Reuniting Street Kids with their Families

NEED

The complex social and economic problems that South Africa faces puts enormous strain on families. Problems like widespread unemployment, the impact of HIV/AIDS, a lack of education or skills and low self esteem results in many South African children being exposed to social and family violence, sexual abuse, drug abuse and the daily desperation that comes from having nobody to turn to. Eventually some of these children end up living on the street.

A 2004 census initiated by National Alliance of Street Children recorded 1003 street children living in the Ekurhuleni Region. Getting an accurate measurement of the number of street children is notoriously difficult, and it is thought that the actual figure is much higher than the number captured by the census.

The problem of street children has serious implications for society. Many of these children resort to various crimes, such as prostitution, drug abuse and violence for survival. They do not attend school, meaning that in the long term they will be unable to find work and so are likely to continue to commit acts of crime in their communities and remain trapped in a cycle of poverty, fear, violence and drug abuse.

OVERVIEW

Kids Haven was founded in 1992 by Moira Simpson in response to the many children on the streets of Benoni, and provides a safe and secure environment for the boys and girls who have lived and worked on the streets or have been removed from abusive homes. The organisation applies a systematic approach which is a combination of outreach, residential rehabilitation, tracing and supporting of the families and, where possible, family reunification. Kids Haven works closely with the department of social development and other organisations responsible for children including the police and social workers.

This project will fund the reunification of10 families with their children.

WHAT WE LIKE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

• Each child is provided a full range of support from accommodation, food and clothing to psychosocial support and tracking down family members.
• The combination of support services offers each child living and working on the street an opportunity for a better life through access to essential services and education
• The organisation is well established in the field with sound management systems to ensure the security of the children they support
• The project takes a holistic approach and. Through its outreach programme, works with troubled families to try to prevent children from ending up on the street. The programme thus addresses the problem at its source, and is preventative as well as reactive.

IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS

The family reunification programme is ongoing; the funding requested will enable the reunification team to cover the costs of tracing the families of 10 children. The estimated cost per direct life change is R4, 950.

Children arrive at Kids Haven from extremely poor and unhealthy circumstances, they have been living and working on the streets exposed to tremendous trauma and abuse, the children get involved in drugs and criminal activity. Kids Haven’s intervention makes it possible for the children coming off of the street to be rehabilitated and placed back into formal school environments. Kids Haven continues working with the children and their families to restore the family bond. This will be of enormous benefit to the child, the family as well as the wider community.

ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY

Since 1992, Kids Haven has remained focused on a core group of beneficiaries: children living and working on the street. They have been recognised by the Department of Social Development as a model for best practice for their approach to working with street children.

Kids Haven is a founding member of the National Alliance of Street Children actively advocates for children’s rights through various civic forums.

The organisation has a well structured administrative and financial management system that involves all levels of management and ensures transparency and accountability. The board members are well informed of the activities of the organisation and have a finance subcommittee that works closely with the director and accountant.

RISK PROFILE

Key Strengths

• Design: The project balances legislated requirements with best practice in helping young children with their personal growth and development while assisting them to retrace their natural families. In addition the full range of professional services provided by in house social workers and an extensive network of partners who offer services to support the rehabilitation and development of each child is a credit to the organisation.
• Control: The organisation adheres to legislation regarding the care of children and ensures the safety of the children in their care.
• Sustainability: Kids Haven has a strong operational management system with long term funding agreements. The management team and staff have the required skills to continue the work effectively.

Key Risks - Low

• Concept: The family reunification programme outcomes are unpredictable as this depends on the unique circumstances of each child. Previous success rates have, however, been high.
• Capability: Kids Haven specifically targets children who are likely to have behavioural problems and have experienced trauma in one form or another. While the use of student social workers and volunteers provides a useful resource for the organisation, an inherent risk is the lack of experience of students and volunteers to cope with difficult children without supervision.
• External: Although Kids Haven has worked to achieve a reasonable balance of donor funding for its operations, the organisation is heavily dependent on donor funding. The recent financial crisis suggests that donor funds can be reduced without warning. Currently the organisations own income is 4% of its total budget.