Welfare makes a difference in lives

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Discovery � How often do we just go through life not thinking about whether the next person is warm or safe at night?

If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit it is far too often.

How many of us know that there are places that work to make sure that underprivileged families at least have a small bite to eat and a warm blanket to cover themselves?

One such haven of hope in our community is the Roodepoort Child and Family Welfare Centre.

Established in 1932 by Daisy Verkuil, a small-scale scheme begun as Verkuil saw the need in the community to hand out daily food parcels.

Today the centre has grown as a welfare centre that employs six social workers and three auxiliary social, who all work to make sure that orphaned or neglected children all have a safe place to go to.

Hundreds of children are daily being abandoned or orphaned, left with nowhere to go, and centres like Roodepoort Child and Family Welfare have taken the responsibility upon themselves to work for the plight of these children.

Loftie Ettiene, who is head social worker at the centre explains that working with these children is an absolute pleasure and yet so emotionally draining.

�Everyday we are faced with how cruel this world can be. We have children brought to us by relatives seeking our help in situations where children have been abused, neglected or orphaned as a result of parents who died because of HIV/Aids. To date we have a staggering 750 children currently in foster care in the community, and still the numbers are not decreasing� according to Ettiene, the centre is constantly busy with at least 25 new cases per month of children who seeks homes and warmth. �Every case is very special to us and we would go to great lengths to ensure that the appropriate and safest homes are given to these destitute children, but the process is long and we lack resources.�

As per law, all children who are orphaned and brought to the centre must undergo various interviews to firstly determine if there are any relatives that the child can be placed with. 70 percent of the time there is a willing relative with whom the child can be placed but even in these instances the relatives are extremely poor.

Furthermore, the social workers at the centre have also taken it upon themselves to place urgent cases in special places of safety if required.

St Lauren�s and Angels Place are the two homes that house children who are either abused or left neglected.

It is very important that he community becomes aware of the Roodepoort Child and Family Welfare Centre. Ettiene believes that when the public knows that they exist, more children will find safe foster homes.

�I strongly believe that people in our area just don�t know about the centre and thus so many families must be suffering in silence.� �We are here to help, but unfortunately we cannot do it on our own. We need the help of the community.�

The centre would like to appeal to the public to please make a contribution where possible in the form of food, blankets and clothes. The biggest need is also for more people to open their homes to foster destitute children. For more information on how you can help please contact Loftie Ettiene on 011 763 1129.