6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS 121
6.4.1 Recommendations for Social work practice 121
In order to better serve the population of aged foster parents, the Department of Social Development should develop a database of all aged foster parents in the different wards. This information can be collected from the case files because this department is the only organisation that provides foster care services in the Mbizana Municipal area. This information can also be accessed from the local SASSA office. The database will assist social workers in being more proactive in planning psycho-social support and managing the different areas more comprehensively.
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Social workers must determine if an individual is suitable to become a foster parent before placing the child under their care as outline in section 182 (2) of the Children’s Act 38 0f 2005.
Thorough Screening of Prospective foster parents as well as on-going training in very critical is order to reduce foster care placement to break down, which would be detrimental to the child as well as the foster care family On-going training empowers foster parents to be able to deal with the needs of the children under their care.
The Bill of Rights in the Constitution (RSA, 1996) enshrines the rights of all people in South Africa and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. Social workers should strive to develop meaningful professional relationships with aged foster parents and treat them with respect and dignity at all times so that they do not fear but feel free to approach them at any time. All social workers should be guided by ethical values and principles which, according to section 4.2 of the policy guidelines for course of conduct, the code of ethics and the values for social workers, emphasize respect for people’s worth, human rights and dignity (SACSSP, 2007). According to these guidelines, social workers who do not abide by the principles, values, standards and guidelines as set out in this document may be subjected to inquiries in terms of the regulations regarding unprofessional conduct.
The Department of Social Development and Children’s Court magistrates should interrogate the reality and practicality of the ‘compulsory’ R300 saving from the FGC every month. Such a measure is merely a guide and not a committed policy governing foster care services and the requirement is therefore not consistent with the law. Social workers should assist aged foster parents, in fact all foster parents, with budgeting skills. They should rather negotiate a reasonable savings plan with them in consideration of specific families’ financial circumstances and they should mutually agree upon an amount.
It was evident that some social workers were not conducting supervision services systematically, although this is a requirement as noted in section 65(6) of the Consolidated Regulations in terms of the Children’s Act. This section states that a foster parent has the right to on-going training and support from a designated social worker so that he/she may be able to deal effectively with a foster child. By not abiding by this regulation, the lack of commitment to the ethos of caring that
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social workers have to comply with is perpetuated. However, De Jager (2011) and Mokomane and Rochat (2010) argue that there are not enough social workers, which is a situation that compromises the ability of social workers to do thorough supervision and therefore they tend to revert to crisis management. De Jager (2011) also adds that the scarcity of social workers as human resources in South Africa is a factor that contributes to the heavy burdens and caseloads that social workers have to contend with, which in turn is a contributing factor to a lack of permanency for children in foster care.
The participants also recommended an increase in financial assistance for foster parents (i.e., the FCG allocation). All the foster parents who participated in this study were above 60 years of age and received both the FCG and the OAG. Four participants were also in receipt of other state grants as noted in Table 5.2. According to Dhludhlu and Lombard (2017), “statutory social workers should not focus only on foster care services from a remedial perspective, but should also include a socio-economic development focus”. Therefore, because of increasing financial demands on aged foster parents, social workers need to capacitate them in terms of financial management. It is apparent that most of the participants were solely dependent on social grants for survival and that, perhaps due to their age; they never contemplated or explored any other means of generating income. Depending on the aged foster parent’s strength and abilities, social workers need to encourage them to be involved in other income generating projects around the community to supplement the social grant that they are receiving in cases where it is not sufficient. Of course, such activities should not be detrimental to their physical well-being.
Social workers should be innovative in planning support services for aged foster parents and implement appropriate support group programmes. Such a modality will create a space for mutual support where similar experiences can be shared and solutions can be found. These support groups could also extend their activities to develop societies such as funeral support groups and the ‘stokvel’ system, which would be advantageous to them while developing recreational and support programmes that will cater for their physical and emotional well-being.
Consistent with previous research on aged foster parents, the participant narratives emphasized the emotional and behavioural challenges that they encountered. Social workers should provide workshops for aged foster parents on how to deal with children with behavioural problems. This
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will raise awareness on social ills such as alcohol and drug abuse and teenage pregnancy among the youth. These workshops would also capacitate aged foster parents on how to improve communication with their foster children and how to discipline them in order to promote healthy relationships and better functioning foster families.