Coalition of Anglican Children's Homes - Gauteng

Coach (Coalition of Anglican Children’s Homes) comprises an amalgamation of three children’s homes (St Georges Home, St Joseph’s Home and St Nicolas home). The children are placed in our care with a court order from the Children’s Court. This means that the child was found to be in need of care as per the Children’s Act.In our children’s homes (St Nicolas and St Joseph’s Home), we currently have 30 children, and in our youth care centre (St George’s Home), we have 23 youth. This brings the total children and youth in our care to 53.St Nicolas/St Joseph’s homeChildren come to the homes battered and abused and with little or no hope for the future. At St Nicolas and St Joseph’s Homes the children are provided not only with a home, but with a family, food, education and  

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love. The centres are not traditional orphanages. The goal is to reunite children with their families within a two year period. However, if a child’s well being is not guaranteed in the care of their biological families, foster care parents are recruited, trained and supported in order to ensure that the child has the opportunity to mature in a family home and not in institutional care. St George’s HomeSt Georges’ Home is a residential life skills development programme to assist youth aged 16 to 18. The Home aims to equip youth who are trapped in the welfare system with skills to become fully integrated into mainstream society. ABET (Adult Based Education) classes and vocational training is provided to the youth in our care and to day students from surrounding homes.A section18 tax certificate will be issued for every donation received. For further enquiries, kindly contact Prathna Naidoo.VisionHelping children take the next step MissionTo make a positive difference in the lives of the children we render services to in our residential and community programmesOverview of the Programmes at the St Nicolas & St Joseph’s Children’s HomesThe homes equip children and their families with the necessary skills so that they can grow, develop and build on each other’s strengths. The goal is to provide a safe home environment for the children. Once there is stability in their lives they can be reunited with their family. The programme is multifaceted as it must deal with how the child thinks, feels and behaves amidst a dynamic family and social environment.This programme provides a high-intensity therapeutic intervention – with individual and group therapy, specialised child and youth care intervention, and tailored individual and family therapy.Coach assists children and youth between the ages of 6 and 18. Where necessary we continue to provide a service until the child or youth turns 21 years of age. Children and youth are referred to the residential component of the programme by Social Workers. Services are also provided to their family with the assistance of Coach’s family reunification workers. Balancing the educational needs and psychosocial status of our young people poses a significant challenge to the skills of our professional staff. Most of the children attend the nearby Sparrow School that provide specialised remedial schooling they require. In time we aim to employ a specialist educator who will facilitate formal home schooling for the affected children. Since this is presently beyond our means the use of volunteer support is being investigated. Children at Coach are not only provided with an education. They are also given opportunities to develop, socialise and improve their people skills. Various events and activities are held throughout the year to encourage children to “come out of their shell” and develop into progressive young adults. Children will be children, and we all know that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, Coach is fortunate to have caring sponsors that take our children on excursions that let them take part in fun adventures throughout the year. The self esteem and emotions of children who have suffered abuse are severely affected. It is critical then that we validate them through healthy and purposeful activities that reintegrate them into society. Social interactions is vital so we enlist the services of volunteers and child and youth care workers who assist with homework, fun and cultural outings, holiday camps and church youth groups and service.There are two houses that are part of the St Nicolas and St Joseph’s Children’s Homes, these houses are named Morris House and Millar House respectively.Morris House and Millar House The houses are situated in Sophiatown. At present there are 15 children accommodated at the home. The children have been admitted to the home as a result of being neglected and abused. The children are counselled by professional councillors to help them overcome this dark phase of their life. They are given hope for a brighter future. The child and youth care workers ensure that the children attend school on a daily basis. Besides schooling activities, there is a set of daily activities that the children carry out. Every day when they come home from school, they have lunch, and are then assisted with their homework. Once their home work is completed, they participate in extra curricular activities varying from aerobics and soccer to beadwork and painting.The home provides a two to three year development programme. During this programme, Coach ensures that the children turn their lives around. They are then able to make life giving and not life destroying choices for themselves. A key aim is that the children should not be permanently institutionalised.Some Success Stories of the Children at St Nicolas/ St Joseph’s Home 9 children have developed an interest in art and culture, 5 of them are good in poetry and have won 1st and 2nd prizes when they competed with the Johannesburg’s Children home.One of the girls in the Residential Programme felt lost, she did not know her family, and felt like she was all alone in this world. Coach/St Nicolas admitted her to the residential programme, and shortly managed to find her a host family. The host family takes her home on weekends and during school holidays; the family is currently undergoing assessment to evaluate them as a future foster family for her. She has finally felt a sense of belonging, and now knows how important family is. We had two children reunited successfully with their parents and extended families. This is the ultimate achievement, as the reunification process with family is becoming more and more difficult5 new admissions were done. They are all siblings and have suffered severe neglect. St Nicolas/St Joseph’s home have given these children a second chance in life. They are attending school on a daily basis, having three balanced meals a day, participating in extra curricular activities and are no longer going to bed cold and hungry. Intensive work is being done with their family. Education- AchievementsAll children at the home attend school on a daily basis, their progress and home work is monitored. A young boy came to St Nicolas, with little hope for the future. He was abandoned by his family, and had no place to call home. He was admitted to the Residential Programme, and proved to be one of the stars in this programme; He passed matric, and is now working and studying part time for his PR diploma at UNISA. St Nicolas has watched him grow up, and wishes him all the best in his future studies, we know he will have the future he has dreamed about.Due to the rigorous time spent on homework during this period, all our children passed their examinations at the end 2009. This is an excellent achievement from the previous years at the home. We currently have one child registered to complete his matric this year and we are hopeful that he will do well and make us proud. All the children have passed the first term of 2010. School visits have been done to monitor the progress of the children’s school work and to ensure their daily attendance. Most of the children are coping well at school.One of our young people has been awarded a certificate for being elected as a prefect for 2010. Overview of the Life Campus (St George’s Home) ProgrammeThe Life Campus serves young people between the ages of 16 and 18 years, and where necessary continues with service provision until their 21st birthday. They are mainly referred to the residential component of the programme by external agency social workers. Others attend as day students by arrangement various nearby shelters. The Life Campus is currently registered to assist 23 youth in care and 10 day students at any given time. Individual assessments are done prior to admission to establish whether the young people will benefit from the programme. The programme is implemented in three phases:1)Planning and orientation: which consists of compiling Individual Development Plans (as well as regular reviews), social, life, vocational and entrepreneurial skills orientation;2)Skills development: comprising educational, vocational, entrepreneurial and psychosocial development; and3)Community reintegration: facilitating the process of reintegration back into society.Whilst the youth are in our care, they receive intensive counselling services and participate in group therapies based on needs identified. Focus is place on making informed decisions and life changing choices as opposed to life destroying choices.Support work is done with families so that they will be able to provide appropriate care and good parenting to the youth. If the youth cannot be returned to their parents or family alternate foster care is found.24 hour adult supervision is provided by a team qualified in child and youth care.Once the young people return to their communities, follow up services are provided to ensure that their reintegration is successful and sustained. THE ABET CENTRE The majority of the young people in the Life Campus programme have had disrupted, often traumatic lives. To help overcome the severe deficiency in their education, the Life Campus offers an IT-based Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) Programme. This enables the learners to acquire functional levels of Literacy and Numeracy within a very short space of time. A full time facilitator is employed to assist the learners through the programme. When each ABET level has been completed, learner portfolios are assessed by UNISA. COACH has accredited the work being done at the Life Campus. At the end of 2009 there were:•Five level 4 graduates•Six level 3 graduates•Three level 2 graduates•Two level 1 graduatesLegal formalitiesCoach is a registered NPO and PBO. Our NPO number is: 052-658-NPO. Our PBO Number is: PBO 932 024 064.Coach is fully compliant with the standards laid down by the South African Child and Youth Care System Act (1998) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.Coach is recognised as a children’s home by the Department of Health and Welfare in Gauteng. All Coach’s programmes fall within the priorities of the Department of Health and Welfare in terms of their strategic plans for Gauteng.