Johannesburg - Child protection will be taken to new levels this year when a programme which focuses mainly on crisis pregnancies will expand to provide workshops for individuals at each stage of their life.
To mark the start of Child Protection Week, the National Adoption Coalition of South Africa (Nacsa) on Thursday revealed its plans to build on its Courage campaign.
Dee Blackie, a child protection activist and the global project leader for Courage, said the programme would now also target parents, teenagers and young adults.
“The existing programme is very strong in the support of women experiencing a crisis pregnancy, through option counselling for families and communities in the identification and resolution of child protection challenges,” explained Blackie at the event, which was held at the Princess Alice Adoption Home, Joburg.
“To make the programme sustainable, we need to focus on empowering teenagers and young adults to take responsibility for their lives and to make wise choices.
“These new initiatives are focused on achieving this objective.”
Courage used a picture-based toolkit to help child protection organisations, communities, families and individuals to identify and solve child protection challenges that they encountered.
Train-the-trainer workshops have already been held across South Africa, Zambia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
The full toolkit and trainer's guide could be downloaded for free off their website to be used by anyone across the globe.
Blackie said that since the programme started a year ago, they’ve found out that it was being used in countries as far afield as Bolivia, Ecuador and India.
Four additional programmes would help create empowerment by building self-awareness and a belief in possibility in individuals and communities.
The programmes focused respectively on early childhood development, a heroes programme for eight to 14-year-olds, a life programme for 15 to 21-year- olds and a parent programme.
Some of the topics addressed would include well-being, working with disabilities, rights and responsibilities, sex, conception and pregnancy, good health and nutrition, substance abuse, self- awareness, HIV and Aids and STDs, as well as the developmental needs of children.
“Courage is really practical. Hopefully we'll start rolling out the new programmes quite soon,” said Blackie.
For more information or to download the workshop materials, visit www.couragechildprotection.com
Rules to protect children
The private emergency services provider ER24 gives 10 tips on how to protect your child:
1. Get to know your children. If you have a close relationship with them, it will help you determine if anything is wrong. Let them know they can come to you should they need help.
2. Educate your children about the dangers like drug use, alcohol abuse, sex and peer pressure. Seek help from professionals if need be.
3. Teach children not to go anywhere alone, especially secluded areas with a stranger. Even if approached by someone they know, they should obtain your permission first before going anywhere with that person. Tell them that if they feel unsafe around someone, they should try to run away and scream to get the attention of other people.
4. Ensure a healthy family environment where a child feels safe and loved. Set a good example.
5. Never leave children unattended or in an unsafe environment. If your children are left in the care of someone else, make sure they can be trusted.
6. Make sure your children know their names, your name and who to contact in case of an emergency.
7. Put rules in place to teach them responsibility.
8. Be involved in your child's life and let them know that you care. Find out what their interests are and support them. Your child's well-being is top priority.
9. Pay attention to changes in personality or attitude. This could be a signal that something is wrong.
10. Teach them about the use of social media, the internet and cellphones. Make them aware of the dangers and have rules to prevent them being exposed to predators.
Baby box for infant to sleep in
The National Adoption Coalition of South Africa’s (Nacsa) Choose to Care crisis pregnancy campaign is developing a baby box to assist women who experienced a crisis pregnancy.
They hoped to launch the boxes on Nelson Mandela Day in July. Child protection activist Dee Blackie explained: “It’s designed as a box that a baby can sleep in from birth to six to eight months. The majority of children die in their first six days of life.
“The purpose of this baby box is to at least have something you can put your baby to sleep in at night.”
The large cardboard box is also filled with items and products needed to care for a newborn. The box and its contents are worth around R900 and they will be distributed to needy new mothers through social workers, hospitals and clinics connected to Nacsa.
They need donations such as new or second-hand items for the baby boxes, such as foam mattresses, newborn booties, socks for 0 to 6-month-olds, newborn babygrows, blankets, receiving blankets, towels and other items.
Get Tamara Dalhuijsen on 072 308 3522 or at [email protected]
The Star