Early Prevention
The focus will be on the development and empowerment of vulnerable learners to cope with challenges that expose them to street life. A school will be adopted and for a period of two years a targeted group of learners will be exposed to a variety of group work programs and activities in and around their school to empower them to continue with their education.
Child and Youth Care Centre
(Child and Youth Care Centre Section 191) (Registered to accommodate 16 boys)
- Reception and care of children from the drop-in centre
- Social Work services
- Therapeutic and developmental services
- Residential care programs (stabilization programs)
- Life skills (group work and individual) | Vocational skills | Arts and crafts | Sport
- Access to formal and informal school
- Family reunification and community reintegration
Streetwork/Outreach
Identification of children on the streets
- Daily contact and engagement with these children
- Establishing relationships
- Mobilizing child intervention
- Referrals to the drop-in programme
- Referrals to welfare agencies/departments
Drop-in Centre
(Drop-in Centres Section 213)
- Provision of food and laundry services
- Assistance with personal hygiene
- Religion
- Life skills programs
- Basic informal teaching (provided by volunteers)
- Sport and recreational activities
- Relationship building
- Family reunification & assessments
- Referrals to welfare agencies/departments
Key activities
The services provide for the emotional, physical and social developmental needs of the children and include:
- Early identification of children on the street
- Building a trust relationship with the children on the street
- Placement in alternative care
- Provision of residential care
- Provision of food and basic needs such as hygiene and clothes
- Recreational services
- Informal and formal education and training
Beneficiaries
The focus of the organisation is on children and youth working and living in the streets of Bloemfontein. The children are mostly from the Bloemfontein area, but at least 13% of the children’s community of origin is either not known or from rural areas and Lesotho. Children as young as 9 years have been identified in the streets.
The majority of the children are Sotho speaking and male. Although Kidz Care Trust’s mandate is working with children under the age of 18 years, it proved necessary to involve the older youth and even adults as well. No accommodation is provided to the over 18’s, but all other services are available through a referral system.