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AGM Report 2015 – 2016

PIETERMARITZBURG CHILDREN’S HOME

(Operating as Pietermaritzburg Child and Youth Care Centre)

002 213 NPO

ANNUAL REPORT

2015 / 2016

PCH VISION
Investing in the Best Interest of each Child in our Care

MISSION STATEMENT
The Pietermaritzburg Children’s Home (PCH) provides residential care, management and treatment for troubled and abused children and youth who have been removed from parental custodianship and placed in our custody by recognized legal procedures.

PCH implements programmes for the preparation of children for return to parental care, substitute care or responsible and independent adult living.

PCH endeavours to meet the needs of these children and youth in an effective and efficient manner subject only to resource constraints and the preservation of the integrity of the organization.

PCH VALUES
Generosity Belonging
Independence Mastery
Honesty Respect
Commitment Courage

PCH OBJECTIVES

1. To provide residential care, observation, assessment, and treatment programmes for children and youth admitted to PCH.

2. To facilitate the provision of normal and special education for all children and youth admitted to PCH.

3. To ensure the medical well-being of all children by facilitating the provision of information / relevant material to staff, children and youth and by hosting life skills sessions on all health related issues including sexual behavior, sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and all other matters relating to HIV/AIDS.

4. To provide our children with the opportunity to enjoy social, spiritual and recreational activities within and outside of PCH.

5. To create opportunities for the Child Care Workers and volunteers to receive training and develop further in the field of Child Care.

6. To create opportunities for PCH to assist in educating unemployed persons via knowledge dissemination, on-the-job training on Child Care and providing them with relevant experience in order to help them seek employment, and increase community involvement


CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I hereby present my report for the past financial year in terms of the Pietermaritzburg Child and Youth Care Centre (PCH).

Much has been achieved at PCH in the past year. One of the obvious changes is the physical appearance of the premises. You may have noticed that we boast a very productive garden where children are given an opportunity to hone their agricultural skills. The vision is to pass on some gardening skills to the children whilst also providing the springboard to entrepreneurial pursuits. The garden supplies fresh produce to the kitchen, thereby supplying the 80 odd children with healthy, fresh vegetables. It is envisaged that the children will take ownership and have a strong sense of belonging and ultimately, be proud to be part of the PCH Family.

Whilst on the subject of gardening, you will also have noticed our beautiful flower garden and landscaping at both entrances to the Youth Care Centre. In addition, we now boast spacious offices and a working environment that, we hope, is less stressful than the cramped quarters that we had to make do with in previous years. The parking space has also increased slightly and we are grateful for that. Many thanks to LOTTO and Community Chest for the immense work that they carry out.

Our childcare staff remain committed and are doing an excellent job. This can be seen in the happy faces of the children as they go about their daily activities, be it tidying up the premises, doing small chores or just playing. I must acknowledge the excellent work that is being done by Mrs Fiona Balgobind and her team. They manage to accomplish an enormous amount of work

whilst managing to network with other organizations.

The sterling work being done by the Board is also noted and appreciated. We boast a dynamic crew who sacrifice their time to see to the sustainability of our organization. We recently held a 130th Anniversary Dance at The Ascot Lodge and this team motivated everyone to an extent that they filled the venue to capacity. We are very indebted to our supporters who made the evening a huge success. My appeal to our sponsors is to adopt us and to keep us under their wings.

Finance is always the bugbear of organizations such as ours. I wish to thank the Trust Members who keep a beady eye on our finances and who invest on our behalf. I acknowledge Mike and Dem for their constant support and invaluable guidance. We salute them for the role that they play. I wish to thank our treasurer, Marlyn, for taking on a huge responsibility and for working small miracles with our monies.

In addition, I wish to acknowledge the important work being done by Chris, in terms of marketing, and reaching out to sponsors to support us. Our many sponsors and donors need to be applauded for their selfless support and pledges.

In closing, I wish to appeal to the community at large to keep supporting us and to keep our committee representative of the various cultures that our children belong to. We appeal to you to become a meaningful part of our home by making yourself available to serve on our structures.

I Thank You

Mr. A.E.O. Jasson, Chairperson


GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT

It has been an exciting year heading into the 130 year anniversary milestone for our organization. I am very proud to be associated with our home and to submit my annual report for the past financial period. This 2015/2016 year promoted a steady positive step in providing a service to our children that focuses on programmes that meet their diverse needs.

It may seem redundant to say it, but we have taken great strides to reach a place where “working in the best interest of our children” has a significant meaning to our staff. In celebrating 13 decades of service to thousands of vulnerable children, it has been a wonderful journey to observe shifts in mindsets and the promotion and lobbying of a new profession called Child Care in our country.

Once the complicated process of re-registering as a Child and Youth Care Centre was over, some of the departmental pressure was reduced. However this in no means implied that we could relax, as there have been several monitoring and evaluation visits to ensure compliance in terms of the regulations and the Children’s Act.

The Management team placed a lot of effort in this period to ensure that we up-skilled our staff, focused on specific programmes and placed more emphasis on educational achievements of our children. This effort has paid off as we have seen some settle down, become more focused and noted an overall improvement on the school performances in different avenues, the behavior and attitudes of many.

The prior years’ re-alignment of our services and re-structuring in terms of duty rosters and ratios has had a significant impact on our service delivery in this past year. We were able to prioritize better and put much more effort into creating a safe, secure and enabling environment for our children.

Our child care staff continued with weekly meetings to address operational needs and in-service trainings became more anticipated and enjoyed by the staff. These included behaviour management, observation procedures and forms, handover procedures, handover administration, programme planning, admin forms, clothing file procedures, supervision of young people, and holiday preparations.

We were also able to expand on our opportunities and send staff out to several external trainings that have increased their knowledge base. Some of these trainings included: Amendments to the Labour Act, Sexual offences Act, Parenting skills, caring for children with special needs, and TB training by Community Chest. All staff completed level 1 first aid training

Core Sector training in Child and Youth Care remained a key focus. During 2015 there were no trainings in Durban. Our advocating for training to take place in PMB was successful and we have started training in PMB with PCH as the venue. In February 2016 Module 3 was held and in March Module 1 was completed, with 7 of our staff attending. One of our domestic workers joined in the training.

We were also very instrumental in establishing the Naccw Sub- region so that our staff and other colleagues could benefit from support and stay updated on developments in the sector, without 5 making several trips to Durban. The Principals, social workers and child care practitioners thus enjoyed the opportunity to meet more often, and our facility was used predominantly for the practitioner’s forum.

Our facility is also a hub of activity in relation to supporting students at tertiary level. We have nurtured four 4th year social work students, two 2nd year social work students, seven 3rd year public relations students and one 2nd year administration student in this period, offering our home as a training ground for their growth and development.

In terms of our programmes I must commend all our staff for the great strides we have made. Once they grasped what we expected in terms of programmes that meet our children’s holistic needs, they ran with this concept, and we are proud to note that we have some innovative, consistent and effective programmes in place such as recycling, and that there is this constant nurturing of children’s hidden talents.

Likewise I must acknowledge the support of external ambassadors who have offered us invaluable knowledge and life skills such as Avenal (St Johns) for First Aid, Leopold for the garden, Odette for swimming, Kelvin for paddling and Sheldon (Trailblazers) for soccer. I must commend the educators from The Wykeham Collegiate, St Charles and Hilton College for their commitment to regular visits in order to tutor and interact with our children.

Active child participation remained a priority, and thus we continued with our youth representatives. Two previous youth remained whilst 2 new ones were elected. All four were privileged to attend Board meetings to voice children’s concerns. We continued to actively participate at the sub-regional Youth Forum meetings and attended regional youth events, as well the regional Youth Camp. We were equally proud of our youth represent who represented the province at the National Youth Conference.

As an institution we remained actively involved with several forums in the sector that advocate for improved service delivery through their lobbying for adequate and appropriate funding to be allocated from Department of Social Development. As much as we appreciate the allocations from DSD, we still wait patiently for the current financial year’s increase in per capita costs, and for the possible funding for our allocated social work post.

We have been blessed to receive financial support from the National Lotteries Commission, the Pietermaritzburg and District Community Chest, Ken Collins Trust and several corporate donors that have allowed us to continue to render services. I convey my sincere appreciation to all of them and also take this opportunity to thank members of our Trust, Board of Directors, all staff, and especially the Management Team for their continued dedication and love for the work we do.

My special thank you is to every single individual who has over the past year, created space in their lives for us, as, in whatever small or big way they have contributed, we and our precious children have been blessed to be touched by them.

“DO YOUR LITTLE BIT OF GOOD WHERE YOU ARE,
IT’S THOSE LITTLE BITS OF GOOD PUT TOGETHER
THAT OVERWHELM THE WORLD” -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

God Bless, Fiona Balgobind


CHILD CARE REPORT
It gives me great pleasure to report on the Child Care activities for the past financial period. Our aim is to provide a safe environment that allows children the best possible opportunity for growth and development. This goal is achieved by utilizing a structured program that takes into account the children as a group and as an individual.

Pietermaritzburg Child and Youth Care Centre accommodated 97 (28 new) children between the ages of 4 and 20 years in the last year. Children are placed into cottages according to their age groups, i.e. junior girls Little Angels (primary school), junior boys The Cartoon, senior girls Real Dreamers (high schools) and senior boys Brothers Inc.

Our child and youth care workers (CYCWs) are responsible for the holistic care and development of every child they work with. Thus continued personal and professional growth is important, and we were able to ensure that we meet the staff needs via regular in-service trainings, weekly supervision sessions and appraisals which are coordinated by our Child Care Manager.

This past year we re-initiated monthly unit meetings together with the Child Care Manager and Social Worker, where we discuss each and every child in detail, their background information and challenges. Our CYCWs also attend school meetings and conduct home visits that helps them to have a holistic understanding of the children under their care.

Reunification services are an integral part of the program and is the joint responsibility of the placement agency and ourselves. The reality is that the family home circumstances often take more than two years to improve therefore our children remain in care until permanent reunification is possible. This can be a long process, as relationships are rebuilt by allowing the child and family to spend time together, starting with day visits, weekend visits, then holiday visits and eventually the child returns to the family permanently. 22 children dis-engaged from PCH, with 21 returning to their families and 1 being transferred to Sunlit Gardens. 2 of these children successfully completed their matric.

We also began engaging pre-scholars in 2015 accepting that there are school fee costs.  We currently have 5 children in pre-school.

Our children have been actively involved in several programmes at the community level. This included local events in Woodlands sports clubs, several church related events, and joint programmes e.g. Heritage day and Youth Day with other CYCCs.

The programmes for the above period included the following:

Developmental Program: 24 hour physical care, access to appropriate schooling and education, family reunification and reintegration within the shortest possible time, assistance with disengaging from the program, promotion of children’s rights, and mastering age appropriate tasks

Therapeutic Programs: Developmental assessment of children, individual counseling of children, and referrals to specialized services, family meetings, dealing with the needs of the child.

Recreation: On the 3rd of May 39 junior children attended Midmar Dam for a fun games day hosted by the Midlands Sai group. Events include sports (PCH netball and soccer teams as well as local soccer teams), outings to places of interest, drama classes, exposure to theatre and plays.

Educational: Varsity College are helping our children with reading and home work. Haythorne has extra classes for Maths for the grade 9’s and our children have taken full advantage of this opportunity. Very proud to report that our book club is running very smooth and our kids are enjoying the FUNDZA books, which we receive quarterly. We have partnered with our local library, and the majority of our children are members of the Woodlands library.

Life Skills: Happy Earth Project: The garden club members are active weekly with weeding, watering, collecting mulch, and harvesting. We managed to finish our nursery, and we have coriander, parsley, basil and lettuce seedlings in there. Some have been propagated. Our children have attended Dovehouse and Durban Botanical gardens to learn more. 10 of our children attended Paddling lessons at the Duzi River on Saturdays.

Spiritual:

Our children attend Overcomers and CRC churches. Juniors attend Sunday school at the AFM church. 7 of our children attended an Easter conference at Overcomers church. Judah Christian Church have spent some quality time with our children, and they have done Bible quizzes with them and motivational talks.

After care: Two of our children are successfully completing their 3rd years at UKZN. K Nzama studying BA Law and D Tsomela studying BCom Accounting. S. Ntanzi is employed as a Finance officer at Tugela Ferry Hospital. B Khumalo, employed at Woolworths Liberty Mall. JL Astor employed at Panarottis liberty Mall, and will re- write 2 subjects to improve his marks.

A Few Highlights for the year:

– 5 of our children attended a basketball clinic at YMCA.

– 8 of our children and two staff joined the night cancer relay.

– 8 of our girls were pampered at Varsity College with a make-over and modelling event

– Our children attended the Boswell circus, and were donated a microwave and a hair cutter.

– 1 Youth Rep attended the Youth Conference in Cape Town.

– 1 special needs child represented H.S. Ebrahim School in a choir competition in Durban.

– Woodlands Clinic hosted counselling services including HIV testing, TB testing and family planning.

– At a statue race at Scottsville Mall, 6 of our young people were invited to participate, and they won first place and R5000.

– As from August 2015, 25 young people had the privilege to enroll for First Aid training run by Avenal from St Johns, and they have received their level 1 certificates.

– Three of our children are doing 4th year at Newton Pre-vocational School.

Ntokozo Mhlophe, Social Worker


TREASURER’S REPORT (For the Year ended 28 February 2016)

Pietermaritzburg Children’s Homes (PCH) operates as a Child and Youth

Care Centre, providing accommodation and holistic care to Vulnerable

Children in need.PCH’s funding is derived from a state subsidy received from the

Department of Social Development being the largest contributor,

National Lotteries Commission for building and operational expenses

and many other donors.

Financial results as follows:

 

 

INCOME STATEMENT

    2016  

          2015

Operating IncomeState SubsidyOther IncomeNational Lottery Commission (Building Income)

Total Income

Operating Expenses

SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR

1 988 8321 881 434 1 921 3201 077 634
3 870 2661 731 668 2 998 954359 996
5 601 9343 893 350 3 358 9503 184 943
1 708 584 174 007

 

 

BALANCE SHEET 2016   2015
Property, plant and equipmentTrade and other receivables

Cash and cash equivalents

Investments

Trade and other payables

Bank Overdraft

4 640 848329 118

114 675

1 289 509

1 117 471

64 370

3 088 690197 001

208 234

2 896 949

2 907 146

 

The increase in surplus resulted from funding given by the National

Lotteries Commission for building an additional unit and improved Office

Space. Majority of expenses relating to the building has been capitalized

To Land and Buildings. The effect of capitalizing the expenses resulted inPCH showing a high surplus margin. If operating income is only taken into
Account, PCH would be in a financial loss.
Expenses has largely increased due to building expenses that werenot capitalized, repairs and maintenance on vehicles, market

movements on the investment, employee costs and general increases

In the day to day expenses. A special thank you goes out to all donors,

For their valuable contributions to PCH for this financial year.

PCH continues to conduct its business on the principles of discipline,Transparency, integrity and accountability. I would like to thank the

Board, Management and Staff, who through their efforts, managed

to navigate any challenges, and, for their contribution to the

organization during the 2016 financial year.


Mr. M Achari, Treasurer

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