Decisions made by social workers during the rendering of services play a crucial role in foster care. This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the factors that influence the decisions made by social workers when rendering foster care services, and to develop a matrix to guide decision-making. A collective case study design, informed by the explorative, descriptive and contextual designs, was used. The intuitive, analytic and mixed theories of decision-making served as the conceptual framework of the study. The populations of the study were social workers rendering foster care services in government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and their supervisors. One case file of each social worker sampled, was consulted as an additional data source. The sampling technique was purposively sampling with a set of criteria to enable data optimisation. Triangulation of data collection methods was utilised, namely, case file analysis and semi-structured interviews with social workers and supervisors. Case studies are context-based and the data collection occurred in the natural settings of the participants. Ethical clearance was obtained for the study and before the commencement of data collection participants were fully briefed about the study and informed consent was obtained. The data collection instruments, a guide of case file analysis and two interview guides, were piloted twice in both government and NGOs. The data collection was audio recorded and an independent transcriber was used to transcribe the data to control for researcher-influence on the manipulation of the data. Trustworthiness was addressed by ensuring credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of the data collected. Both the top down or deductive data analysis approach, and the bottom up or inductive approach were adopted to analyse the data. Findings on the social workers’ decision-making processes, decisions made, factors influencing decision-making and the nature of decisions were explored and described in the assessment phase (including the intake, prevention and early intervention, as well as the investigation stages), the placement phase and the supervision phase of foster care services. These findings and the participants’ suggestions on what a decision-making matrix should address, were synthesised and the matrix to guide the decision-making of social workers rendering foster care services was developed. / Social Work / D. Phil (Social Work)

Text in Afrikaans / The researchers' own interaction with the community caused her to recognize that the safety of pre-schoolers and toddlers in high risk areas are being jeopardised because sexual education is not applied soon enough. The aim of this research study was to determine the needs of role-players in the high risk area in terms of community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers. A quantitative approach was followed, which focussed on applied research and the exploratory and descriptive objectives of the research in order to facilitate a better understanding of the research phenomenon and to understand the specifics of the situation. The Randomised Cross-sectional Survey design was implemented. The analysed findings were presented graphically and interpreted in order to reach conclusions and present the recommendations of the study. The general conclusion based upon the empirical findings of the study is that there is a great need for community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers in the high-risk area, Danville. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

The study investigates the welfare of children in crisis with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) from Zimbabwe and the models of pastoral care that are extended to them in a context of HIV and AIDS. URMs are children who have been forced to migrate by the socio-economic and political conditions prevalent in Zimbabwe. Other than the socio-economic and political conditions these children are vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. Many of the children are received at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. They are taken care of by caregivers from Zimbabwe. Some of URMs reside in the Methodist church community centre in Soweto and some reside in the Central Methodist Church building in Johannesburg. This study is done from an African perspective of pastoral care in a context of HIV and AIDS. It seeks to study pastoral care that is organic using the reality of URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. The Central Methodist Church received URMs as a form of pastoral care, but it is not clear what models of pastoral care are used to care for them. This grounded theory study used data collected through interviews and narrative research (story telling) from 20 URMs and 3 Care givers from Zimbabwe and Bishop Paul Verryn the head of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Analyzed data was used to describe in detail URMs and their Care givers‟ understanding of pastoral care as well as the models of pastoral care offered to URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. Finally, the findings lead to a contextual pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. This study formulated this contextual model as a cultural-gendered pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. The model was established to develop a practical method to use in practical theology and pastoral care in the care for children in crisis without adult guidance in a context of HIV and AIDS. The results of the study describe the significance of culture and gender in caring for children in a context of HIV and AIDS. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

Child rights, especially the right to health for children, is a concept of human development. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the obstacles to gender equality in the right to healthcare for children under five years in East Champaran, Bihar, North India. Ten key informant interviews and nine focus group discussions with mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers were conducted to research the barriers of guardians to accessing healthcare for their children, including their root beliefs and choices, which causes health inequalities. It was found that a strong patriarchal tradition predominates in these communities in North India, which favour sons and disadvantages daughters in healthcare provision. Despite the existing child rights and human rights policies that have been legislated, in India traditional practices that discriminate against female children remain dominant in the society, and limit development in East Champaran, Bihar, North India. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

This research programme endeavours to develop, implement and evaluate an effective method of offering psychosocial support to vulnerable children. Vulnerability is defined by trained community members as including children who are experiencing especially difficult lives. The forms of difficulties experienced by the children has usually been a consequence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, extreme poverty combined with other psychosocial risk factors, child abuse (especially child sexual abuse) and violence. This community based programme incorporates four phases of intervention, only two of which were the focus of summative evaluation. However, due to the integrated nature of the programme it was necessary to implement and document the various phases of the intervention programme: (i) community selection and mobilisation; (ii) the 5-day Sensitisation Programme (SP) sensitises adult community volunteers to the psychosocial needs of vulnerable children; (iii) the 15-session Structured Group Therapy Programme (SGTP) enables children to work through past adversities and to build resilience within small groups of peers in a programme where community volunteers served as apprentice facilitators under the supervision, guidance and ethical responsibility of qualified psychologists; (iv) community based initiatives to offer on-going of PSS activities to vulnerable children in each of the partnering communities. Nine partnering communities were selected, three township, periurban and rural communities. This programme was not effective in the informal settlements as it was not possible for these communities to place children as a priority. A qualitative summative evaluation of the SP took place using post workshop evaluation questionnaires, focus group discussions conducted by an independent researcher and an audit of the community based initiatives that developed as a result of participation in the SP. The SGTP was summatively evaluated using a 4-way Factorial design with one within-subject and three between-subject conditions: to investigate the age of the subjects, the geographic regions and gender variables. The 741 children formed five experimental and control conditions to conduct various combinations of the above-mentioned phases programmes and to adequately control for the many confounding variables. Pre- and post intervention assessments were conducted by trained community research assistants. The dependent variable measures were the Culture Free Self Esteem Inventory (Battle, 1992), the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (Biere & Elliot, 1997), the Reynolds Depression Scale for Children (Reynolds, 1989), the Social Support Scale (Beale Spencer, Cole, Jones, and Phillips Swanson, 1997) and the Connor's Parent Questionnaire Connors, 1998). Multivariate analysis evaluated the effectiveness of the various experimental and control conditions. The results indicate that the SGTP, run in combination with the SP, is an effective intervention strategy in that it alleviates symptoms of self-reported depression and other psychosocial manifestations of distress as well as decreased the number and severity of symptoms reported by primary caregivers, and leads to increased access to perceived social support. The SP and the SGTP conducted independently of each other have limited benefits and as such can be considered to be partially effective. The children who had formed part of the non-vulnerable control group felt left out of the programme and report an increase in symptomatology and decreased access to social support. While this community-based programme can be considered to be an effective method of therapeutic intervention and of offering psychosocial support to vulnerable children, further research is needed to consider the cost-effectiveness, the sustainability and ways in which those children who do not participate can still can benefit. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Text in Afrikaans / The researchers' own interaction with the community caused her to recognize that the safety of pre-schoolers and toddlers in high risk areas are being jeopardised because sexual education is not applied soon enough. The aim of this research study was to determine the needs of role-players in the high risk area in terms of community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers. A quantitative approach was followed, which focussed on applied research and the exploratory and descriptive objectives of the research in order to facilitate a better understanding of the research phenomenon and to understand the specifics of the situation. The Randomised Cross-sectional Survey design was implemented. The analysed findings were presented graphically and interpreted in order to reach conclusions and present the recommendations of the study. The general conclusion based upon the empirical findings of the study is that there is a great need for community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers in the high-risk area, Danville. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

The study investigates the welfare of children in crisis with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) from Zimbabwe and the models of pastoral care that are extended to them in a context of HIV and AIDS. URMs are children who have been forced to migrate by the socio-economic and political conditions prevalent in Zimbabwe. Other than the socio-economic and political conditions these children are vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. Many of the children are received at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. They are taken care of by caregivers from Zimbabwe. Some of URMs reside in the Methodist church community centre in Soweto and some reside in the Central Methodist Church building in Johannesburg. This study is done from an African perspective of pastoral care in a context of HIV and AIDS. It seeks to study pastoral care that is organic using the reality of URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. The Central Methodist Church received URMs as a form of pastoral care, but it is not clear what models of pastoral care are used to care for them. This grounded theory study used data collected through interviews and narrative research (story telling) from 20 URMs and 3 Care givers from Zimbabwe and Bishop Paul Verryn the head of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Analyzed data was used to describe in detail URMs and their Care givers‟ understanding of pastoral care as well as the models of pastoral care offered to URMs in a context of HIV and AIDS. Finally, the findings lead to a contextual pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. This study formulated this contextual model as a cultural-gendered pastoral care model with children in crisis in a context of HIV and AIDS. The model was established to develop a practical method to use in practical theology and pastoral care in the care for children in crisis without adult guidance in a context of HIV and AIDS. The results of the study describe the significance of culture and gender in caring for children in a context of HIV and AIDS. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The effort of this research was focused on the assessment of the implementation process of the Hands off our Children parental guidance programme by social workers in the Western Cape during 2005. This could be seen as an evaluation of the programme in order to adjust it for future implementation. The objective of this research was to explore the application, experience and implementation of the programme by social workers in the Western Cape. The universe in this study was all social workers that did the training in the HOOC parental guidance programme in the Western Cape. In this study the population was social workers that implemented the HOOC parental guidance programme training in the work place. Participants were selected until saturation of data was reached. The method used in selecting the participants was non-probability sampling. With-in non-probability sampling purposive sampling was used. Conclusions and recommendations on the programme were made in order to empower the Department of Community safety to implement a more effective and streamline project in the future. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

An empirical study was undertaken to conduct applied, exploratory, descriptive research to establish challenges specific to cross racial adoption in Gauteng, South Africa. The objectives of the overall aim were: * to conduct empirical work and to collect data through the use of focus groups with parents who have cross racially adopted, in order to explore challenges specific to cross racial adoptions * to conduct analysis in order to describe the findings of the empirical data * to conduct a thorough literature review on available literature pertaining to cross racial adoption * to draw conclusions and make recommendations on the completion of the afore mentioned objectives The empirical study demonstrated that: * Parents who cross racially adopt do experience challenges and there are challenges specific to cross racial adoption * A number of the challenges experienced by parents who cross racially adopt are directly linked to a lack of support throughout the adoption process * A need exists for a comprehensive model of support for parents who cross racially adopt The empirical study was successful in identifying, exploring and describing challenges experienced by parents who cross racially adopt in Gauteng. / Social work / M.Diac.(Play Therapy)