Transforming child and family services in urban communities in South Africa: lessons from the South

Abstract

Post-apartheid, South African agencies have been required to shift their services in fundamental ways, including offering services in previously un-resourced areas, honouring the rights of children and families, ensuring that users, staff and governing bodies are representative of the population and providing developmental social welfare services in place of child protection-oriented interventions only. A study of urban South African child welfare agencies provides insight into the complex task of managing and leading change. In view of overloaded change agenda and resource constraints, managers focused on effecting incremental change and prioritized the most 'rewarding' change efforts. Transforming practice towards a developmental approach was less successful. Structural interventions were also not prioritized. Child welfare agencies internationally face demands to transform in response to the effects of local change and globalization. The study's insights might resonate with agencies working for change in other societal contexts.

Documentary analysis of the legal and policy framework of transracial adoption in South Africa

“…The need for and experience of transracial adoption is influenced by specific circumstances in the South African context (Luyt & Swartz, 2022b). Transracial adoption in South Africa represents a stark example of adoption as an index of vulnerability (Treitler, 2014) as Black children are especially vulnerable because of apartheid (Luyt & Swartz, 2022b) while social services resources were historically allocated disproportionally to White South Africans (Patel et al, 2017). The South African adoption system, based in Western notions of family, does not accord well with the Black African population (Gerrand, 2018; Gerrand & Nathane‐Taulela, 2015; Gerrand & Nkomo, 2020; Gerrand & Stevens, 2019; Gerrand & Warria, 2020) and is forbidden in Islam (Assim & Sloth‐Nielsen, 2014).…”