This review explores South Africa’s foster care grant system, highlighting how rising numbers of children in foster care have strained social workers and overwhelmed the system. It examines challenges such as lapsing foster care orders, dependency concerns, and unsustainable practices, while offering recommendations to strengthen the system and better support children and families.

This paper reviews the challenges faced by unaccompanied and separated migrant children (USMC) in South Africa and the implications for social work practice. It highlights how social workers often lack adequate training and resources to meet the complex, multicultural needs of USMC, emphasizing cross-cultural social work as the most appropriate model for support.

This study examined the short-term impacts of COVID-19-related orphanhood on children and adolescents in peri-urban Khayelitsha, South Africa, finding that those who lost a parent or primary caregiver experienced significantly greater mental health burdens, food insecurity, caregiving responsibilities, and engagement in social risk behaviours compared to peers without such loss.

This paper examines the benefits of foster care by exploring the experiences of foster care leavers and the perspectives of social workers in Tshwane District Municipality, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

This study explores the experiences and challenges of caregivers providing trauma-informed care to foster children in a South African care facility. Findings highlight the emotional and practical difficulties faced by caregivers and emphasize the need for targeted training and support to strengthen their capacity and well-being.

This paper explores strategies to prevent the separation of children from their families, drawing on evidence from Eastern and Southern Africa. It highlights the importance of strong care systems, holistic family support, and coordinated services to keep children safely within their families and communities.

This article uses Nancy Fraser’s social justice framework to examine the experiences of youth leaving care in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, drawing on interviews with 45 care-leavers conducted by peer researchers. Findings reveal how intersecting injustices—such as stigma, exclusion, and lack of resources—undermine their transition to adulthood, underscoring the need for stronger aftercare services, recognition of diverse identities, and greater youth participation in shaping policy and support.

They are recruiting for a Research Officer to join their vibrant interdisciplinary team on a full-time, three-year contract.

In this webinar, the Africa Working Group on Children Without Parental Care now called Family First for Children Without Parental Care, (FAFICA), explores key global debates and initiatives advancing care reform, including updates from the African Union and global events like the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children.

You’re invited to the upcoming webinar Including support for informal kinship care in policy on 6 November at 13:00 UTC. In this webinar, panelists will explore and demonstrate how kinship care can be included in policy and supported without formalisation.