GAUTENG
1 (a) Yes, the Department of Social Development has budgeted funds for social workers to place advertisements.
(b) (i), (aa), (bb), (cc) and (ii)
Financial Year |
Amount |
2013/2014 |
R 487 000 |
2014/2015 |
R 674 357 |
2015/2016 |
R 1 332 882 |
Since April 2016 |
R 2 773 000 |
2. The funds are sufficient for the financial year however it increases annually due to the increase in demand. The Regions have been allocated budgets and they have entered into contracts with local newspapers. The following newspapers are also used Sowetan and Daily Sun.
The process involves the Social Workers conducting assessments and in cases where the biological parents are reported unknown, then the advert is placed on the newspaper as per Regulations 56.
The finalization of the court process is reconvened two weeks after the placement of the advert.
3. There were no instances were children’s court Enquiries were not finalized due to non-compliance with Regulations.
EASTERN CAPE
1 (a) N/A
(b) Funding only made available for 2016 which was R400 000.00
2. Funds are not sufficient due to the budget-cut/financial constraints. This is however, one of the priorities of the Sub-directorate Child Care and Protection priorities when advocating for funds to Treasury.
3. None – the Provincial Team (between DSD, SASSA & Districts) that is monitoring Foster Care management services including backlog has since engaged DoJ & CD Presiding Officers and was agreed that in all cases Children’s interest must be paramount in line with Section 28 of the Constitution and Section 2 (a – f) of the Children’s Act No 38 of 2005 as amended.