Cape Town - The Department of Social Development (DSD) expressed concern over the alarming number of children who had been separated from their parents or guardians at overcrowded beaches over the New Year long weekend.
DSD spokesperson Monique Mortlock-Malgas said DSD social workers placed 12 children from various areas across the Cape Metro in temporary places of safety after their parents/guardians failed to collect them timeously.
Mortlock-Malgas said all but one child had been reunited with their parents/guardians.
“DSD social workers placed the children in temporary places of safety, in accordance with Form 36 ‘Authority For Removal Of Child To Temporary Safe Care’ of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. All necessary safety and risk assessments were done.”
Mortlock-Malgas said the parents had to appear in court on Tuesday.
“The children were reunified with the parents, providing that the DSD or relevant child protection organisation will conduct a full investigation on the home circumstances and parents must attend a parenting programme.
“All the parents must appear in court again at a later stage where the reports and proof of attendance of the parenting programme will be presented to the presiding officer in order to finalise the matter.”
In a statement, Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez said in high traffic areas like Monwabisi, Mnandi, Camps Bay, Strandfontein, Muizenberg and Strand beaches, over 240 children were separated from their families.
Fernandez said many of the incidents occurred at Strand Beach.
“This is unacceptable and places children in extreme danger. Fortunately, DSD social workers and City of Cape Town staff were able to reunite most of the young ones with their families.
“Some children who were not collected timeously had to be placed in places of safety. As per legislation, the parents/guardians had to follow legal processes to be reunified with their children.”
The City of Cape has also revealed just how useful its Identikidz programme has been, reuniting nearly 400 children with their parents.
The programme, implemented by the City’s Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department, has tagged more than 90 000 children at participating beaches since its launch in mid-December.
A staggering 65% of reunions happened over the New Year’s long weekend, the City said. Between 15 December 2022 and 2 January 2023, its staff members tagged 92 765 children at 16 beaches.
They were able to reunite 369 children with their families – 13 children were handed over to the Provincial Department of Social Development when night fell and their families could still not be reached.
Over the New Year’s long weekend, 242 children were reunited with their families, accounting for just over 65% of all reunions thus far this season.
Mayco Member for Community Services and Health, Patricia van der Ross said: “Feedback from our project coordinators was that most of the children who were separated from their families this past weekend were not tagged, which made it even more difficult to find their caregivers.
“We’ve also had some issues at some beaches where parents refused to participate in the project. I can’t understand it – we are providing a service that offers peace of mind, especially on our busy beach days,” Van der Ross added.
“We want to thank those families who have made use of the service, as well as the staff who have worked throughout the peak festive season and who’ll still be on duty for the next few weekends.”
The Identikidz statistics for the peak festive season (15 December – 2 January) show a positive increase in the number of children tagged, compared to previous years.
- In 2021/22, 76 725 children were tagged and 183 reunited
- In 2020/21, 30 982 children were tagged and 11 reunited (beaches were closed due to lockdown just after Boxing Day)
- In 2019/20, 87 386 children were tagged and 286 reunited