A Study of Shelters for Street Children from an Organizational ...

children with a view to developing a trust and establishing a rapport. Drop-in centres
would need to be placed in several strategic places where children are frequently
found. The South African Children's Draft Bill 2002, categorises and envisages drop-in
centres as the first step in the intervention and reintegration programs and defines the
drop-in centre as "a facility located at a specific place which is managed for the
purpose of providing basic services, excluding overnight accommodation, to children,
including children living and/or working on the streets, who voluntarily attend the facility
but who are free to leave". In this view, a drop-in centre would be open and free for
children to come and go at will. A drop-in centre should have the capacity to provide
for the basic needs of the children and introduced them to intervention programs in the
shelters. The endeavour would also include the efforts of stabilising the children's
physical and psychological situation. Drop-in centres would also collect data regarding
children, information concerning children's families and communities with view of
reuniting them very early before children become streetwise. The next step would be
the visualisation or creation of rescue centres with a capacity to accommodate and
provide the children with temporary shelter for care. The period of stay would be on
average 3-6 months.
During this time, social workers would endeavour to establish existing bonds or links
with the children's families or communities in order to effect early reunification. In the
meantime, children would be provided with temporary shelter, care and protection, and
the necessary basic and immediate services, e.g. food, clothing, and opportunities for
counselling and the weaning of the child from substance abuse. The third phase would
be the halfway house for children who have been on the streets longer, and whose
families or communities have not been identified or located. This shelter could be in
two categories first children below ages 14 and the second, older children living and/or
working on the streets above ages 14-22. This age category is necessary because the
age bracket was not catered for in the intervention programs. Once children are over
16 years of age they did not find a place in the shelters and live on the street as young
adults. The halfway house would be structured to provide children with basic skills that
could lead to self-employment or empower them to become employable. Another·
dimension of the half way house would be to encourage the children to become
responsible by introducing them to a system of renting premises rather than living for
free in the shelter. The process would succeed if the children were guided and assisted
on how one manages minimal finances to meet the cost of rent and daily amenities.
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