneficiaries to regain self-reliance and optimal social functioning in the least restrictive environment possible. It facilitates reintegration into family and community life after separation. It also refers to the building of optimal self-reliance and social functioning in residential care.
Mediation Services
Our mediator is trained in family and divorce mediation. Mediation services include the process of agreeing to and drawing up a memorandum of understanding, parenting plans and any other family and divorce related disputes.
Group Work
Foster care intake group procedure
The objective for Foster Care Intake Group:
- Equip our new foster parents with knowledge of a foster care placement;
- Give them basic information and insight into the Children’s Act;
- To raise awareness on the expectations of our organisation as far as foster parents’ responsibilities are concerned.
This training takes place every first Friday of every month and is presented by a social worker and is assisted by an auxiliary social worker or student social worker. It is a three hour session and the average attendees in the past was 8 newly identified prospective foster parents. The session includes the following aspects for discussion:
Intake process (documents needed; forms to complete; etc.)
– Court Procedure
– Application for the foster care grant
– Foster care review
– Foster care transfers
– Rights and responsibilities of the foster parent/s
– Rights and responsibilities of the social worker
– Rights and responsibilities of the child
Foster parent support group
The objective of this group is to empower the foster parents with knowledge in order to ensure that they can manage the day-to-day requirements and challenges of foster parenting. This will also be a platform where questions are answered, complaints are lodged, and challenges are addressed. 50 foster parents attend our support group once a month. These group work sessions are presented by social workers with the assistance of either auxiliary social workers or student social workers. The sessions are conducted every first Wednesday of each month at The Greater Benoni Child Welfare Offices in Daveyton between 10h00 and 12h00.
The following topics are addressed in these meetings:
– Assessment of the foster parent’s needs
– Budgeting
– Anger Management
– Developmental stages of children
– How to manage children with behavioural problems
– Nutritional and Health related issues
– Addiction
– Sustainable livelihood and empowerment programmes
– Children’s rights and responsibilities
– Parenting skills
– Disciplining children and age appropriate chores;
– Year end function where each attendee received a certificate
Parental guidance group
A parental guidance group was started at The Greater Benoni Child Welfare as a need was identified as our clients could not afford to attend specialised programmes at other organisations. It was started off in having on or two sessions per year – depending on the parent volumes and demand. Other NGO’s also started to refer clients to us and currently we offer this programme / group / service every quarter. It is currently conducted once every quarter for 10 sessions, usually on a Friday morning between 08h30 and 09h30 at the Greater Benoni Child Welfare offices, to ensure that the clients can still resume work afterwards. A social worker presents the groups assisted by an auxiliary social worker or a student social worker.
The following topics are addressed in these group sessions:
– Needs assessment and introduction to parenting skills;
– The role of the social worker and other professionals;
– Who am I? (Who were you before you became a parent, wife, husband, etc.);
– The Child (Developmental stages; childhood illnesses and health; nutrition; puberty and sex)
– The Child (Emotional development; discipline; punishment; values; communication; relationship building, etc.)
– What is a parent. (Maslow hierarchy of needs; dimensions of parenting; parenting patterns; principles of love and logic; love languages, etc.)
– Parenting skills development (ways to improve parenting; children’s rights and responsibilities; parents responsibilities; kinds of abuse.)
– The family as a whole
– Problem solving – individual and as a family;
– Final session where evaluation forms are completed and attendees receive a certificate of attendance.
Teenager group
The objective of this group is to empower the foster children between the ages of 12 and 16 years with information in order to ensure that they remain in school and do not become pregnant or involved in gangs. The sessions are conducted once a week during school holidays between 10h00 and 12h00 at the Greater Benoni Child Welfare offices in Daveyton.
The following topics will be addressed in these meetings:
– Assessment of the foster children’s needs;
– Substance Abuse
– Teenage Pregnancy
– HIV and Aids
– Life Skills
– Future and career planning
– Personality evaluation
Community Work
Community Development is a process designed to create conditions of economic and social progress for the whole community with its active participation and fullest possible reliance upon the community’s initiative. The aim of community development / work is to improve the quality of life the community by creating awareness, empower them with life skills, creative thinking and sustain the community by creating employment opportunities on their own effort
Awareness campaigns
vThe objective of this group is to empower the foster children between the ages of 12 and 16 years with information in order to ensure that they remain in school and do not become pregnant or involved in gangs. The sessions are conducted once a week during school holidays between 10h00 and 12h00 at the Greater Benoni Child Welfare offices in Daveyton.
The following topics will be addressed in these meetings:
- Assessment of the foster children’s needs;
- Substance Abuse
- Teenage Pregnancy
- HIV and Aids
- Life Skills
- Future and career planning
- Personality evaluation