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The Children’s
Institute and the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security (ACESS)
have been monitoring the first phase of the extension of the Child Support
Grant (CSG) to all eligible children under nine years over the past year.
For this purpose a monitoring project was set up to assess whether all
children eligible for the extended CSG were able to access it, and to
advocate for a smooth and reasonable roll-out of the next phases of the
extension through consultation and liaison with relevant government
officials.
Not applying the law
The first, joint CI/ACESS monitoring report recently released commends the
Department of Social Development for distributing the CSG to over 4.3
million children by the end of March this year. Overall, the first phase
of the roll-out has been an outstanding success. However, the report
highlights some serious problems experienced with the roll-out of the
first phase of the extension of the CSG.
It was found that some of the social development offices in certain
provinces have not been applying the new law on the extended CSG, thereby
denying eligible children access to the grant. These problems surfaced in
some districts in the North West, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and the Free
State Provinces, where children who were eight years old were told to wait
until the first of April this year before applying for the CSG. The law
states that such children were eligible for the grant because they were
under the age of nine when they applied.
It is further reported that the North West Department of Social
Development deliberately decided not to register children above the age of
eight years. Furthermore, the same department disseminated inaccurate
information about the qualifying age for the extended CSG. Pamphlets
disseminated in that province stated that, to qualify for the grant, a
child had to be under the age of eight, while the law clearly states that
a child has to be under the age of nine years to qualify. The department
stated the computer system not being upgraded to accept applications of
children above the age of seven years as one of the reasons for not taking
applications for children older than seven.
Furthermore, applicants visiting certain district offices in Mpumalanga
were met with signs that “Only children under eight years” were accepted
for CSG applications. And, certain offices in the Eastern Cape only
allowed children under the age of seven years to apply for the CSG.
Cancelled grants
A further problem identified in the report was that children who turned
nine during the first phase of the extension of the grant had their grants
cancelled and could only re-apply when the second phase of the extension
came into effect on the first of April this year. This results in a double
application process for many caregivers, while costing the department in
having to process the same caregiver twice, and in some instances three
times.
Recommendations
The report recommends that a monitoring programme should be put in place
by the national Department of Social Development to ensure that provinces
apply the law to prevent eligible children from being denied access to the
grant. The department should also develop and implement a clear and
accessible national communication strategy to ensure that applicants are
given correct information about the extension. Other recommendations
include:
- Upgrading the SOCPEN computer system to
allow for a smooth implementation process;
- Capacitating provinces without sufficient
and adequate human resources;
- Training social service officials and
social workers to ensure that applicants are provided with accurate
information at service points;
- Interpreting the regulations in a way that
allows children who reach the cut-off age during one phase of the
extension to remain on the system if they are eligible during the next
phase of the extension.
Poor children older than 14
While the Children’s Institute and ACESS acknowledge efforts of the
Department of Social Development to ensure that eligible poor children
under the age of 14 years will all be able to access social assistance by
2005, it is hoped that the monitoring report will assist in making the
next phase of the extension of the CSG a smoother and more accessible one
for applicants. And it is sincerely hoped that poor children between the
ages of 14 and 18 will soon be granted the same consideration and
opportunities as children under the age of 14.
To order a printed copy of the monitoring report,
contact Anthea Arendse or
click
here to view it electronically. |
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