Girls and Boys Town Integrated Biennial Report April 2018 – March 2020

16 Girls & Boys Town South Africa Integrated Biennial Report 2018/2020 PROGRAMMES and services Introduction During this reporting period, GBTSA worked with and impacted on 55 294 beneficiaries and helped them to S.H.I.N.E. ® through nurturing and therapeutic residential programmes, educational support or a sympathetic telephone counselling session. Number of families receiving GBTSA direct family strengthening support (foster care and extended families) 3 853 Number of youth successfully disengaged 117 Number of external therapeutic resources: (psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, drug rehab centres, etc.) 41 Number of beneficiaries from hotline services 6 632 We remain acutely aware of our responsibility to our donors and stakeholder partners who have invested in our work. We ensure that each penny counts and makes the most significant impact possible. As a result of the challenging economic environment and limited funding during the period, we initiated a number of cost-cutting measures. These include the very difficult decision to close our External Training Division and to minimise the costs of supportive domestic services. The latter measure was planned and implemented in a way that ensured there were no negative impacts on service quality to our beneficiaries. Our youth initially struggled with taking responsibility for their own domestic chores and daily care. But within 12 months, they were reporting improved confidence in caring for themselves, and their families observed improved relationships and positive dynamics within their homes. Dire economic and country-wide stresses appear to have caused an increase in more intense and inappropriate behaviour with concomitant weakness in skill acquisition among young people entering care. Managing this has entailed drawing more heavily on our financial and human resources. Chemical misuse and more aggressive, disrespectful behaviours have had the greatest impact, as well as a general decline in the educational and literacy capacity of young people moving through the education system. Some key strategies to address these negative impacts on youth include intensified staff development, organisational restructuring and realigning of staff focus and skill sets. Residential services Our Therapeutic Residential Services provide care, protection and holistic development of young people, creating a safe, caring and homely environment that supports personal and emotional growth, academic and vocational development, and independence. The best interest of the child becomes the focus of all we do. The strategic move away from dormitory accommodation to family-style residences, with staff living among the youth, had very positive outcomes for our youth. Implementation of this approach has not been without challenges. It impacts both on our finances and our ability to accommodate youth during periods of major renovation and transition. The unavoidable collapse of some very old buildings on the Tongaat campus in KwaZulu-Natal, due to structural challenges, meant we had to limit admission of youth until we establish permanent and safe buildings. Numbers also had to be managed on the Kagiso campus in Gauteng, first as we switched from accommodating boys to girls and then as we waited to complete the renovation of four cottages for family-style living. As of April 2018, GBTSA family services staff were integrated into the residential services teams as part of the restructure, making it possible for the latter to render holistic services to children in care and their families. Our approach and models of practice The overarching goal of residential services is to create an environment that is physically and emotionally safe, and supports the individual to grow and develop emotionally, physically, spiritually and academically. This helps the child heal and transcend the pain of the past, and changes “inappropriate” behaviour by helping them acquire appropriate alternatives. Staff afford emotional care while working in a focused way to help the child achieve therapeutic goals. The GBTSA Long-Term Residential Programme is the model used to achieve this positive behaviour change. Its hallmark is that it requires the therapeutic team to balance “head” and