In the dearth of literature regarding domestic workers in general, there is a notable absence of the relationships formed between domestic workers and their employers’ children. Nine young white adults who self-identified themselves as having a close relationship with their families’ domestic workers for a minimum of ten years, were interviewed on the nature of this closeness and what it means in the context of the family and in South Africa. These participants shared the significance of their domestic workers in their lives, highlighting their integration into the family structure. These women often filled in for absent parents or mediated conflicted parent-child interactions, serving as a unique support system for the participants. However, contradictory evidence was also apparent as the boundaries between domestic workers and the participants’ families were described. Issues of race and social difference were cloaked in a silence perceived to be an aspect of concealing the uncomfortable elements of whiteness and the implicit understandings of the institution of domestic work. When these matters were addressed, the interviewees were often ambivalent about their own role in maintaining this norm. Exploring the less than perfect parts of the relationship with these caregivers seemed to threaten the very foundations of the relationship. The findings in this report support the argument that having multiple caregivers is optimal for children’s development but when the third caregiver is a black domestic worker the benefits of this arrangement are complicated by racial, social and class constructions. Moreover, constructions of the ideal Western family create friction in allowing a non-relative to be fully integrated into the family.

The goal of this research was to explore and describe child and youth care workers lived experiences of life space therapeutic care in a residential setting. Life space refers to the daily living environment, context and situation of children.

M.Ed. (Philosophy of Education) / The central aim of the study was to make an analysis of the values and value-orientations of girls committed to a child-care school in order to understand better their thought processes and behaviour. It was necessary to focus on values and value orientations as these are indicative of what is important to the girls and can be regarded as underlying motives for human behaviour. The motivation for this study lies in the fact that committal is a sensitive and often problematic situation. Children in ordinary schools are committed to child-care schools, and committed children in chid care schools are transferred to reform schools. The most important grounds for committal are need of care and unacceptable behaviour, hence the importance of examining values and value-orientations as underlying motives for behaviour. The primary expectation when committing a child to a child-care school is that the child will be guided towards a positive behaviour change. This study revealed that the value-orientation of an individual is subject to influence and that behaviour changes can be brought about through purposeful coaching of values. Bearing in mind the purposeful influencing of the value orientation of the committed pupil, it is essential that the educator should take special note of the various aspects of the committal, the living conditions, values and value-orientation of these learners. In this respect the most important aspects described in the study are: * an analysis and description of the grounds for committal and the legal stipulations applicable in cases of need of care. * The identifying of a hierarchy of fifteen main type values which can be regarded as possible determinants in assessing the behaviour of girls. * The identifying of characteristics which are typical of the lifestyle of committed girls, and which have an influence on their values, value-orientation and behaviour. With reference to the above aspects of the investigation the following are important findings: * Generally, the girls are committed on grounds of being in need of care for unacceptable behaviour. 'In need of care' refers to material inadequacies and a poor socio-economic existence. The 'unacceptable behaviour' which motivated most committals were serious disobedience, contact with undesirable friends, truancy, petty thieving, chronic absence from home and absconding from home. * With regard to the hierarchy of values it was discovered during the investigation that the values most affected were economic, relationship related, life- and personal values. Those least affected were moral, intellectual, physical and authoritative. The hierarchy of values is indicative of what is important to committed girls and affects their behaviour. * The characteristics of the lifestyle of most of the committed girls were: large families (more than five children) broken families (step parents) age at committal: 13/14 years home language: Afrikaans church attendance of parents: fairly good. Living conditions have an effect on value-orientation and contributes to behaviour on the grounds of which committal takes place.

South African child and youth care programmes have been challenged to transform to address the needs of vulnerable and/or orphaned young people affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS. The Isibindi programme was designed by the National Association of Child Care Workers to respond to this challenge to provide viable community child and youth care programmes. Supervision of staff plays a critical part in child and youth care programmes. This study explores the model of supervision being implemented in the Isibindi programme, identifies the elements of this model and stipulates which of these need to be strengthened for effective and efficient services. The research findings indicate that the Isibindi model of supervision reflects the practice of child and youth care services being delivered in the programme. Common child and youth care elements were identified as being essential to the efficient delivery of this model of supervision. / Health Studies / (M. Tech. (Child and Youth Care))

The non-profit sector is one that is of great importance as it responds to the needs of society, and hence gives support to various social and economic endeavours. Particularly, residential child care work is a response to the ever increasing number of children who are orphaned, abandoned, neglected and affected by the HIV/Aids pandemic. Residential child care workers provide institutional care to such children. The role of a child care worker is one that is reported to be highly pressured and involves many challenges which have the potential of impacting on the quality of care that is provided by the care giver to the children. In light of the increasing research done on the area of happiness within the workplace which shows that happiness contributes to overall organisational success and helps employees cope with challenges this study explored this construct among residential child care workers; a research area which remains under researched. The aim of the study was to explore the subjective experiences of happiness among residential child care workers using positive psychology as a conceptual framework. The study sought to gain an understanding of the perceptions and experiences of happiness among residential child care workers through Seligman’s (2002) framework of achieving happiness through pleasure, engagement and meaning. The exploration of the subjective experiences of happiness among residential child care workers was done through the use of Fredrickson’s (1998) Broaden and Build Theory. The study used a qualitative research design and residential child care workers were interviewed on their perceptions and experiences of happiness. The findings suggested that, even through the challenges that the residential child care workers faced, there was still an overall sense of happiness that the care givers experienced in relation to their work. This was generally as a result of the nature of their work and their alignment to the overall mission of the children’s home. The findings suggested also that it was through the orientations of pleasure and meaning that the greatest happiness was experienced. This experience of general happiness in their work made the residential child care workers feel as though they could deal with challenges and also contributed positively to their role as child care givers. The findings of the study contribute to the increasing body of knowledge in the area of happiness and the experiences of residential child care workers. The findings can also help managers and directors of children’s homes know which aspects to encourage and cultivate in their employees for the experience of happiness and positive work relations and experiences. This can ultimately contribute positively to overall success of orphanages and children’s homes, and also to the quality of care that is given to children. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

South African child and youth care programmes have been challenged to transform to address the needs of vulnerable and/or orphaned young people affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS. The Isibindi programme was designed by the National Association of Child Care Workers to respond to this challenge to provide viable community child and youth care programmes. Supervision of staff plays a critical part in child and youth care programmes. This study explores the model of supervision being implemented in the Isibindi programme, identifies the elements of this model and stipulates which of these need to be strengthened for effective and efficient services. The research findings indicate that the Isibindi model of supervision reflects the practice of child and youth care services being delivered in the programme. Common child and youth care elements were identified as being essential to the efficient delivery of this model of supervision. / Health Studies / (M. Tech. (Child and Youth Care))

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology: Public Management (Peace Building), Durban University of Technology, 2017. / Mindfulness meditation has been receiving attention as a potential therapeutic tool to help those who have been traumatized or who are distressed. Anecdotal evidence reflects its potential healing abilities across varied populations with different problems. Despite this there has been very little attention to spirituality and more so mindfulness meditation in South African within the context of SA research and the literature. More importantly research within the field of child and youth care is sparse. This prompted the need for the current study which explored the nature and impact of abuse on the adolescents in the sample, the support provided at child care institutions, and the spiritual activities used by adolescents. More importantly however the study’s aim was to explore the benefits of a mindfulness meditation programme with a group of abused adolescents. In order to achieve this, a qualitative research design was used. Data was collected using in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion following the implementation of the mindfulness meditation workshop. Reflections written by the adolescent after each session was also analysed with the data from the focus group discussion. A purposive sample of eight adolescents was used. These adolescents were at a child care facility in the Ethekwini region of Kwa-Zulu Natal. They were purposively selected by the Director of the facility to participate due to their experience of abuse. Deeply traumatized adolescents who still needed one to one support were not considered. The data collected was recorded and then transcribed. After it was transcribed a process of thematic analysis was used. Main themes and sub-themes were derived from the data in its totality. The main themes drawn from the study was the types of abuse; the psycho-social effects of abuse, support received at the child care facility, spiritual interventions used by the adolescents, increased group bonding, benefits of meditation; mindfulness meditation as an ongoing practice. This study unearthed rich information pertaining to the traumatic experience of abuse. Rich descriptive reflected anxiety, depression, poor social relationships and poor academic performance as some of the effects of the experience. The study further found that institutionalization provided a safe space and both the adolescents and child care workers had used spiritual activities to enable healing. Of most importance however that is the meditation sessions demonstrated multiple positive benefits. These included feeling a sense of peace and equanimity, improved self-confidence, re-ordering of negative and dysfunctional thoughts into more positive ones, enhanced emotional states and forgiveness. The entire sample indicated that they would use this intervention, in the future again and felt that it was beneficial to other adolescents. Based on this it was recommended that child and youth care education give consideration to the inclusion of spirituality, moreover mindfulness meditation in child and youth care work. / M

While this study is partly theoretical it includes an exploratory case study in which theoretical insights are applied. In the theoretical part of this study, criteria for a successful poverty alleviation project were developed, guided by sustainability theory and complexity theory. It was proposed that researchers could assess existing projects according to these criteria to show where they were successful and where they could improve. The second part of this research consists of a case study, where an actual poverty alleviation project (The Nomzamo Special Care Centre, Peddie, Eastern Cape) was assessed according to the criteria developed in the first part. For this exploratory case study a non-random sample of 9 participants was drawn from the Nomzamo Special Care Centre and other stakeholders in the Ngqushwa Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape. Data was collected using questionnaires, observation and interviews. The results obtained from analysis indicate that project members particularly experience challenges pertaining to financial resources, infrastructure and maintenance. It is recommended that project members receive assistance from the government departments in order for the project to remain sustainable.

The main aim of this study was to explore and describe the general and emotional development of a sample of South African children between the age of five and eight years in residential care. More specifically, the study aimed to explore and describe the general level of development of a sample of children in residential care; to explore and describe the development of a sample of children in residential care in six areas of development; and to describe the emotional wellbeing of children in residential care. A non-probability, purposive sampling method was applied as the participants were comprised of children between the ages of 5 and 8 years housed at the residential care facility. The sample consisted of 11 children. The multiple case study method was used to achieve the aim of the study, using both qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative data consisted of scores obtained from the administration of the Griffiths Mental Development Scales - Extended Revised (GMDS-ER). The qualitative data was obtained from the Human Figure Drawing (HFD), participants’ scholastic progress reports, case reports from the residential care facility and clinical observations during the assessment period. The data was analysed according to thematic analysis. The results highlighted the pervasiveness of delays in all domains of child development of children housed in residential care, specifically that of language, social and emotional development. An important finding of the study was that decrements in these domains of development underpinned delays in the other domains of development since they form the foundation of learning and relating to the world. The study served to emphasize the importance of consistent developmental assessment in order to ascertain whether these children present with developmental delays and, if so, to xv identify which areas of development are most affected. Information from the developmental assessments could assist in the early identification of developmental delays and allow for individually tailored interventions to overcome such delays.

Early childhood development centres play a major role in supporting the development of children from zero to six years. For sustainability and strengthening ECD Centres funding is provided by government departments, municipalities and the private sector. The City of Tshwane is funding a number of ECD centres in Mamelodi. The CoT has clear guidelines, policies and procedures outlined in the funding strategy. The challenge faced by the CoT is the compliance and accountability of the funded ECD centres. Utilizing the qualitative approach, this study communicates the challenges faced by the eight Mamelodi ECD centres in keeping to the allocated line items outlined by the CoT funding strategy. The study describes the status of compliance of these centres. It further outlines the CoT funding processes, the ECD managers’ understanding, concerns and reasons behind the lack of compliance. Based on the findings, the study makes recommendations for practice, policy and further research studies. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Work)