Official reply: 13 August 2014
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION 03 /2014
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Date of publication on internal question paper: 17 June 2014
Internal question paper no: 01
3. Mrs C Dudley (ACDP) to ask the Minister of Social Development:
(1) Whether steps are being taken to ensure that the accreditation of
social workers does not take longer than six weeks as opposed to the
present situation where accreditation can take up to 12 months thereby
preventing social workers from rendering adoption services;
(2) what are the challenges preventing timeous accreditation;
(3) whether the process is being streamlined to achieve the six weeks
time frame; if not, why not; if so, in what ways;
(4) whether her departmentâs social workers who are rendering adoption
services will be expected to go through the same accreditation process
of registering their adoption speciality at the SA Council for Social
Service Professions (SACSSP), as required of all others, before they
are allowed to actually render the service; if not, why not; if so,
when will her department's social workers become compliant with the
requirements of the accreditation process? NW3E
Reply:
1) While it is acknowledged that there are administrative delays in
processing, it is not true that the accreditation of social workers
takes up to 12 months. However, social workers are required to submit
relevant documents based on the requirements for accreditation in
terms of section 251 of the Childrenâs Act 38 of 2005. Pre- assessment
of documents is done, which results in some of the applicants not
having all the documents.
2) Challenges preventing timeous accreditation emanate from:
a) Some social workers fail to submit their applications for
accreditation with all the required documents.
b) Response after follow ups take long. Social workers are informed that
they must also liaise with the Department to ensure that all documents
are in place before submission. This serves as a measure to prevent
the process taking longer than expected.
3) Yes, the process is streamlined since applications are received and
pre- assessed to ensure that they have complied with the accreditation
requirements. If all documents are in order, the accreditation panel
evaluates the applications for recommendation and approval.
In instances where all the required
documents are not submitted, contact is made with the social workers
to submit outstanding documents. This is one of the reasons for the
delay in the accreditation process.
4) No, the departmentâs social workers are not required to render
adoption services currently. Therefore, they are not included in the
definition of an âadoption social workerâ. The Department will be
submitting the 2nd Amendment of the Childrenâs act 38 of 2005, which
will enable the social workers in the employ of the Provincial
Department of Social Development to be eligible to render adoption
services.