The Parent Centre | Child Protection Week 2026 | 29 May – 5 June
Every year during Child Protection Week, South Africa pauses to reckon with something uncomfortable: that children, the most vulnerable members of our society, are not always safe in the places and with the people they should be safest with. This year’s national theme, “Working together to end violence against children,” is not just a slogan. It is a call to action for every parent, neighbour, teacher, social worker and community member in this country.
At The Parent Centre, we work every day with parents and families who are doing their best in incredibly difficult circumstances. Our primary role is building capacity, helping parents become more confident, more nurturing, more connected to their children. But we would be dishonest if we pretended that the world our families are navigating has gotten easier. It hasn’t. Violence, abuse, and the exploitation of women and children have increased in our communities. Our work has, of necessity, become more trauma informed. We meet families not only in their strengths, but in their pain.
And sometimes, in that pain, something remarkable happens.
A Story Worth Telling
One of our home visitors Babalwa recently worked with a young mother, let’s call her Blanche, who had been referred to our Parent Infant Programme at one of the lowest points of her life. She was considering giving her baby up for adoption. She carried unresolved pain from her own childhood. Her relationship with her own mother was strained, and she was receiving no support at home with her new baby.
What Blanche needed, more than advice or information, was a space where she could speak honestly without being judged. That is what our programme gave her. Week by week, session by session, she found her footing. She reversed her decision. She is now looking forward to raising her child. She completed the programme grateful, not just for the support, but for finally having been heard.
Blanche’s story is not unusual. It is, in many ways, the story of what good early intervention looks like: not dramatic rescue, but patient, consistent, relationship-based support that helps a parent find their own strength.
Why Do Parents Abuse Children?
This is a question people are often afraid to ask, because it feels like it might excuse the inexcusable. It doesn’t. But understanding is not the same as condoning, and if we want to prevent abuse rather than simply respond to it, we need to understand its roots.
Abuse can be intentional, deliberate harm caused by someone who chooses to use violence, exploitation or neglect as a means of control or release. But much abuse is also unintentional: parents who were themselves abused and who repeat patterns they never chose; parents overwhelmed by poverty, mental illness, addiction or trauma who lose control in ways they later deeply regret; parents who simply don’t know any other way because no one ever showed them one.
Both forms cause real harm to children. And both can be interrupted, if we act early enough.
Before things get critical, parents can:
- Seek counselling or psychosocial support, there is no shame in asking for help before a crisis,
- Attend parenting skills training (like the programmes we offer at The Parent Centre),
- Reach out to trusted community members, family, or professionals,
- Recognise and honestly address the role that alcohol and drug use plays. Regular alcohol us and substance use is one of the strongest predictors of abuse in the home, and that link is not coincidental
When Children Cannot Stay at Home
Sometimes, despite everyone’s best efforts, a child cannot safely remain with their family. This is one of the hardest realities in child protection work, and one of the least understood by the public.
Can you place your child in foster care?
Foster care in South Africa is a formal legal process managed through the Children’s Court. It is not simply “giving your child to someone else.” A social worker assesses the situation and, if a child is found to need care and protection, the court may place them with a registered foster parent — often a family member, sometimes a stranger. Foster parents receive a monthly foster child grant to assist with the child’s care. Importantly, foster care is intended to be temporary where possible, with the goal of family reunification when it is safe to do so.
Can you give your child up for adoption?
Yes, adoption is a legal option, and it is a choice some parents make with profound love for their child, recognising that they cannot provide what the child needs. In South Africa, adoption must be processed through an accredited adoption social worker and confirmed by the Children’s Court. Both the birth parent’s rights and the child’s best interests are considered throughout. It is not a decision made lightly, and no parent should feel forced or shamed into it, but it is a legitimate path, and children adopted through proper processes
What if your children have already been removed — and you want them back?
This is something we encounter regularly at The Parent Centre. We currently support a group of parents whose children were taken into state care and who now, genuinely and painfully, want to be reunited with them. The process of family reunification is possible, but it requires demonstrated change.
A parent seeking reunification would typically need to:
- Engage with a social worker through the Department of Social Development
- Demonstrate that the circumstances that led to removal have changed — this may involve completing parenting programmes, addressing substance use, securing stable housing, or resolving safety concerns
- Participate in a formal review of the original court order
- In some cases, supervised contact visits will be arranged first to assess the relationship
The process is not quick, and it is not easy. But it is possible. Not all families begin as happy ones — but with support, many can become safer, stronger ones.
How to Get Involved — and How to Report Abuse
Child protection is not a government responsibility alone. It belongs to all of us. You can play a role by talking to children in your life about their rights, their bodily autonomy, and how to stay safe online and offline. Create environments where children feel safe enough to speak, because children who are being harmed almost always find it difficult to tell someone, and they need to know they will be believed.
If you suspect or witness child abuse, neglect, or exploitation, please report it:
- National Child Abuse Action Line: 0800 428 428 (Department of Social Development free call)
- SAPS Emergency: 10111
- Childline South Africa: 0800 055 555 | SMS: 58112
GBV Command Centre: 0860 010 111
The Green Ribbon
This Child Protection Week, we invite you to wear a green ribbon, the colour of life and growth, and a symbol of solidarity with every child who has experienced abuse, and every family working to do better.
At The Parent Centre, we believe that the best child protection is prevention: parents who are supported, informed, and connected. Children who are loved. Communities that don’t look away.
Working together isn’t a slogan. It’s the only way this works.
The Parent Centre has been supporting parents, children and families in Cape Town for over 43 years. For more information about our programmes, visit www.theparentcentre.org.za or call 021 762 0116.
