Social Development

1. (a) How much has his Department budgeted annually since 2019 for (i) street-child programmes, (ii) outreach services, (iii) family reunification and (iv) CYCCs and (b) what percentage of the Department’s total budget do this represent;
2. DSD does not allocate a separate budget for (i) street-child programs, (ii) outreach services or (iii) family reunification. in since these services are rendered as part of a continuum of child protection services, which is under the budget for Child Protection and Families Programmes. The budget for these programs, as well as for (iv) CYCCs is available in Annexure A to this reply.
3. whether his Department has conducted monitoring and evaluation reports on home-less children from 2019 to 2025; if so, can copies of these reports be made available;

All children receiving services from DSD have detailed records in the social work reports, which includes safety and risk assessments, records of home visits, and records of interventions provided.  Reports related to service users cannot be made available due to the strict confidentiality and protection of privacy of minors in alternative care.

3. whether the Department has commissioned independent audits of or research on homeless or street-connected children; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details

The Department partners with NPOs and is part of the Western Cape Street Children’s Forum, which is a collaborative between DSD and civil society stakeholders. The Forum carries out surveys of children on the street and co-ordinates intervention initiatives. Various academic research has also been conducted on street children, including through collaboration between DSD and research institutions like the University of the Western Cape. In addition the Department’s local offices conduct audits of children on the street in hotspot areas of the Province in partnership with municipalities, central improvement districts and other partners.

4. what emergency plan exists to prevent an increase in children living on the streets given rising economic vulnerability?

The Department funds Drop-In centres across the province that children in need of nutrition, sanitation and care services can access.  Child protection services to identified vulnerable children are rendered at all DSD local offices and by funded NPOs. Risk hotspot areas are monitored by Social Workers deployed to these locations, where they build profiles of each child encountered. Based on these assessments, the Social Worker determines the most appropriate intervention. It is important to note that interventions are not uniform and must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each child. Many of these children do not reside permanently on the streets but return home after spending the day begging. In high prevalence areas regular stakeholders’ meetings are held in order to coordinate interventions required.