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

Table 6: Registered Shelter and Government Funding Per Child for a Day
Shelter Date Registration Capacity Funds
Established Status Received
A 1996 Shelter 6-15 R. 4.50
B 1989 Children's 30-40 R.75.00
home
C 1993 Children's 60-70 R.75.00.
home
D 1996 Shelter 60-70 R.4.50
Funding is a crucial issue with shelters and impacts on the whole exercise of getting
children living and/or working on the streets out of the street. This situation will change
once the South African Children's Draft Bill of 2002, designed to amend the Child Care
Act (1983) is enacted into law and hopefully implemented particularly chapter 16
because it recognises and addresses the issues relating to children with special difficult
circumstances, while chapter 17 deals with the registration of shelters and drop-in
centres (http://www.pmg.org.za/overview/billsprogress.htm: 23/212004).
4.2.11 Child Care Act (1983) and Registration of Shelters
Shelters for children living and/or working on the streets fall under the South African
Child Care Act of 1983; however children in shelters might have been subjected to
other laws depending on their circumstances while living on the streets. The Child Care
Act 1983 was amended in 1996 to bring in new dimensions regarding the authority of
the children's courts which placed children in difficult circumstances in places of safety
or children's homes. Under the Act, a social worker or law enforcement agents can
bring a child who is proved to have lost parents or guardians before the court. The
court has jurisdiction and mandate to place such a child in a place of safety. The
process gives a child no choice either to be or not in children's home. The law places
the child there and absconding is treated very seriously. The Child Care Act does not
mention children living and/or working on the streets and their difficult circumstances.
The omission is significance because shelters, unless they can convert themselves into
children's homes they remain outside the legislative mechanism. The Act would have
to be amended to give recognition to children living and/or working on the streets as
children in a category of their own. The dilemma is the notion which accords children
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