Fit and Proper Person Standard

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Why this standard matters to Sparrows

  1. Social workers, social auxiliary workers, child and youth care workers and auxiliary child and youth care workers must be registered with the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP) before they work for pay. Section 15 of the Social Service Professions Act, 1978, says so. Working without registration is an offence under section 16. The SACSSP registers only people it finds to be fit and proper.
  2. Sparrows employs people in these registered roles. A person who cannot meet the fit and proper standard, or who loses their registration, may not do work that needs registration.
  3. The Children's Act, 2005, also requires every person who works at a child and youth care centre to be a fit and proper person (sections 200(2)(d) and 209(2)(c)). A person who is unsuitable to work with children is not a fit and proper person (sections 200(3) and 209(3)).
  4. This policy sets out what the SACSSP's 2017 policy on this requirement says. It also says how the requirement affects Sparrows.

What the standard actually requires

  1. The Act does not define "fit and proper". The SACSSP's 2017 policy explains how the Council decides. The applicant must satisfy the Council (sections 17(1) and 18A(1) of the Act). The decision is a judgment, not a checklist.
  2. The SACSSP looks for honesty, integrity, fairness and dignity. It also looks for skill, knowledge and hard work, and for a person who can be trusted to do the job.
  3. Someone whose registration was cancelled must pass the same test to register again (section 22(4) of the Act).

Offences and registers

  1. The SACSSP's policy lists offences that would lead a reasonable person to say an applicant is not fit and proper. They include murder, culpable homicide, rape, child stealing, incest and kidnapping. They include any sexual offence against a child or a person with a mental disability. They also include fraud, theft, corruption, and trafficking in people for sex. So does the illegal possession, carrying or supply of child pornography or drugs that create dependence. The list says it is not limited to these.
  2. The policy also says an applicant is unfit if they were sentenced to prison, without the option of a fine, for a listed offence committed after the Constitution took effect. It says the same if they are on a register that bars them from working with children or vulnerable adults. Elsewhere it says a conviction is one factor the SACSSP weighs. Sparrows does not decide which applies. The SACSSP decides.
  3. Part B of the National Child Protection Register is the list of people found unsuitable to work with children. Nobody in Part B can be registered as a child and youth care worker (regulation 30 of the 2014 Regulations for Child and Youth Care Workers). Nobody in Part B may work with children, or have access to them, at a child and youth care centre. Sparrows may not allow it (section 123 of the Children's Act).

How the SACSSP weighs a conviction

  1. The SACSSP weighs a conviction, or earlier improper or unprofessional conduct. It looks at the offence, the sentence, the person's age at the time, and how long ago it happened. It also looks at how likely they are to offend again, and whether they have been rehabilitated. The applicant must satisfy the SACSSP that the conduct was isolated and will not happen again. That is harder to show if it went on for several years.

How this applies inside Sparrows

  1. Board members are not covered by the SACSSP standard. A different rule applies to them. Nobody may be appointed to the Board without two clearance certificates (regulation 84(4) of the General Regulations). The certificates must show that the person is not in Part B of the National Child Protection Register and not on the National Register for Sex Offenders. Regulation 84(2) applies this to a privately run centre. A Board member must leave office if they stop complying (regulation 84(6)(a)).
  2. Sparrows' Social Worker is registered with the SACSSP. Its child and youth care workers are not yet. In October 2026 none of them was registered in any category, including the Senior Child and Youth Care Worker. The Department of Social Development recorded the same gap in its quality assurance report of February 2025. The National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW) offers an Occupational Certificate in Child and Youth Care Work. The Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA) pays for it once a funded place is found. Sparrows plans to train its child and youth care workers this way. The Executive Director tells the Board at each ordinary meeting how far Sparrows has got.
  3. The Safe Recruitment Policy sets out the checks Sparrows makes before a person has contact with a child. Its registration check comes from this standard. Its register checks come from the Children's Act and the General Regulations.
  4. A hearing under the Disciplinary Code and Procedure may find a registered child and youth care worker guilty of an offence. Sparrows must then tell the SACSSP (regulation 28(2) of those Regulations). That Code also covers reports to Part B of the Register. The SACSSP decides what happens to the worker's registration.
  5. Regulation 84(1)(e) says nobody with a conflict of interest, or a possible one, may be appointed to a management board. The Conflict of Interest Policy says how Sparrows deals with conflicts. The Membership Policy lists the other reasons a person cannot serve on the Board.
  6. The Executive Director keeps a copy of the registration certificate of each employee who is registered with the SACSSP. The annual fee falls due each January. The Executive Director then checks that every registration is still current.
  7. An employee who is registered must tell the Executive Director at once if their registration lapses, is suspended or is cancelled. From that day the employee does not do work that needs registration. The Executive Director decides what work the employee does in the meantime, and tells the Board at its next meeting.

Review

  1. The Board reviews this policy every year. Before the review, the Executive Director checks whether the SACSSP has replaced its Policy on the Fit and Proper Person Requirement. The Executive Director tells the Board what they find.