Metodes van werwing, keuring en opleiding van pleegouers vir die doeltreffende versorging van sorgbehoewende kinders

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to the South African Constitution, every child has the right to parental care, family care or an approriate form of alternative care. In 2005 in South Africa over 3.4 million orphans did not have access to this right. This was as a result of a shortage of alternative care options.The motivation for this study emerged because foster care is the first placement option for family-based care in South Africa. However there is still a gap in South African literature on the recruitment of foster parents, especially the recruitment of non-relative foster parents and foster parents for cluster foster care homes. Without the knowledge of how to recruit and train foster parents effectively, many children in need of care would stay void of their constitutional rights in this regard.To explore the methods of recruitment, selection and training of foster parents, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches were utilised. Together with that approach an exploratory design, was used. This was done to explore the research topic in literature and examine the views of social workers on the recruitment, selection and training of foster parents.In the literature study the nature and structure of foster care was examined in the context of the South African legislation, followed by an outline of the criteria of children in need of care according to the Children's Act (38/2005). The different phases of the foster care process were discussed according to the tasks and responsibilities of the social worker during this process. Then the different methods of recruitment, selection and training of foster parents were discussed individually on the basis of national and international literature. The exploratory research design was used for the purpose of the empirical study to investigate and analyse the views of social workers regarding the recruitment, selection and training of foster parents.Finally conclusions and recommendations were made based on the findings of the empirical study in order to recommend ways for social workers to be more effective in recruitment, selection and training of foster parents for the large number of children in need of alternative care.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University