REPORT ON CHILD AND YOUTH HEADED FAMILIES

The report is covering the child heading the family, the siblings, and their needs

M- Family

M is taking care of her two siblings and she is 14yrs old. Their mother is deceased, she died after a long illness, and since then she has been heading the family. So initially, she started to take care of the family when she was 10yrs old, and the youngest sibling was 1yr 3months then. This family was identified by the Nutritional Unit and now they are registered in the OVC project. They are staying in Phooko 2 Section in an RDP house. Their dates of birth are: M M born on the 02 June 1994, N M born 14 August 2000, and R M born on the 04 April 2003. They are all attending school at Phooko Primary. This family has no source of income because the oldest sibling is 14yrs she can not apply for foster care grant on behalf of her siblings until she is above 18yrs then she can be able to apply for them.

VR- Family

VR who is 22yrs old, and he is doing his matric at St Joseph Secondary School. V has 4 siblings and his sister who is 20yrs has dropped out of school after the parents passed away. The other siblings are N, D, and X. Both their parents passed away, the father passed away in 2006 and the mother followed in 2007. This family has no source of income.  The only incomecomes form N who is 20yrs old and is assisting in the local school with the feeding scheme, they give her some incentive, and it depends on what the school can offer on monthly bases. The family is registered in Children programme and they get assistance of food parcels on monthly basis.

At the moment it is not possible for them to apply for any grants because they do not have birth certificates, N is the only one with an ID document which has a different surname from their family surname and this makes it impossible for her to apply for her siblings because the information on the death certificates of their parents and her ID document are not the same. The case has been referred to Department of Social Development

IM- Family

I M is 22yrs old he is still attending school. He is taking care of her sister’s children, P 15yrs old, P 9yrs old, C 6yrs old and M 3yrs old.  Both parents are deceased. This family was identified through the NNU. M was admitted in the Ndlovu Nutritional Unit because of her ill condition, she is still in the programme since her condition is not improving. C is enrolled in one of the Pre School because no one will take care of her during the day, when the uncle and other siblings are still at school. M is also attending the Pre School because Tuesdays and Thursdays the NNU is not running. It is not an easy task for I,  being a boy to take care of four girls, but he takes it as an obligation since his sister was also taking care fo him when he was young.

T- Family

T T is 20yrs old he still attending school. He cares for his two siblings J - 14yrs and M - 12yrs both parents deceased. This family is surviving from the child support grant that M is getting ( R220.00) per month.  Apart from that the family is getting the support from the organization and their condition is very bad.

M- Family

L M is 19yrs old, he taking care of his siblings T 14yrs old, and K 9yrs old. Both parents are deceased and he had to drop out of school and take care of his mother when she was sick.  Then after she died he had to continue to take care of  his siblings. The is no source for income for this family, they are unable to apply for any grants because they do not have relevant documents to apply they are getting support from neighbors and also from the organization

D- Family

N D is 18yrs old she is staying with her two younger sisters P 16yrs old and S 13yrs old.  Both parents are deceased, they do not have any source of income. Potego and Suzan do not have birth certificates to apply for any grants and their sister can not apply for any government assistance because of her age. Their condition is very bad

M- Family

D M is 17yrs old, he is staying alone.  His mother is deceased. He has no other source of income. He is getting support from the organization; he does not have an adult who can apply for foster care grant for him. At the moment the organization is the hope for him, if the organization does not provide food for him he won’t get it anywhere.

M- Family

G M is 16yrs old, staying alone. His mother is still alive, but not providing any form of support for him.  She went to Pretoria to look for employment and she never came back. His case has been referred to the social workers for investigation in the meantime life is very difficult for the boy

M- Family

G M is 20yrs old, she is taking care of her four siblings. Both parents are deceased. She is taking care of K 14yrs old, K 12yrs old, M 8yrs old, and T 3yrs old. They do not have any source of income they are getting support from granny mother who is not leaving far, who is a pensioner. G has applied for foster care grant for her siblings without any success at the moment.

M- Family

R M is 21yrs old, she taking care of her two siblings K 15yrs and L 14yrs old. Both parents deceased they do not have any source of income. R has managed to apply for the foster are grant for her siblings but she is still waiting for the approval that has taken more than year now.

M- Family

R M is 16yrs old staying alone both parents deceased there is no source of income no documentation to get government assistance. She is depending on the support from neighbors and this puts her in very risky situation since she is a girl of 16yrs staying alone with no form of support.

H- Family

J H is 18yrs old taking care of his siblings V 13yrs old, S 8yrs old and P 5yrs old. The mother is deceased; the family has no source of income. It  very difficult for this boy to take care of his family without any form of support

M- Family

M M is 19yrs old, staying with her sister B, she is 18yrs old, and both of them are still attending school. Both their parents are deceased and they do not have any source of income. They do not have any documentation to apply for any government support; they do not have even the dearth certificates of their parents.

G- Family

S G is 18 yrs old, she is taking care of her sister N - she is 16 yrs old. Both parents are deceased and they do not have any source income. S is unable to apply for any grants because of her age.  She needs to be above 18yrs to be able to apply for her sister. At the moment, they do not have any form of support apart from the support they receive from the organization.

S- Family

O S is 17yrs old and taking care of her sister S she is 14yrs old, their mother is not staying with them,  she  left them on their own.  The social workers  tried to investigate the matter, but up to now, without any luck. Neither of  these children have any documentation; they do not have any form of support, they are living under very bad conditions.