Question NW4431 to the Minister of Social Development
28 December 2022 - NW4431
Arries, Ms LH to ask the Minister of Social Development
What (a) is the total number of safe havens for abandoned children in the Republic and (b) total number of such havens are funded by her department?
Reply:
a) There are no safe havens for abandoned children in the Republic as that category is not known and registered with Social Development.
However the Department has records of temporary safe care persons and places where children in need of care and protection including abandoned children requiring alternative care are kept whilst awaiting finalisation of court proceedings for placement into foster care, Child and Youth Care Centres, as well as family permanency option such as adoption.
According to provincial submissions by provinces who responded to the question on safe haven; provinces also responded that there are no safe havens for abandoned children, but temporary safe care and places regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. The provincial response from KwaZulu Natal did not provide statistics of temporary safe care persons and place.
The provincial breakdown for temporary safe persons and places is as follows:
|
Province |
Temporary safe care persons |
Temporary safe care places (Child and Youth Care Centre) |
|
Free State |
67 |
9 |
|
Northern Cape |
26 |
10 |
|
Eastern Cape |
80 |
30 |
|
Mpumalanga |
58 |
29 |
|
Limpopo |
0 |
15 |
|
GP |
126 |
6 |
|
WC |
800 |
53 |
|
TOTAL |
1 157 |
152 |
b) There are no funded safe havens as they are not registered with the department.