Special announcement – Extraordinary response to COVID-19 threat

Special announcement – Extraordinary response to COVID-19 threat

At this time when our President has announced a National State of Disaster in respect of COVID-19 the management of the Durban Child & Youth Care Centre has implemented urgent and drastic measures to protect the children in our care and the employees who provide them with 24 hour care. The following measures will apply until the present State of Disaster has been uplifted.

  • All activities facilitated by volunteers are suspended.
  • Site visits by any member of the public will not be allowed.
  • As far as possible we request that contact with the centre be limited to electronic contact. Where this is not possible please report to reception and adhere to the infection control measures communicated to you by the receptionist.
  • Contact by parents, extended family members and host parents will be limited to telephonic contact.
  • Holiday placements for all children are cancelled.
  • Children on 5-day or 10-day programmes are not to be allowed to leave the facility for weekend visits to family/community.

Our employees have been informed of the above precautionary measures and have been authorised to enforce these measures.

We trust that you will support our efforts as we strive to protect our children and employees.

Psalm 37:5 ‘Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you.’

Yours sincerely,

Mrs A Goble
Director

Ensuring compliance by outsourcing catering

Ensuring compliance by outsourcing catering

Outsourced catering

During April 2019 the Department of Social Development asked all Child and Youth Care Centre’s in KZN to a meeting.

Meeting the health requirements of catering provision was one of several concerns raised by the department. Whilst we were confident that we have been providing children with nutritious meals it was evident that in order to meet the compliance requirements of both Department of Social Development and Municipal Health we would need to venture into a field of service that is outside of our area of expertise; i.e, hospitality.

After extensive investigation and careful consideration our Board took the decision to contract Ethekwini Caterers to take over the running of our kitchen.

Ethekwini caterers have developed an effective model for meeting the catering needs of a Child and Youth Care Centre having provided this service to Pietermaritzburg Children’s Home for the past 6 years.

We are confident that this decision by the Board will ensure full compliance with both the Department of Social Development and Municipal Health with regards to kitchen requirements, kitchen staff and food preparation, whilst providing our children with meals of a higher nutritional value.

Renovation projects 2019/2020

Renovation projects 2019/2020

We have been fortunate in this financial year to have received support towards some of our most pressing renovation projects. Special thank you goes out to The Victor Daitz Foundation for their kindness and generosity. Thanks to your support we have been able to undertake and complete the following renovation projects:

Farewell as one of our children returns home

Farewell as one of our children returns home

There were mixed emotions as children and staff gathered to bid one our children farewell as she returns to her family after many years of being in our care. We are sad to see her go but so happy that she is going home to be with her family.

Message from the Director

Message from the Director

During one of our Monday morning team meetings I shared a reading on the power of patience; “For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away what is promised” Hebrews 10:16. I left the meeting feeling encouraged in the knowledge that to be patient is a powerful action and that I can draw on this power to remain calm in the midst of the many storms that are inevitable in a children’s home.

Of course our definition of a storm would more than likely differ, as would the description of the intensity of the storm, and I have come to learn that sometimes it’s just a storm in a tea cup.

Confirmation from the Department of Social Development of a long awaited and much needed increase to subsidy was welcomed during this past year. Along with this notification was pressure for child and youth care centres throughout KZN to assess their catering and ensure that kitchens and menus are aligned to meet health requirements. Although we have managed to tick the required boxes over the years, our Board decided to make the bold move of securing the services of Ethekwini Caterers to attend to the nutritional needs of our children. You can read more about this by clicking here.