Pretoria – Child protection register sites are to be rolled out to 25 municipalities in Limpopo to ensure that all child abuse cases are reported and recorded immediately in the electronic register.
Presenting the Department of Social Development Budget Speech at the Limpopo Legislative Chamber on Thursday, MEC for Health and Social Development, Dr Norman Mabasa noted that the province still has children who need protection due to family violence, rape and other forms of abuse.
“This [register sites] will minimize the late reporting of cases that need immediate attention,” Mabasa said.
He highlighted that during the year under review, 920 children were placed in Child and Youth Care Centers, where they are provided with protection services.
“During the previous financial year we have managed to place 7 862 children in foster care to make sure they are provided with emotional care and support. In the current financial year 2013/14, additional 6 600 children will be placed in foster parenting.
“The province is currently having 66 000 children in the foster care register which should be reviewed on a continuous basis. This poses additional workload on the already severe shortage of social workers we have in the province,” Mabasa noted.
Three hundred child and youth care workers will be trained through the Isibindi Programme and linked to 30 sites with the aim of intensifying community based care for vulnerable children in poverty pocket areas and areas with high level of maternal morbidity and mortality.
“A budget provision of R30 million has been set aside for this initiative. An amount of R17 million has been allocated to Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) providing care and support to vulnerable children.”
In its fight on incidences of violence against children, women and people with disabilities, Mabasa announced that the Victim Empowerment Programmes will this financial year be strengthened.
About 60 social workers will be trained and linked to the 43 victim empowerment centres.
“This will assist the NPOs that are providing the services to be able to have access to referral for cases that need trauma counselling and support. R10 million will be transferred to NPOs that are supporting victims of violence and crime in the five districts,” Mabasa explained.
Turning to children in conflict with the law, Mabasa announced that during the previous financial year, 2 520 were referred for assessment by SAPS and placed under diversion programmes. The programme aims to assist participants to develop socially acceptable behaviour and become law abiding citizens.
The department is planning to provide diversion services to 1 939 youth in the current financial year. A budget of R35 236 million has been set aside for this purpose.
During 2012 /13, 206 827 children and youth were reached and of these, 112 912 were reached through Ke Moja “I am Okay” campaign, while others were reached through POPPETS prevention programs.
“The department is planning to reach an additional 172 901 in 2013/14. Our plan is to intensify the anti-substance abuse mobilization programme, with our main target being to reach 180 000 people.
“The NPOs providing prevention services will also be strengthened to make sure we cover more communities especially in hot spot areas. About 306 substance users accessed outpatient services offered by the funded NPOs. The budget allocated for this is R1.3 million,” Mabasa said. - SAnews.gov.za
