The Foundation and Four Pillars
We have five key aspects to our Model of Care that we provide children. We believe that the Foundation and Four Pillars of this model gives our children the best chance of eventually leaving our care and becoming happy and positively contributing people in society.
This programme is the foundation of our work and is where we create a second chance for our children to experience family-style life. We do this by providing a comfortable and safe home in the communities from which the children originate and employ staff that speak the children’s language and understand their culture.
Foster mothers are carefully screened at employment and receive ongoing training and supervision from our social work team to ensure they provide a loving caring home that upholds strong family values. Additional support services are accessed for the numerous special needs that foster children often require. We believe that this stable home environment where belonging is re-established and important life values are actively taught, is essential to the care of our children. It is here that positive relationships with ‘siblings’ and foster parents are created and enables our other programmes (Four Pillars) to be effective in remedying some of the further disadvantages our children experience.
- The Lizo Nobanda Resource Centre, serves as a valuable facility to our foster homes in the Khayelitsha area. It provides a computer lab, training/workshop facility and library and is actively used by our service providers for educational support to our homes, as well as, an office for social worker and support staff working in the area.
- Our Basic Education Programme ensures each child is in an appropriate education institution, provided with uniforms, stationery and safe school transport.
- Our Educational Support Programme provides the additional educational support that most of our children require. Our full time education specialist coordinates this programme which includes tutoring, english reading and extramural/activities programme for all of our children.
The majority of our children have experienced some form of abuse and/or neglect and therefore often carry scars that need therapeutic intervention. Whilst we believe the ‘Loving Family-Home Programme’, can achieve great outcomes in remedying some of these scars, there is the need to provide some children with specialised therapeutic services. The social work team coordinate therapeutic plans for each child, providing some of the interventions, either through group work or individual sessions and also bringing in outside service providers such as psychologists, counsellors and occupational therapists. Some of our extra-curricular activities are specifically used as therapeutic interventions too, such as Surfpop and Orange Art Project.
Although living in one of our homes can form a significant part of their lives up to the age of 21 years, the best outcome is to reunite them with biological family or, an adoptive parent. Achieving this is often not possible, however does not diminish the importance of a reunification programme. This involves trying to locate biological family or potential adoptive parents, then assessing suitability, having initial visiting and trial placements, before finally making the actual placement and offering ongoing support for the initial 6-12 months.
Our Model of Care
The Foundation and Four Pillars
We have five key aspects to our Model of Care that we provide children. We believe that the Foundation and Four Pillars of this model give our children the best chance of eventually leaving our care and becoming happy and positively contributing people in society.
Foundation: Loving Family Home
This programme is the foundation of our work and is where we create a second chance for our children to experience family-style life. We do this by providing a comfortable and safe home in the communities from which the children originate and employ staff that speak the children’s language and understand their culture.
Foster mothers are carefully screened at employment and receive ongoing training and supervision from our social work team to ensure they provide a loving caring home that upholds strong family values. Additional support services are accessed for the numerous special needs that foster children often require. We believe that this stable home environment where belonging is re-established and important life values are actively taught, is essential to the care of our children. It is here that positive relationships with ‘siblings’ and foster parents are created and enables our other programmes (Four Pillars) to be effective in remedying some of the further disadvantages our children experience.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela
Home from Home believes strongly in this statement and is committed to striving for improved educational levels for all our children. Our extensive Education Programme involves key areas of focus.
- The Lizo Nobanda Resource Centre serves as a valuable facility to our foster homes in the Khayelitsha area. It provides a computer lab, training/workshop facility, library and office space for support staff working in the area. It is actively used by our service providers for educational support to our homes.
- Our Basic Education Programme ensures each child is in an appropriate education institution, provided with uniforms, stationery, and safe school transport.
- Our Educational Support Programme provides the additional educational support that most of our children require. This coordinated programme includes tutoring, English reading, art mentorship and an extramural/activities programme for all our children.
The majority of our children have experienced some form of abuse and/or neglect and therefore often carry scars that need therapeutic intervention. Whilst we believe the ‘Loving Family-Home Programme’, can achieve great outcomes in remedying some of these scars, there is the need to provide some children with specialised therapeutic services. The social work team coordinate therapeutic plans for each child, providing some of the interventions, either through group work or individual sessions and bringing in outside service providers such as psychologists, counsellors, and occupational therapists. Some of our extra-curricular activities are specifically used as therapeutic interventions too, such as Surfpop and Orange Art Project.
There are many transitions that need to be navigated throughout our lives, and for children there are many more that happen in a relatively short time. Foster children inevitably have to leave our care between ages 18 to 21. This means it is crucially important that, we ensure they are adequately prepared for transitioning out of our care.
For some years we have partnered with organisations such as Mamelani and Isibindi who specialise in transitional care. We have intensified our focus by developing the ‘Evelyn Connolly Transitional Support Programme’ to specifically provide support for this ‘Aging Out’ group.
The programme involves a) training for our foster mothers, assistants, and social work team in best care practices for this age group of youth; b) intensified preparation for this group’s (16+) imminent aging out of care and living independently. c) establishing transitional homes, where those young people without a family placement to go to after their foster care expires; d) support to those recently moved out of our care to other placements.
The transitions that this age group face regarding leaving school, looking for work, living more independently and leaving care, makes this one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. It is crucial that we keep developing this programme.
Although living in one of our homes can form a significant part of their lives up to the age of 21 years, the best outcome for our children is the successful reunification with biological family or, an adoptive parent. This involves trying to locate biological family or potential adoptive parents, then assessing suitability, having initial visiting and trial placements, before finally making the actual placement and offering ongoing support for the initial 6-12 months.
Achieving this is often not possible, but re-establishing and strengthening links with family members is also crucial to the children’s support network and therefore, an important part of the reunification programme.