Question NW601 to the Minister of Social Development

Reply:

1. A total of 6,225 mothers and fathers under the age of 18 years have received the Child Support Grant in the past five (5) years for one child, that is, from 2018/19 financial year to end of February 2023. A provincial breakdown is depicted in the table below:

b) A total of 221 mothers and fathers under the age of 18 years have received the Child Support Grant for more than one child, during the past five years. A provincial breakdown is depicted in the table below:

2. The following programmes are rendered to teen parents:

• Active Parenting of Teenagers- The main aim is to improve communication between parents and teenagers, a lack of which has a potential of breaking up relationships and creating unnecessary tension between parents and their teenagers, which often leads to delinquent behavior.
• Sinovuyo Teen Parent Programme- The purpose is to improve caregiver-teen relationship through active social learning, improving mental health through social support and improving communication about risky situations for teens in the community.
• Teenage Parents Programme- The aim is to explore the challenges around this area, support systems and the kind of support social workers can render to teenage parents through group work initiatives to enable them to be effective parents to their children.

In addition the following Frameworks have been developed to guide implementation of parenting programmes:

• Integrated Parenting Framework- The Framework was designed to address the issue of lack of effective parenting within families which could lead to the abuse and the neglect of children
• Fatherhood strategy- The Strategy was designed to revive and promote the role of fathers as protectors and providers within families because parenting is the role of both parents.