Z Skweyiya: Children's Amendment Bill Debate

29 May 2007

Chairperson
Honourable Members

Thank you for the opportunity to address the National Council of Provinces
(NCOP) on the occasion of the first reading of the Children's Amendment Bill.
Within government, we have launched the Child Protection Week on a national and
provincial level and it is indeed a timely coincidence to address the NCOP on
this Bill. We are at a critical milestone in our efforts to put comprehensive
legislation in place that would adequately protect the rights of children in
South Africa, as enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.

The Children's Amendment Bill is intended to be an integral part of the
Children's Act (Act 38 of 2005) which was signed and assented to by the
President on 8 June 2006. The Children's Act in its formation was part of the
"Consolidated Bill" aimed to deal with a full spectrum of protection of
children in both national and provincial spheres of government and was to be
dealt with in terms of section 76 of the constitution (that is within schedule
four of the functional area of concurrent national and provincial legislative
competence). However the Consolidated Bill was found by Parliament in 2003 to
be a "mixed" Bill which included elements to be handled in terms of both
section 75 (functional area of national legislative competence) and section 76
of the constitution.

Due to its mixed character, the consolidated Bill was split and provisions
which applied to the provincial government were removed. The Children's Act as
assented to by the President, contains matters which have been dealt with in
terms of section 75 of the constitution. Those provisions which were removed
from the "Consolidated Bill" form the Children's Amendment Bill which will
amend the Children's Act. The department introduced the Children's Amendment
Bill (section 76 Bill) in the National Council of Provinces on 25 July
2006.

The Children's Amendment Bill makes provision for the protection of
children, partial care, early childhood development, prevention and early
intervention services, alternative care, foster care, child and youth care
centres, as well as drop-in centres. Chairperson, the Children's Amendment Bill
gives effect to the protection of children in the following manner:

* It makes provision for partial care, known as place of care in the
existing Child Care Act of 1983 , which refers to when a person with or without
reward, takes care of more than six children on behalf of their parents or
care-givers for a temporary period, by agreement.
* Partial care is a facility in which programmes for example early childhood
development services should be rendered. These facilities must be registered
with the provincial departments of Social Development.
* The Amendment Bill further makes provision for the registration and
monitoring of Early Child Development (ECD) programmes separate from partial
care centres. The implication is that if an ECD programme is offered at a
partial care facility there will be a requirement for it to register both as
partial care and as an ECD programme. The separation of partial care facility
and the ECD programme is in recognition of the fact that partial care
facilities can be used for various programmes other than ECD.
* There is also recognition for the needs of children with disabilities in both
partial care and the ECD programme and for the MECs to ensure a good spread of
both partial care and ECD programmes in each province.
* The Bill introduces better reporting mechanisms for child abuse, neglect and
exploitation of children, by mandating a variety of professionals for example
social workers, teachers, medical practitioners, psychologists etc to on
suspicion, report a child who has been sexually abused, neglected or abused if
it is in the best interest of the child concerned. Other persons who believe
that a child is in need of care and protection because of abuse, sexual abuse
or deliberate neglect may report that belief to a social worker, the police or
a child protection organisation.

Chairperson, as we are aware most statutory social services to children and
their families are delivered by welfare organisations referred to as designated
child protection organisations in this Bill. The Director-General or provincial
head of social development on written application may designate any appropriate
organisation that complies with the prescribed criteria as a child protection
organisation to perform in the relevant province all or any specific designated
child protection services.

The Amendment Bill addresses the plight of child headed households and makes
provision for the provincial head of social development to recognise a
household as a child-headed household if:
* the parent or care-giver of the household is terminally ill or has died
* no adult family member is available to provide care for the children in the
household
* a child has assumed the role of care-giver in respect of a child in the
household
* a child over the age of 15 years has assumed the role of care-giver in
respect of the children in the household
* the children in the household have been investigated by a social worker as
contemplated in section 150(2).

Such a child-headed household must function under the general supervision of
an adult designated by:
* a children's court
* an organisation of state or non-governmental organisation (NGO) determined by
the provincial head of social development.

Decisions concerning the child-headed household and the children may not be
taken without consulting the child at the head of the household and the other
children. Furthermore Chairperson, no person may take or send a child out of
the Republic without consent:
* from persons holding relevant parental rights and responsibilities in respect
of that child
* of a court.
 
The Children's Amendment Bill further provides for discipline of children and
states that, no child may be subjected to corporal punishment or be punished in
a cruel or degrading way and the following is included:
* the child's right to physical integrity as conferred in the constitution must
be respected
* the common law defence of reasonable chastisement available to persons in any
court proceeding is hereby abolished
* no person may administer corporal punishment to a child at any child and
youth care centre, partial care facility or drop-in centre
*the department must take all reasonable steps to ensure that:
(a) education and awareness-raising programmes are implemented across the
country
(b) programmes promoting appropriate discipline at home and at school are
available across the country.

The Children's Amendment Bill attempts to promote the safety of
entertainment premises to children. Adequate stairs, escalators, lifts or other
mechanical means must be provided. A person providing entertainment must:
 
* determine the number of children
* determine the number of adult attendants
* control the movement of people
* take all reasonable precautions for the safety of the children
* not sell alcohol or tobacco products to children.

The Amendment Bill further supports the prohibition of the employment of
children under the age of 15 years. The importance of prevention and early
intervention services are recognised in the Amendment Bill as it provides for
court ordered early intervention services. This is the first time that
prevention and early intervention services are legislated for and that norms
and standards for such programmes are determined. The Amendment Bill also
provides for alternative care like foster care and child and youth care
centres.

Foster care includes the placement of a child in the care of a person who is
not the parent or guardian of the child by court order. A new provision in this
chapter is the placement of a child with a family member and where appropriate
for more than two years or until the child reaches the age of 18 years. This
provision takes cognisance of the large number of orphans who are placed in
stable environments with a family member/s and therefore require minimum or no
supervision from a social worker.

More than six children may be placed in foster care in terms of a cluster
foster care scheme which provides for the children to be grouped in houses
accommodating not more than six children per house or such other number of
children per house as the court may determine. Child and youth care centres
include for the first time traditional shelters which rendered services to
children living, working or begging on the street. Child and youth care centres
must as a condition for registration offer therapeutic programmes which may
include:
* reception, care and development
* temporary safe care of children pending their placement
* protection from abuse and neglect
* care and protection of trafficked or commercially sexually exploited
children;
* observing and assessing children
* providing counselling and other treatment
* assisting children to reintegrate them with their families and
communities

Child and youth care centres must have management boards and no person
unsuitable to work with children may be appointed or continue to serve at a
child and youth care centre. The Bill lastly provides for drop-in centres
managed for the purpose of providing services, excluding overnight
accommodation, to children including children living, working or begging on the
streets. Drop-in centres must provide outreach programmes, as well as
prevention and intervention programmes.

The Children's Act is progressive and promotes new approaches to implement
the changes that must replace old practices. Therefore new skills are required
to implement this Act successfully. Existing service providers especially child
protection organisations should be strengthened to assist in addressing the
challenges of implementing the Children's Act and this Amendment Bill. With the
shortage of social workers, it is of the utmost importance that other
professionals are allowed to assist social workers in the execution of their
tasks to protect children in the country. Hence the bill provides that
relevantly capacitated social service professionals be included in welfare
service delivery to children especially in instances where professional social
work service is not essential.

The department has a recruitment and retention strategy to address the
shortage of social workers. I would like to appeal to young people to make use
of the opportunity of available bursaries and learnerships for training in
social work and social auxiliary work. Resources required to implement the Act
will be provided in terms of an approach that recognises the existence of
competing social and economic needs and that organs of state in the national,
provincial and where applicable, local spheres of government will take
reasonable measures within their available resource to prioritise the
realisation of the objects of this Act. The bill together with the Children's
Act have been fully coated to inform resource allocation at various levels

Chairperson, this bill is one of the foundation Acts of Parliament to
protect our children and to ensure actions in the best interest of families and
children. Its finalisation is therefore critical, my department is developing
regulations and implementation plans to offset any delays that might be
encountered in implementing the Act. Proclamations have also been prepared
subject to the presidential approval to activate those provisions in the
Children's Act of 2005 which do not require regulations such as lowering the
age of majority of the child to 18 years.

I wish to thank all members of the select committee on social services and
the provincial legislatures for their assistance in finalising the Children's
Amendment Bill. I would also like to thank the officials of the South African
Law Reform Commission and State Law Advisers for assisting with the drafting of
the Amendment Bill, as well as officials of the Department of Social
Development and other departments who are on the Children's Act Steering
Committee for their hard work and persistence over this period.

Thank you

Issued by: Department of Social Development
29 May 2007
Source: Department of Social Development (http://www.dsd.gov.za)