Speaker:  Cindy-Lee van Andel –  Social Worker at Christine Revell Children’s Home. 

Topic:  “Challenges faced by a social worker in a children’s home”. 

Cindy-Lee shared that the Christine Revell Children’s Home,  a facility for young foster care children aged 0-5, is facing significant challenges due to social worker shortages and high demand for placements, with only 150 out of 1,500 monthly requests being fulfilled. The facility often deals with cases of neglect (95%) and faces issues such as children arriving with health problems related to substance abuse, poverty, and malnutrition. Despite these challenges, CRCH has had success with adoption placements, including two boys who were successfully adopted in the United States, and continues to work towards reunification with biological families or placement with alternative families while maintaining a 90% occupancy rate for funding purposes.

Child Care Support and Training

Cindy-Lee presented on their work supporting children in need, highlighting that while they receive 60% of their funding from the Department of Social Development, they face challenges in training child and youth care workers. The organization is seeking more volunteers and host parents, and will be holding an open day to raise awareness about their work beyond traditional orphanage perceptions. David shared that Inner Wheel clubs support social worker training through bursaries at the University of Cape Town, while Mymoena emphasized the importance of addressing social development challenges in South Africa’s communities. Cindy-Lee is to send out communication iro CRCH’s upcoming open day to crew should they wish to attend.