Social Development

1. (a) The number of children placed in foster care in the following financial years is as follows:

2024/2025: 40 043 as at 31 March 2024, of which 3018 are new placements for the year

2025/2026: 42 699 as at 31 March 2025, of which 3018 2395 are new placements for the year

2026/2027: 43 528 as at 31 March 2026

1. (b) the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) provides a foster child grant of R1 250 per month per child.  Social workers in the employ of the Department of Social Development and Designated Child Protection Organisations provide assessment, court reporting, monitoring, supervision, and support services to foster children as part of their basket of child protection services. The budget for these services is part of the operational costs for the full range of statutory and developmental services provided by social workers to children, families and vulnerable persons, and is not separately accounted for.
2. (a) The number of children exited the care system during the following financial years is as follows:
3. 2024/2025 = 983
4. 2025/2026 = 386
5. (b) The reasons why children exited the foster care system include:

• When children are reunified with their biological parents, family members, or significant others in their lives.
• When children are adopted.
• When children reach the age of 18 years and are not pursuing any form of education.
• When foster families relocate to another province.
• Cross-border issues when children are repatriated to their country of origin.
• When children are discharged from the s175 provision of Children’s Act 38 of 2005.
• Termination of a court order via the Children’s Court.
• When a child dies in the alternative care system.

3. (a) In South Africa, the requirements for becoming a foster parent are set out in the Children’s Act and assessed by a designated social worker. A Foster Parent must:

• Be 18 years or older.
• Be a fit and proper person to care for a child,
• Be willing and able to undertake the responsibilities of foster care.
• Have the capacity to provide a safe, stable, and nurturing environment that promotes the child’s growth and development.
• Undergo an assessment by a designated social worker to determine the suitability.
• Not to be a person who is considered unsuitable to work with children.
• Documents commonly required depending on the circumstances of the child:
  • South African ID Document.
  • Child’s birth certificate (if available).
  • Death certificates of the child’s parents (if applicable)
  • An affidavit confirming abandonment (if applicable)

3. (b) Designated social workers in DSD or Designated Child Protection Organisations (DCPOs) will perform the following statutory duties before the approval of a prospective foster parent:

• Conduct a screening and assessment of the prospective foster parent(s) and household.
• Consider the living conditions and the ability to meet the child’s needs.
• Conduct checks to determine if the applicant’s name appears on part B of the National Child Protection Register to determine if the person has ever harmed a child.
• Compile a comprehensive screening report on the assessment of the prospective foster parent and family members and their ability to provide suitable care and meet the needs of the child concerned.
• The designated social worker will submit the screening report to DSD Canalisation Services for the consideration and approval of the Form 39, to determine and confirm the suitability of the prospective foster parent to care for the child concerned.
• The Form 39 approval is attached to the children’s court report, forming part of the recommendations for the Children’s Court.
• Present the matter to the Children’s Court, if a child has been matched with a prospective foster parent, which ultimately decides whether the child should be placed in foster care and with the respective foster parent.
• Expectations of a foster parent is to provide for the child’s day-to-day care and protection, ensure the child attends school, safeguard the child’s health, well-being, and development, protect the child from abuse, neglect, exploitation and harm, use non-violent, non-degrading forms of discipline and to work in close collaboration with designated social workers and support the child’s relationship with the family members where appropriate and in the child’s best interest.

4. (a) The following challenges impact the adoption of children in foster care: 

• Some children placed in foster care are not adoptable due to ongoing reunification efforts with their biological parents or extended family members. 
• In certain instances, reunification services are not effectively rendered or concluded for children in foster care, resulting in prolonged uncertainty regarding their permanency planning and limiting opportunities for adoption.
• Adoption processes are often delayed when biological parents refuse to provide consent for adoption, despite being unable or unwilling to resume the care of the child.  This prevents children from accessing a permanent family through adoption.
• Babies who could be made available for adoption are at times placed in foster care instead, resulting in missed opportunities for early adoption and long-term permanency.
• In some instances, babies are placed in foster care with childless couples, creating long-term foster care arrangements even where adoption may have been a more appropriate permanency option. 
• Abandoned babies are at times placed in foster care rather than being made available for adoption. This may result in delays in securing permanent family placements and can reduce the likelihood of achieving permanency through adoption.
• Older children (over the age of 5) who have no parents, caregivers, or have been abandoned are not being made available for adoption as childless couples prefer to adopt them.
• In certain cases, older children are only made available for adoption at a later stage, reducing their chances of being adopted in permanence, as prospective adoptive parents often prefer younger children. Delays in permanency planning, therefore, negatively impact adoption outcomes for older children.

4. (b) Education and awareness programmes are implemented to enhance the understanding of the adoption process, including the requirements for a child to be declared as adoptable before being made available for adoption. In addition, increased awareness regarding the importance of making abandoned babies available for adoption, where appropriate, rather than placing them in foster care as a first option.  Furthermore, reunification services should be thoroughly explored and rendered to biological parents before adoption is considered as a permanency option for a child.