Hon Speaker, yes, the national Department of Social Development receives reports on the number of child-headed households identified and serviced as well as on the types of services rendered to them, on a quarterly basis.
The statistics that government relies on are received from homes and from community-based care organisations which report to provincial departments of social development on the number of child-headed households identified and serviced and the types of services provided.
Government attempts to assist child-headed households through social workers at the district level who are assigned to these households and whose responsibility it is to link the children to all government services including, but not limited to: psychosocial support; linking children with relatives and extended family; facilitating access to official documents; and application and access to social grants such as the child support grant, the foster care grant, grants in aid and also social relief of distress grants and food parcels.
The reason for the continuing phenomenon of child-headed households in South Africa is primarily attributed to HIV and Aids. Other reasons identified are unemployment that results in people leaving home to seek employment elsewhere; desertion or abandonment of children, and excessive abuse of alcohol, which renders adults incapable of parenting.
We all have a collective responsibility to ensure that the hardships suffered by children who have to assume responsibility for their families are minimised so that all children in South Africa can experience the true joy and freedom of childhood. Thank you.
Thank you, Speaker. Deputy President, according to statistics, it seems that we have a particular problem in specific provinces. Does government keep a tally of the rural-urban divide as far as this serious problem is concerned? It seems that about 90% of all child- headed households are located in three provinces: Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. What additional interventions does government plan to ensure that we actually address this very serious social ill in society, so that we can help the children who come from these homes to become skilful, disciplined South African citizens? Thank you.
Speaker, yes indeed, government, through the national Department of Social Development, keeps accurate records of child-headed households. The prevalence of this phenomenon in certain provinces is a result of unemployment, when parents, tired of staring into the eyes of hungry children going to bed without food, end up migrating to urban centres in search of employment.
In certain instances, arrangements are made with relatives who, from time to time, check on the children. The net effect is that these children are left on their own, and that is why the national Department of Social Development has to keep track of all of this. Through the work done by community-based care organisations and so on, these reports filter through to the department, which is able to respond accordingly. Thank you.
Thank you, hon Speaker. Mr Deputy President, I am sure that you will agree with me that the issue of child-headed households is a serious issue as these children not only lose their parents or guardians, but their childhoods as well. Many are unable to afford school fees and other such expenses, even though they get grants. Deputy President, what is government doing to ensure that planning is done to address this escalating problem and to make sure that money is budgeted to address the problems faced by these children? Thank you.
Thank you, hon Lebenya. As I said, government takes steps to ensure that such children receive support, guidance and foster care, precisely because if government does not intervene decisively such children will become a burden on the social welfare system of the country. To the extent that such a problem is known and properly recorded in government departments, everything possible is done to ensure that such children grow up in an environment that is very supportive and that they receive the necessary education. That is why the general approach is that no children of school-going age should be out of school simply because they have no parents or their parents are unemployed and so on. Thank you.
Thank you, hon Speaker. Hon Deputy President, I have the government's own costing report on the Children's Act in my hand and it states that if we want to implement this Act properly we need 66 000 social workers in our country. Currently, we have about 11 000 social workers for 49 million South African citizens. That is a shortfall of 83%.
Given that we only have 17% of the social workers that are needed, it is impossible for your department to monitor the increase in child-headed households, let alone ensure that the children are properly cared for. Could the Deputy President kindly explain to us how the government is helping children in child-headed households in terms of foster care placement or permanent adoption?
Secondly, I really appreciate the Deputy President's answer regarding home and community-based care, but home and community-based caregivers are not qualified people. They need supervision by qualified people. Thank you. [Applause.]
Thank you very much, hon Kopane. Yes, indeed, the shortfall of qualified social workers is a problem, hence the introduction of home and community-based caregivers as a supplement to the work that would normally be done by qualified social workers. This, unfortunately, is our situation and we can't say that we will do nothing until we have sufficient qualified social workers. It is thus a stopgap measure in an attempt to address this dire challenge.
Where cases are reported in the districts, all the necessary steps are taken by the national Department of Social Development to ensure that such children are put up for adoption if they are the appropriate age, and others receive the requisite support. I have mentioned a number of those kinds of support measures. That is not an exhaustive list. The government is able to intervene depending on the situation. The critical point here is for such situations to be reported to the relevant authorities in the district and localities and then for such problems to be attended to.
Thank you, hon Speaker. Hon Deputy President, legislation, we know, allows for households to be headed by children of 15 years and older. As there is no perfect age for children to take on such a responsibility, has the legislated age of 15 been found to be useful or problematic, either blocking families being together where the older sibling is perhaps 13 or 14, or placing undue stress on 15-year-olds? Is government satisfied that the concept of child-headed households and policies around that are working and in the best interests of these children and what are the relevant details? Thank you.
Thank you very much, hon Dudley. As I said, it is abnormal for 15-year-olds to be heading families and what government does in those cases is to lend a supporting hand to ensure that such children are not burdened with the responsibility of adults. But that is really a stopgap measure. We should try to address all the other social ills to ensure that we don't have many cases of 15-year-olds heading families, because a 15-year-old is still a minor and may need guidance and support, rather than being burdened with the responsibility of parenthood. Thank you.