“New cloth on an old garment” - Barriers in transforming and implementing foster care services from a developmental approach in South Africa

Background

South Africa attempted to transform its rendering of foster care services by adopting a developmental approach. This mandated the shift from social welfare services to developmental welfare services. The Children's Act 38 of 2005 was promulgated as a legislative policy on the matter, with guidelines concerning the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach.

Objectives

The article identifies and describes barriers in transforming and implementing foster care services from a developmental approach in South Africa.

Participants and setting

13 social workers employed at seven child protection organisations in South Africa participated in the study.

Methods

Using a qualitative study, data was collected through focus group discussions and analysed using a thematic analysis.

Findings

The findings indicate that the barriers to transforming foster care services stem from a lack of conceptual and contextual understanding of the delivery of foster care services within the developmental approach; lack of training on the Children's Act; social workers not being aware of their role in providing developmental foster care services; and lack of funding to implement and deliver foster care services from a developmental approach.

Conclusions

The lack of transformation and barriers encountered by social workers are rooted in their lack of understanding of the developmental approach. There is a need to develop training manuals and practice guidelines for social workers, which clearly define developmental foster care services and the role of social workers in the implementation of these services, and a review of the foster care funding models.