NAMIBIA / FOSTER CARE

Child welfare organizations in Namibia provide the funding needed for local foster families to care for some of the thousands of children left homeless by the country's high-levels of unemployment, HIV infection and alcoholism. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:58
• Production Date: 16 November 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: SOCIAL WELFARE; SOCIAL SERVICES
• Geographic Subject: NAMIBIA
• MAMS Id: U101116g

Description

STORY: NAMIBIA / FOSTER CARE
SOURCE: UNICEF
TRT: 2:58
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 19 OCTOBER 2010, WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA

1. Med shot, Jonathan studying at table
2. Close up, math notebook
3. Med shot, Jonathan walks into room with schoolbooks
4. Close up, arranging schoolbooks
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan, 17-year old foster child, Rehoboth, Namibia:
“I have four sisters and a step-brother. And my dad had to supply for all of us, and he couldn’t come up to financially fit all of us.”
6. Wide shot, kids walking with toy cars
7. Med shot, children standing at fence
8. Wide shot, girl standing
9. Med shot, old woman drinking traditional beer from jar
10. Wide shot, social worker arrives at house
11. Various shots, social worker with child and foster mom in kitchen
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Zelnadia Engelbrecht, Social Worker, Rehoboth, Namibia:
“From poverty a lot of social problems, alcohol abuse and domestic violence merge from that. So a lot of times people do not have the skills, or the ways or the means, to assist themselves. And that is where the government comes in.”
13. Wide shot, foster family kitchen with dog in foreground
14. Med shot, family playing UNO
15. Close up, foster mom passing hand to foster child
16. Close up, foster child with UNO cards in hand
17. Med shot, Director of Child Welfare
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Helena Andjamba, Director of Child Welfare, Namibia:
“We are focusing for children to be taken tare of on family level, at community level within families, that’s why we want foster care service providers to facilitate these foster care placements, not necessarily with institutions, but necessarily with families.”
19. Med shot, social worker with child talking to foster mother
20. Close up, foster mother
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Beulla Burnz, Mother of Four:
“My parents were also abusing alcohol and that stuff. And from that time I was growing I was feeling for children, who was in the same situation, I feel the same with them, and then it was easier for me to do this kind of job.”
22. Med shot, foster daughters reading
23. Close up, biological daughters of foster mother
24. Close up, foster daughter putting puzzle together
25. Close up, puzzle pieces
26. Med shot, young foster daughter Jessica reading

Storyline

Jonathan is studying hard for his maths test tomorrow. He must do well if he wants to fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a pilot. After his mother passed away when he was just 10 years old, his father found it increasingly difficult to care for Jonathan and his siblings. One day he just moved away, leaving Jonathan to care for himself.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan, 17-year old foster child, Rehoboth, Namibia:
“I have four sisters and a step-brother. And my dad had to supply for all of us, and he couldn’t come up to financially fit all of us.”

Jonathan is just one of over 250,000 vulnerable children in Namibia. The town of Rehoboth, where he lives, sits 90 kilometres south of the capitol and is representative of the country’s high levels of unemployment, HIV infection and alcoholism.

Here, there are only two government social workers for 40,000 residents. Zelnaida Engelbrecht sees 20-30 children each week.

SOUNDBITE (English) Zelnadia Engelbrecht, Social Worker, Rehoboth, Namibia:
“From poverty a lot of social problems, alcohol abuse and domestic violence merge from that. So a lot of times people do not have the skills, or the ways or the means, to assist themselves. And that is where the government comes in.”

Jonathan was placed in the foster care of Varity Van Wyk. Varity receives a Government Grant of $29 a month to pay for the basic necessities for each of her four foster children.

With the help of local child welfare NGO Children of Promise Ministries, Varity’s rent and utilities are paid for. This allows the children to stay in a comfortable family environment.

SOUNDBITE (English) Helena Andjamba, Director of Child Welfare, Namibia:
“We are focusing for children to be taken tare of on family level, at community level within families, that’s why we want foster care service providers to facilitate these foster care placements, not necessarily with institutions, but necessarily with families.”

Zelnaida was able to place four year-old Jessica and three teenage girls with Beulah Burnz and her family. Beulah is married with four biological children of her own.

SOUNDBITE (English) Beulla Benz, Mother of four:
“My parents were also abusing alcohol and that stuff. And from that time I was growing I was feeling for children, who was in the same situation, I feel the same with them, and then it was easier for me to do this kind of job.”

Since 2004, Child Welfare Grants on the whole have grown seven-fold, now reaching over 120,000 orphans and vulnerable children. However, a significant and continued increase in grants is required in order to ensure children such as Jessica and her foster sisters are able to begin to live out their hopes and dreams.