Boksburg Child Welfare still going strong amid challenges

Boksburg Child Welfare’s performance level was apparently not compromised in the 2020/21 period, despite having faced some challenges posed by the pandemic and many other factors.

This was revealed during the society’s 24th AGM, which took place on November 20 at the Old Boksburg Town Hall.

According to Vanessa Naidoo-Pillay, Boksburg Child Welfare director, the organisation’s performance improved compared to the other years all thanks to the staff who continued to render services to their clients.

Highlighting the improvements through a bar graph for attendees to see, the stats showed that regarding family preservation, they reached out to 936 families compared to the 726 number recorded on the previous year.

Mediation serviced proved their success with 415 compared to their previous record of 193.

Naidoo-Pillay said with the intake and crisis intervention, they recorded a slight decrease due to the pandemic, which made it hard for staff members to carry out their duties fully.

When it comes to statutory services, they yielded good results as they presented 418 cases in court compared to their previous record of 406.

“We provided our psychosocial support services to 526 clients and we also had 67 clients placed on reunification services while 112 children were placed in Temporary Safe Care (TSC). We saw a decrease when it comes to social work and social auxiliary student training because we couldn’t accommodate many of them in the building as part of our preventative measures to curb the spread of covid-19.”

Challenges
The director shared that due to the pandemic, all group and community work programmes were dependent on the Covid-19 government levels where staff needed to work on irregular working patterns.

Besides the effects of the pandemic, Naidoo-Pillay said some of the challenges they faced were vandalism and theft at their Vosloorus office, which resorted to major repairs and replacement of stolen equipment.

“Other challenges included GBV and sexism cases against women in the community and our professional staff who were victimised by male clients,” she said.

Boksburg office accomplishments
Naidoo-Pillay said 18 cases out of the 45 cases that were attended to in court were finalised while 120 children were placed in foster care.

“Fifty children and 19 adults received psychosocial services while 267 clients received early intervention from social work services. Twenty-seven parents were referred for parenting programmes while 54 cases of care and contact were referred for investigation,” she said.

Reiger Park accomplishments
According to the society, out of the 123 cases that were attended in court 63 of them were finalised, while 32 children were placed in foster care. The director shared that 322 cases were attended for crisis intervention as well as 190 children received psychosocial services. Three hundred and twenty families received family preservation services while 38 parents were referred for investigation,” she said.

Financial report
According to Scott Williams, who is the treasurer of the organisation, cash donations declined from R392 175 in 2020 to R39 570, while the total revenue was R62 733, which was less than the previous year.

“Though we didn’t receive funding from Ithuba National Lottery in the current period, we’ve managed to generate money from selling donated clothes at our offices as well as hiring out our halls.”

Williams expressed gratitude to Albany Bakery for consistently providing them with bread, which assists to feed children in their care. Afrox Linde Group, Norbrake Distributors, Boksburg Advertiser, East Rand Mall Pick n Pay, Lions Club, Cassels Butchery, Mario Pick n Pay, Zoe Christian Bookshop, Jabulani Mendu, Intertek Genalysis SA, Qatar Airways, Bidvest and Emperors Palace were some of the donors and sponsors that he also thanked.

Meanwhile, during the AGM, six staff members were awarded certificates for their long service with the organisation.

Boksburg Child Welfare chairperson Dorry Naidoo appealed to volunteers, donors and funders to continue supporting the organisation.

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