Browsing by Author "Ndonga, Moreblessing Memory"

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    Assessment in child protection services: challenges faced by social workers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Ndonga, Moreblessing Memory; Strydom, Marianne; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Assessment is the first step in child protection service rendering after a case of possible child abuse and neglect is reported. This assessment is the basis upon which important decisions should be made regarding what actions to take to protect children from abuse and neglect. It is therefore an important part of the task of the social worker in child protection practice worldwide. In South Africa, the execution of assessment in child protection services is paramount in the realisation of the rights of children to care and protection as advocated for in international, regional, and domestic policies and legislation. Despite the importance of assessment in the delivery of child protection services, it remains an under-researched area of enquiry when it comes to daily challenges faced by social workers in executing assessments in child protection services with children and families in South Africa. Hence the goal of this study was to gain an understanding of the challenges that social workers experience in assessment practice in child protection services in the South African context. The rights-based perspective and ecological perspective were chosen as the theoretical frameworks for this study. This study employed a qualitative research approach. It was an exploratory and a descriptive study, within a purposive sample selection of 18 social workers and 5 social work supervisors employed in 3 designated NGOs in the Cape Town area. The primary research instrument utilised in this study was the semi-structured interview schedule, which was developed based on themes emerging from literature. Six themes were derived from the participant interviews by way of thematic analysis. These themes were then further divided into subthemes and categories. The study revealed that when social workers undertake assessments, they are faced with challenges relating to the implementation of tools and challenges in organisations, communities and families that they work in. Many of the challenges that social workers face in regards to the implementation of assessment tools are due to a lack of knowledge and understanding of assessment tools which is linked to a lack of formal and refresher training on the implementation of those tools. As a consequence of the lack of formal training, social work supervisors have been burdened to provide informal training to enable social workers in their organisations to implement assessment tools. It is clear from the study’s findings that there is a strong focus on the implementation of the actuarial-based risk assessment tool which is a standardised scoring tool and that there is a lack of implementation of the consensus-based assessment tool which is the assessment triangle adopted from the United Kingdom. The lack of utilisation of the consensus-based assessment tool seems to impact the ability of social workers to complete comprehensive assessments in relation to alleged child abuse and neglect cases. The findings in this study also revealed that there is a strong emphasis on the implementation of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 and therefore, professional steps in assessment are not being implemented. This lack of implementation of steps in assessment has been linked to a lack of time due to high caseloads, shortage of organisational resources, shortage of resources, violence in communities, low educational levels in families, and a lack of experience and training of social workers in the implementation of assessment tools and procedures in child protection. Thus, it seems that current assessment practices, including strategies utilised in assessments, are possibly not tailored to the reality of the South African context and therefore pose further challenges to the execution of assessments. It can be concluded that the ability to execute comprehensive assessments will not improve without the improvement of community resources (facilities) and organisational resources (cars, computers, office space, funds and manpower). These resources are necessary to improve the delivery of social services, including the execution of assessments with children and families in order to protect the rights of children to care and protection. Apart from having to address the issue of resources, it is recommended that social workers be provided with sufficient training concerning the implementation of assessment tools and procedures in child protection. Finally, there could be also a need to revise and adapt the current assessment tools to suite the South African context.
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    The perceptions of social workers regarding the rights of children to care and protection
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Ndonga, Moreblessing Memory; Strydom, Marianne; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In accordance with the White Paper for Social Welfare (Ministry of Welfare and Population Development, 1997), the Integrated Service Delivery Model (Department of Social Development, 2006), and the Children’s Act (Act 38 of 2005), social workers are required to focus first on rendering preventative services and then early intervention services to prevent the rendering of statutory services in the care and protection of children. This implies that in protecting the rights of children to care and protection, social workers should focus on preventing the unnecessary removal of children from their families through the delivery of preventative and early intervention services which could effectively enhance the family functioning. The research study therefore investigated the perceptions of social workers regarding the rights of children to care and protection. A qualitative research methodology was used to involve social workers employed at non- governmental and government organisations in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the study that was based on both an explorative and descriptive research design. For the aim of the research study, the researcher used purposeful non-probability sampling. Twenty two social workers that met the inclusion criteria of the research study were selected according to their willingness to participate. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the data during the empirical investigation and a pilot study was implemented to test the measuring instrument with three participants. A literature study aimed at describing the rights of children to protection and care within the context of South African policy documents and legislation from a rights-based perspective, as well as the services rendered by social workers in protecting the rights of children to care and protection, and the challenges faced by social workers in executing these services, was completed. Thereafter an empirical investigation was done and the results were then purposefully processed and analysed. Through processing and analysing the results, the researcher was able to come up with certain conclusions and recommendations concerning social work practice with regards to the rights of children to care and protection from a rights-based perspective. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 5 The most important conclusion resulting from the research study indicates that social workers in child and family welfare organisations strongly focus on the delivery of statutory services at the expense of preventative and early intervention services in the care and protection of children. These social workers seem to be denying the parents, who are struggling to care for and protect their children, the rights to intervention, as well as the rights of children to social services, which when rendered properly, should enable parents to care for and protect their children, thereby reducing the need for the removal of children from their families. Certain challenges were identified in this research study as hampering the delivery of preventative and early intervention services by social workers in the care and protection of children. Therefore, the study recommends that community resources (facilities) and organisational resources (cars, computers, office space, funds and manpower) should be made available in communities as well as in child and family welfare organisations for utilisation by social workers. The resources are necessary to improve the delivery of social services to children in order to protect their rights to care and protection. In addition it is recommended that social workers should receive on-going in-service training with regards to the implementation of policies and legislation protecting the rights of children to care and protection and that the salaries of social workers be reviewed to ensure better job satisfaction. Furthermore it is recommended that social workers endeavour by all means to adhere to the requirements set out in the South African policy documents.