Outreach

Two outreach / street workers actively seek children living on the streets or will be called to meet with groups of children who are identified by the public.  The outreach workers will talk to the children and try and build a relationship with them.  This may take time.

Outreach workers want to encourage children to visit Kids Haven and participate in the programmes on offer.  

Outreach workers provide clothing, food and soap to children in need.  The Outreach workers offer 5 short Life Skills sessions on the streets.

The Drop-in Programme

Street children who are not yet ready to commit to the rules of the shelter may come to the Centre for meals, clothing and a blanket.  The children are given a specific time at which to come so that they begin to understand that there are rules and obligations at the Shelter.

The purpose of the Drop-in programme is to establish a relationship with the children on the street.  When the children are ready to commit to the obligations required of them, they enter the shelter permanently and begin the rehabilitation process.  Their obligations include adhering to the rules of attending school and therapy sessions, no fighting, no drugs, no sex and no running away.  Children in the Drop in programme do not sleep at the shelter.

Intake

At intake, an experienced Social worker, childcare worker or the Centre Manager will evaluate the child’s situation.  If deeper and more severe problems are uncovered (such as sexual or drug abuse, etc) then the child will be admitted to KH to undergo rehabilitation before any attempts are made to reunite them with their family.  If a child who has previously been reunited with his / her family returns to KH, then they may require further rehabilitation.  Certain children will be reunited with their families quickly once minor problems are dealt with.

The child will be allocated a bed and welcomed to the Shelter.  The child will immediately be absorbed into the Kids Haven Bridging School programme.

A multi disciplinary team consisting of social work, counselling, family reunification and education departments share information to establish an individual development plan for the child.  The possibility of EXIT is considered at the time of admission.

Evaluation and Monitoring

Detailed registers are kept to monitor names and ages of children plus any additional pertinent information.

Once admitted to the Shelter programme, a very close watch is kept on each child, with extensive notes and commentary being provided by the Social Workers and the Child Care Workers.

The Social Work Department has implemented a code system for use at admission.  This exercise helps to determine the number of statutory cases, number of street children, placement due to poverty or neglect, uncontrollable children, orphans, immigrants, teenage pregnancies, material needs, custody battles and so on.  In the process it is possible to discover that court orders for some children are never sent to Kids Haven, which means that the case is at risk of lapsing.  Using the code system, it is now possible to follow-up on such cases timeously so as to avoid frustration and duplicate work.

Daily statistics are submitted to an Administrator who collates the statistics and produces a monthly register, which shows the extent of the work being done at Kids Haven.  

Childcare workers compile incident reports on a daily basis.