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When very young children have to testify in court and they come to Childline Western Cape for court preparation, it is important to establish if they know the difference between right and wrong and between the truth and a lie, in order for them to be able to take an oath in court. And before a young child will be able to testify in court, it is necessary to determine if they are competent to testify or not.
The court does this by seeing if the child understands the concepts of right and wrong. If it’s found that the child is incompetent to testify, i.e. that they do not understand the difference between right and wrong, they will not be able to testify in court. There will either be an acquittal or the case will be thrown out of court.
At Childline Western Cape, in order to determine if a child knows the difference between right and wrong, the social workers do the following exercise: they draw a picture of a ball and a flower and two little girls. They will point to the first little girl and say, “This girl says this is a flower” (pointing to the flower). They will then point to the second girl and say, “This girl says this is a flower” (pointing to the ball). They would then ask the child which one of them is right and which is wrong.
They would then repeat the same exercise with different objects and ask which girl is telling the truth and which one is telling a lie. The outcome of this will demonstrate the child’s ability to differentiate between the truth and a lie, and between right and wrong. If the child is unable to tell the difference, it is because they do not understand or are too young to understand the difference. It does not necessarily mean that the child is bad or wrong in any way.
Thereafter the social worker would read the child a story about a girl that has been to court and explain to them what an oath is. They would also then begin the full process of court preparation, should the child need to testify in court.
People are often very shocked when they call Childline Western Cape for counselling for children who have been sexually abused or raped and they learn that we have a four to six month waiting list at the centre in Wynberg. According to Wynberg centre manager, Tina Fourie, with limited resources, limited space and a growing demand for the services that we provide, a waiting list just cannot be avoided. “I know it is frustrating,” she said, “and we would love to be able to help each person at the point at which they contact us. But this is just not possible.”
“What I usually explain to them is that we are one of very few organizations in the Western Cape that offer counselling for children who have been sexually abused or raped, and that we offer this service for free. Ours is a very high quality service, with trained and supervised professionals (social workers) and we commit to working with each child through the pain of what they have been through, until they are sufficiently healed to continue with their lives,” Tina said.
Because of this, and because the sexual abuse and rape of children has become such a regular occurrence, and a big problem in all communities in the Western Cape, the waiting lists do grow very long. It is frustrating, but the centres work strictly according to the waiting list and they keep those on the list informed about when a social worker is available to see them.
“What I also do is to refer them to other organizations that may possibly be able to assist them sooner, but I explain that I will still take down all their details and will be in contact with them as soon as possible. I then put them on our waiting list and follow up with a letter stating that they are now on the waiting list, explaining that we will contact them when there is a social worker available and asking them to inform us if they receive counselling elsewhere and no longer require counselling at our centre,” Tina said.
One of Childline’s key roles is in manning the toll free telephone counselling service, 24 hours a day. Many people ask us how this process works, and where our role begins and ends in manning this line.
We assist children through our toll free crisis line. This line operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is manned by trained, volunteer counsellors. On this line, we deal with any child-related problems, from relationship issues to abandonment, abuse in various forms, etc. Adults may also phone in if they are concerned about the behaviour of a child or are suspicious that a child may be being abused. If there is a suspicion of abuse, or a child has disclosed to the adult that they have been abused, the adult – or as is often the case, the children – phone in to make a report of the abuse.
Our role in this process is to facilitate the correct, statutory process. We ourselves, at Childline, are not a statutory organisation, so we do not go out and do home visits or remove children from abusive situations. Our role is to complete a report, on behalf of the caller, and send it to the relevant statutory organisation, for the necessary intervention. There is often the perception that Childline social workers go out, themselves, to do a removal of a child, but this is not the case.
And this is where the crucial role of the Childline referral officer comes into play. Reports from the telephone counselling service are faxed through to the Wynberg office on a daily basis. The referral officer then types up a report and sends it to the relevant welfare organisation for them to investigate the matter. It is not always straightforward; sometimes there is a need to call the caller back first, for more information in order to send the report through; or perhaps to call the welfare organisation first to discuss certain details with the social worker. After this first and important step has been done, the referral officer follows up with the welfare agency or organisation, to see how far they have got, to find out if they have managed to do the visit, what the outcome of their home visit was, etc.
Sometimes callers call back to find out the progress on the case they reported, so it is important always to be on top of each case, and to know what the status of the case is. The referral officer has to be persistent, have great stamina and pay minute attention to detail. It is also vitally important to build relationships with the people in these organisations, and to make sure – as far as possible – that the reports do not just sit among a whole pile of papers on a social worker’s desk. The referral officer has a responsibility to hold people accountable for their role in following a case, and thus ensure the quality of our service. This is crucial, so that the children out there get the help they need.
For the referral officer, each day is different – you can never tell how many reports you will get in each day. Dealing with one report in a day is also not necessarily easier than dealing with ten reports in a day. It is important to understand the process, and to gather the right kind of information, so the child can receive the best and most appropriate assistance as soon as possible.
The referral officer always keeps the child in mind. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by a case, but it is reassuring to know that Childline is not only the first port of call, but also may be the last resort for children in need.
Margaret Daniels, outgoing referral officer at the Wynberg centre, says: “I look at each case as if the child’s life depends on it, because it usually does. It is great to get the feedback that the children are safe, taken care of and okay. That is what we want; we want to help our society. This has been my contribution to helping, even if it is in a very small form. I am going to miss this work.”
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