Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

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Department of Social Development manner, into rural and outlying underserviced communities. The services offered at the centres include accessing birth certificates and identity documents, grants and housing applications. 36 There are not enough Thusong centres in the targeted communities, so the travelling distance and cost involved remain barriers in some of the communities serviced by these centres. In addition, the centres are insufficiently resourced. For example, the study conducted by Peters and Williams (2009) in the Ratlou district in the North West province found that there was only one Thusong centre in the district. It was at least 10 kilometres from the closest villages. At the time of the study, the cost of transport for those closest to the centre was R7, a significant sum of money for the impoverished community members of Ratlou. Furthermore, there is only one staff member staffing the centre and the centre has no computer facilities, so all applications have to be sent to district offices to be processed. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) does deploy mobile units into rural communities. However, as in the case of the DoHA’s mobile units, rural communities find it difficult to access some of these mobile services. Reasons for their difficulties include insufficient consultation with communities about where mobile services should be sent, and lack of accessible and accurate information about where and when mobile service delivery units will be available in rural areas. For example, in the Ratlou district, reliance is placed on a social network for the distribution of information about the days on which mobile trucks will visit a particular area. The social network is made up of community development workers, ward councillors, ward committees, tribal authorities, chiefs and local pension committees. The social network cannot be relied on to convey the information (Peters & Williams 2009). No social assistance for children aged 16–18 in 2010/11 Section 28(3) of the Constitution defines a child as anyone younger than the age of 18 years. Up until 31 December 2009, the CSG was only available for poor children younger than 15 years of age. This age limit was increased on 1 January 2010. The new Regulations to the Social Assistance Act, described in some detail in Table 3.1, have effectively increased the eligibility age to 18 in a phased-in manner between 2010 and 2012. In effect, children between the ages of 15 and 16 can apply in 2010. However, the Regulations exclude poor children who are over the age of 16 but younger than 18 in 2010 from applying for the grant, and will exclude those older than 17 but younger than 18 from applying in 2011. The latter two groups will only qualify in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The complexity of the manner in which the age limit is to be incrementally increased already caused confusion and improper application of the new Regulations by SASSA officials and social workers in the first two months of 2010. The Black Sash noted in a letter to the Cape Times (9 February 2010) that they had received numerous calls to their paralegal help desks regarding the phased-in extension of the CSG ‘from social workers in [the DoSD] asking us to explain how the extension of the grant works. It is a bit disheartening when the officials don’t even know what’s going on. They may well be turning away eligible applicants simply because they are confused’. 36 Thusong Service Centres, Business Plan 2006–2014 and www.thusong.gov.za 67
Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable children in SA School enrolment, attendance and documentation The imposition of school enrolment, attendance and documentation requirements for CSG beneficiaries may hinder easy access to the CSG by vulnerable children. As described in some detail in Table 3.1, the new Regulations to the Social Assistance Act require the caregivers of all children between the ages of 7 and 18 who apply for or receive the CSG to provide proof of the child’s enrolment and attendance at school. Furthermore, the Regulations require the Department of Education (DoE) to monitor the attendance of CSG recipients and advise the DoSD if such recipients are not attending school. There are three potential problems inherent in these requirements. First, even though the Regulations very clearly do not make school enrolment or attendance a qualifying condition for receipt of the CSG, there is a risk that the SASSA officials may read the imposition of this condition as a qualifying criterion. If this happens, we will see, as has happened in relation to misinterpretations of other documentation requirements by SASSA officials, that children are barred from accessing the CSG because they cannot obtain the necessary school documents or cannot enrol at or attend school. This is particularly problematic in the context of children made more vulnerable by HIV/AIDS as they are particularly at risk of not enrolling or attending school, for the many reasons spelt out in more detail in Chapter 5. The introduction of this new requirement linked to the CSG may aggravate the exclusion of vulnerable children from school rather than serve to improve their rate of enrolment and attendance. A further problem that may arise in relation to these new requirements is the lack of proper attendance record keeping and information management at schools, especially the more vulnerable schools which register higher volumes of vulnerable children. The systems as they are currently implemented and managed at school level will make it difficult for all schools to be able to record attendance and produce reports to the DoSD regarding attendance or lack thereof by CSG recipients. 37 The third problem that will inhibit the implementation of the new Regulations is the severe shortage of social workers in South Africa, which already inhibits the proper implementation of child protection services in the country. The new Regulations require a social worker investigation whenever a report of non-enrolment or non-attendance by a CSG recipient is made to the DoSD. As discussed in some detail later, South Africa is experiencing a severe shortage of social workers, which will make it impossible to meet the investigative obligations required by the Regulations. Oversubscription of the FCG The FCG has become a primary source of financial support for family members caring for orphaned or abandoned children (Meintjies et al. 2003). This saw the number of FCG beneficiaries increasing tenfold between 2000 and 2008 from 49 843 in 2000 to 445 282 in 2008. 38 The underlying problem, from a service delivery point of view, is that access to the FCG must be preceded by a full and formal foster care investigation by a social worker and hearing by a children’s court. This has resulted in the caseload of social workers becoming completely unmanageable and their role has turned into a largely administrative one of rubber-stamping foster care investigations so as to expedite the foster parent’s access to the FCG. Likewise, it has caused bottlenecks in the courts, which results in keeping children 37 Private correspondence with Kevin Roussel, director of ACESS 38 Statistics from the DoSD Annual Report, 2000/01, and SASSA Social Security Statistical Report, 29 February 2008, quoted in National Welfare, Social Service and Development Forum, 2008 68
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Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

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