Foster care is a very important service rendered to vulnerable children.
This is according to the President of the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP), Maria Mabetoa.
She says the council supports foster care because in its absence many children would have ended up living on the streets.
“When a child is in foster care, that child is placed within a family environment. They are cared for by that family until they reach the age of 18 or 21, if they are still at school at the time. The disadvantage is that, when a child reaches the age of 18, the foster care placement is terminated and the foster care grant that goes along with the placement, also stops. Ideally, we promote adoption, where it is possible. With regard to adoption, the child becomes part and parcel of that family,” Mabetoa explains.
REFILWE GAESWE
