Social Workers in Short Supply in South Africa

From handling perhaps 60-80 child welfare cases per year 10 years ago, the Roodepoort Child Welfare Society (RCWS) now sees well over 1,000 per year. In this Johannesburg suburb just north of Soweto, some children orphaned by AIDS find homes, and foster parents seek government assistance in helping to keep the children clothed, fed, and in school.

With the growing demand for services, RCWS social workers handle 110-400 cases each, almost all AIDS orphans. Most of the children will be adopted by aunts or grandmothers, but some have no relatives willing or able to take them.

"We told the government we weren't taking any more cases," said Loftie Eton, a 10-year RCWS veteran. At least she tried to, saying that no one social worker could handle 250 cases. The Department of Social Services official told Eton that "'If you want to keep taking government funding, then you have to keep taking cases,'" she recalled.

Other private charities like RCWS essentially provide government services, and they echo Eton's complaint: AIDS is causing them to be overworked, underpaid, understaffed, and unable to properly serve their clients.

South Africa has just half the social workers necessary to provide basic services for children, according to a 2005 report commissioned by the Ministry of Social Development. The problem is particularly acute in Gauteng province, where there were 5,395 children per social worker, the report noted.

Part of the government's five-year AIDS plan would ease the child custody, placement, and grant processes. But the government has neither the resources nor personnel available to implement it. In 2005, the demand for placement was 154,000 beds, or 10 times more than capacity.

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