Norms and Standards for Child and Youth Care

1 Registration and staffing

Who may work with our children, how they are trained, and how they are supervised.

• Staff must have the training and skills the Regulations require for the programmes a centre offers, and a person whose profession requires registration must be registered with the relevant professional body. Child and Youth Care Workers must be registered with the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP), and statutorily registered workers must have completed accredited training. Act s209(2)(b) · Regs reg 82 · Norms Pt V §2(g) · Blueprint 9.7 · Policy: Safe Recruitment Policy §5
• Social workers must hold the necessary qualification and must likewise be registered with the SACSSP. Act s209(2)(b) · Regs reg 82 · Blueprint 9.7 · Policy: Safe Recruitment Policy §5
• A person who is unsuitable to work with children is not a fit and proper person to work at a centre. A court or a disciplinary forum can make that finding, a court must make it on a conviction of murder, attempted murder, rape, indecent assault or assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm with regard to a child, and a person listed in Part B of the National Child Protection Register is unsuitable by definition. A person who poses a risk to a child's safety should not work with children either. An application to register a centre must include clearance certificates showing that no board member or employee appears in Part B of that Register or on the National Register for Sex Offenders. Act ss120, 209(3) · Regs reg 78(2)(p), 84(4) · Blueprint 9.5 · Policy: Fit and Proper Person Standard; Safe Recruitment Policy §5
• Child and Youth Care Workers receive formal professional supervision: regular, planned time with a more experienced practitioner, to reflect on their practice and keep up professional standards. This is a different thing from the day-to-day oversight of a shift. The Blueprint says the supervisor is a trained Senior Child and Youth Care Worker, and the SACSSP requires that only a registered Child and Youth Care Worker may supervise another. Norms Pt V §2(g) · Blueprint 9.3 At Sparrows, the reporting line runs from the Executive Director, through the Social Worker, to the Senior Child and Youth Care Worker, who leads the Child and Youth Care Workers day to day. The Senior Child and Youth Care Worker is not yet trained or registered for this, so for now the Social Worker gives the formal supervision. Policy: Human Resource Policy §§6.4–6.8
• Formal supervision, for support, education and administration, takes place for every social service intervention at least once a month, for a minimum of 60 minutes. Norms Pt V §2(g) · Blueprint 11.6 · Policy: Human Resource Policy §6.5
• A manager is appointed through an interview panel that must consider whether the candidate is a registered professional, has specialised knowledge of child and youth care work, has proven leadership ability and management and administration skills (the Blueprint adds proven financial skills), and has experience of the programmes the centre is registered to provide. Act s209(1)(a), (2)(a) · Regs reg 83(2)–(3) · Blueprint 11.7 · Policy: Human Resource Policy §16
• A documented human resource policy governs recruitment, job descriptions, code of conduct, disciplinary process and grievance procedure for every member of staff, each of whom holds a written contract and job description reviewed regularly by management. The management board is responsible for approving policy. Regs reg 87(3) · Blueprint 9.6 · Policy: Human Resource Policy; Code of Conduct for Staff and Volunteers; Disciplinary Code and Procedure; Grievance Policy
• New staff complete a documented orientation and induction programme, and Sparrows maintains an up-to-date training and capacity-building plan for all personnel. Blueprint 9.6, 9.8 · Policy: Human Resource Policy §§5–6
• Staff wellbeing is an organisational responsibility. The Blueprint asks for confidential access to an Employee Assistance Programme and a debriefing session after a critical incident. Sparrows currently pays for monthly psychologist sessions for the Executive Director and the Social Worker. Blueprint 9.9 · Policy: Remuneration Policy §4.2

Source: the generic norms of the Transformation of the Child and Youth Care System (TCYCS), cited in Blueprint norm 9.4. The Act and the Regulations set no ratio. Policy: Human Resource Policy §2

2 Admission and records

How a child comes into our care, how they're received, and how their information is kept.

• Children are admitted to Sparrows under a placement order made in terms of the Children's Act, together with the social worker's assessment report and the child's identifying documents — a birth certificate, identity document, or affidavit as to age. Act ss157(1)(a), 158 · Blueprint 13.1, adapted · Policy: Admission Policy §§2–3
• A child must be received in a manner and a climate that is caring and safe, and which minimises trauma and maximises developmental opportunity during the admission process itself. Act s194(2)(a) · Norms Pt V §1(a) · Policy: Admission Policy §5
• Every child has the right to a full developmental assessment, carried out by a multi-disciplinary team within 48 hours of admission — strengths-based, appropriate to the child's culture, language and stage of development, and done with the child's own participation and, wherever reasonably possible, their family's. Act s194(2)(h) · Norms Pt V §8 · Blueprint 16.4 allows two weeks; the Norms' 48 hours governs
• A child arrives at Sparrows with little or nothing of their own. Every child receives a full starter provision on admission, set out below. Regs reg 73(d) · Blueprint 12.1 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §§2–3

Source: Blueprint norm 12.1. Linen is changed weekly; clothing lists are the Blueprint's own, reproduced in full so donors and the public can see exactly what a child is given on arrival.

• Every child has their own demarcated personal space and their own bed, with a mattress at least 15 cm thick, made from high-density foam and covered in fire-proof material, plus a bedside locker for their belongings. Regs reg 73(f) · Norms Pt V §1(c) · Blueprint 2.4 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §§4.3–4.4
• Every child has a single permanent file recording social work, life-space/child-care, health and educational information, together with any psychological or occupational-therapy reports supplied by an outside professional, held centrally with controlled access. Blueprint 13.3, adapted · Policy: Records and Retention Policy §4
• Confidential records are kept in a secure, fire-protected location, and everyone with access to a child's file signs a confidentiality undertaking with Sparrows. Regs reg 73(f) · Norms Pt V §2(a) · Blueprint 13.3 · Policy: POPIA Data Protection Policy; Records and Retention Policy
• A child's file is kept for five years after they leave Sparrows' care, and then destroyed. Blueprint 13.3, adapted · Policy: Records and Retention Policy §4.1
• Sparrows keeps an admissions register, an allocation register (each child's room and the social worker managing the case), a discharges register (the Blueprint's release register), a discipline register (its behaviour management register), and an incident register that also records reportable incidents. Blueprint 13.10 · Policy: Admission Policy §9; Discharge Policy §10; Child Protection Policy §3.3; Emergency and Crisis Management Policy §4.2

3 Health and education

Two rights the Blueprint treats as unconditional, whatever a child's circumstances.

• Every child is provided, unconditionally, with health care appropriate to their needs — including access to medical, dental, psychological and emergency care. The Blueprint asks for access to a psychologist on a sessional basis, not one on staff, and Sparrows does not employ one. Medication is stored, controlled and administered under proper policy and supervision. Act s194(2)(k) · Norms Pt V §11 · Blueprint 10.1, 12.3 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §§7, 9, 12
• Every child is provided, unconditionally, with education appropriate to their capacity and developmental needs — formal schooling, accessed in the community wherever possible, supported by life-skills and, where appropriate, vocational input — and is supervised throughout. Act s194(2)(l) · Regs reg 73(k) · Norms Pt V §12 · Blueprint 10.2 · Policy: Education Policy

4 The daily programme and basic care

A structured, documented, and clearly displayed rhythm to the day, built around the children rather than around staff convenience.

Act s191(2) · Regs reg 78(2)(n) · Blueprint 17.1 · Policy: Admission Policy §7 Sparrows regards bedtime as more than a routine: it is the point in the day when children are most likely to talk, and the standard names that explicitly.

• Children receive three meals and two snacks a day, on a balanced menu that takes cultural and religious needs into account. Regs reg 73(d), (i) · Blueprint 15.1 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §2.3

5 Developmental and therapeutic programmes

• Children have access to counselling and therapeutic support matched to their individual development plan, or as a particular situation requires. Programmes are approved by the provincial head of social development and reviewed regularly. Act s191(2), (4) · Regs reg 75(1)(b), (2) · Norms Pt V §2(d), (g) · Blueprint 17.2 · Policy: Admission Policy §7
• Children have access to life-skills, moral and health education, and — where age-appropriate — career guidance and vocational exposure. Regs reg 75(1)(a) · Blueprint 17.3 · Policy: Admission Policy §7
• Recreation is voluntary, supervised, and treated as part of the therapeutic programme rather than an afterthought — team activities are used deliberately to build teamwork. Regs reg 75(1)(c) · Blueprint 17.4 · Policy: Admission Policy §7
• Every child may take part in the religious and cultural activities of their own choice. Participation is voluntary and is never required of a child, and Sparrows marks the significant days of the traditions represented in our home. Regs reg 73(i) · Norms Pt V §2(l) · Blueprint 17.5, 17.6 · Policy: Admission Policy §7.2
• Every child has their own individual development plan, built from a proper assessment of their needs and strengths and, wherever reasonably possible, developed together with their family. The child takes part in shaping their own plan, is kept informed of it, and is involved in any decision to change it. Act s194(2)(e) · Regs reg 73(e) · Norms Pt V §§3, 5 · Policy: Admission Policy §3.1
• Every child's placement and individual development plan is reviewed at least once every six months for as long as they remain in our care. Act s194(2)(e) · Norms Pt V §5(f) · Blueprint 16.4 gives three months for the care plan and IDP
• Every child has a permanency plan aimed at life-long relationships and security — and, wherever possible, at reuniting them with their family within the shortest reasonable time. Act ss157(1)(a)(iii), 194(2)(d), (i) · Norms Pt V §§4, 5(b), 9 · Policy: Admission Policy §§3.1, 4.4
• Children leaving our care are supported through the transition: education and training, readiness for employment, independent living skills, and reconnecting with family and community. Act ss176, 194(2)(j) · Norms Pt V §10 · Blueprint 16.5 · Policy: Transition and Aftercare Policy §§3–4; Discharge Policy §8

6 Children's rights, privacy and dignity

A child in our care keeps the same rights to privacy and dignity as any other child.

• A child's personal information is treated respectfully and confidentially, and — wherever possible — a child gives informed consent before their personal information is shared with anyone else. Regs reg 73(f) · Norms Pt V §2(a) · Blueprint 18.1 · Policy: POPIA Data Protection Policy §4
• No audio recording, photograph or video that could positively identify a child may be taken. At Sparrows, staff and volunteers do not photograph, film or record a child on any device. The only exceptions are our CCTV, which the Department required, and an image taken for external use once the child's guardian has consented in writing and the child has had their say. Blueprint 18.1 · Policy: Code of Conduct §§3.3–3.5; POPIA Data Protection Policy §§4.3, 4.5 and 11.1 (visitors); Media and Photography Consent Policy §3; Perimeter Security Policy §2.6
• Children have their own personal space within their living quarters, and privacy when using ablution facilities. Regs reg 73(f) · Norms Pt V §1(c) · Blueprint 18.1 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §§4.3, 4.5
• Children have the right to privacy during discussions with their families and the other people they are entitled to see, unless a court order or their own care or development programme indicates otherwise, or they choose otherwise. Regs reg 73(c), (o) · Blueprint 18.1 words the exception as “not in the child's best interest” · Policy: Admission Policy §6.5
• Children have the right to send and receive mail unread. If a staff member must read a child's mail, the child has the right to be present. Regs reg 73(c), (f) · Blueprint 18.1 · Policy: Admission Policy §§6.6–6.7
• A child's cupboards and belongings are never searched without the child present and without justifiable cause. Where a search of belongings is necessary, children are told about this practice as part of their orientation, and any bodily search is conducted only by a staff member of the child's own gender, never as a matter of routine. Regs reg 73(f), (g) · Blueprint 18.1, 18.3 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §13
• Staff may not exert undue influence over a child's religious or personal beliefs, including sexual orientation or cross-gendered identity, and no measure may discriminate on the basis of cultural or linguistic heritage, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or cross-gendered identity. Regs reg 76(2)(k), (l) · Blueprint 18.1 · Policy: Code of Conduct §§2.4–2.5
• The rules, routine, and the rights and responsibilities that go with them, are visibly displayed in the home and discussed with the children — not simply handed to them on paper. Every child is also told, in a way suited to their age, what behaviour is expected of them, what follows if they do not meet it, and what help they can expect. Regs reg 73(h) · Norms Pt V §§6(e), 7(c) · Blueprint 18.1 · Policy: Admission Policy §5.2

7 Positive behaviour management

What the Regulations prohibit in every child and youth care centre.

Regs reg 73(j), 76(1)–(2) · Blueprint 13.4, 18.2 give a shorter list of the same prohibitions · Policy: Child Protection Policy §3

Regs reg 76(2)(h), 76(3)–(5), 77(b) · Blueprint 13.4, 18.2 · Policy: Child Protection Policy §3.3

Restraint is permitted only for the immediate safety of children or staff and only as an extreme measure, by personnel trained in it, under a specific policy and procedure. Every instance must be documented and monitored. Regs reg 76(2)(i) · Blueprint 13.4 · Policy: Child Protection Policy §3.5

8 Reportable and critical incidents

What must be reported, and to whom. Staff report each of these to the manager within an hour of discovering or being told of it. Regs reg 77 · Policy: Emergency and Crisis Management Policy §§4.2–4.3

• Removal or attempted removal of a child by anyone who is not permitted to remove them
• Any use of restraint, isolation, or a prohibited behaviour management measure
• An accident or illness needing medical attention or hospitalisation
• Allegations of physical, psychological, emotional, sexual or verbal abuse
• Absence of a child without permission, or otherwise than as agreed in their individual development plan
• Intervention by security personnel or the SAPS
• The death or injury of a child
• Any criminal charge or conviction of a staff member, volunteer or other adult involved with the centre
• Substance abuse by staff: on duty, arriving under the influence, or dealing in drugs
• Any strike by workers at the centre
• Any other unusual circumstance likely to affect a child's safety or wellbeing

The manager then reports to the child's parent or guardian, a police official where relevant, the provincial head of the Department of Social Development, and the social worker managing the case. A child's death must be reported to all four immediately, and a child's serious injury or abuse immediately to the provincial head. Act s178 · Policy: Emergency and Crisis Management Policy §4.4 Separately, any staff member or volunteer who concludes on reasonable grounds that a child has been abused in a way that causes physical injury, sexually abused, or deliberately neglected must report it to a designated child protection organisation, the provincial department or the police. Act ss110(1), 178 · Blueprint 13.5 · Policy: Child Protection Policy §4.2; Emergency and Crisis Management Policy §4

9 Children's participation — the Children's Forum

• A Children's Forum is established as part of the management board, made up of a representative group of children in our care, and speaking through its own children's representative rather than through a staff member acting on its behalf. Act s208(6) · Regs reg 73(e), 85(e) · Blueprint 18.4 · Policy: Children's Forum and Participation Policy §§2–3
• The Forum's proceedings are minuted, and the minutes go to the head of the centre. Blueprint 18.4 · Policy: Children's Forum and Participation Policy §§2.2, 3.3
• Concerns raised are acted on, and feedback on that action is given back to the Forum. Blueprint 18.4 · Policy: Children's Forum and Participation Policy §§2.2, 3.3
• Children are given a description of the complaints procedure, in language and a form appropriate to their age, and complaints are dealt with seriously, promptly and fairly. The Regulations require a written complaints procedure approved by the management board, and that every child is told about it on admission. Regs reg 74 · Norms Pt V §2(j), 7(d) · Blueprint 18.4 · Policy: Children's Complaints Procedure

A Child and Youth Care Worker is usually the person who makes a Children's Forum work, or lets it quietly die.

10 Monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance

• Every centre undergoes a Developmental Quality Assurance (DQA) process within two years of registration, and repeated at intervals of not more than three years from the date the previous one was finalised. Act s211(1) · Regs reg 89(1)–(2) · Blueprint 19.1 gives four years, then two to three; the Regulations govern · Policy: Risk Management Policy §§10.3, 10.8
• The process combines an internal self-assessment by our own management and staff with an external, independent assessment by a team drawn from government and non-government sectors. Act s211(2)(a)–(b) · Regs reg 89(4)–(5) · Blueprint 19.1 · Policy: Risk Management Policy §10.4
• The DQA is confidential: information gathered is shared only with those who have a professional reason to see it. Blueprint 19.1
• The process produces a report and an organisational development plan agreed between the two teams. The independent team appoints a mentor to oversee the plan, progress is reviewed within a year, and the management board sends a copy of the plan to the MEC for Social Development without delay. Act s211(2)(c)–(d), (3) · Blueprint 19.1 · Policy: Risk Management Policy §§10.5–10.7

Sparrows' most recent DQA was conducted by the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development on 25–26 February 2025.

11 Safety and emergency preparedness

• Buildings, fittings and equipment are kept safe for children — from light fittings and doors to windows and mirrors. Act s194(2)(m) · Norms Pt V §§1(b)–(d), 13(b) · Blueprint 7.1 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §4
• A documented, up-to-date emergency plan is in place, fire exits are clearly marked, and sufficient serviced fire extinguishers are available throughout the property. At Sparrows, extinguishers are serviced every April, at the start of our financial year. Regs reg 78(2)(o) · Norms Pt V §13(d) · Blueprint 2.3, 7.1 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §5; Emergency and Crisis Management Policy
• Evacuation drills are practised regularly with both children and staff. Blueprint 7.1 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §5.2
• Sufficient staff are trained in first aid, and emergency numbers are clearly displayed. Norms Pt V §13(e) · Blueprint 7.1 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §6.1
• Refuse is disposed of safely and kept out of children's reach, and pest control is carried out regularly. Blueprint 7.5 · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §4.2
• There is adult supervision at all times, and a maintained first aid kit is always available. Norms Pt V §13(c), (e) · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §6.2
• Where a child shows signs of injury or trauma, they are referred to a hospital or clinic for assessment and treatment, and their parent or care-giver is told as soon as possible, if they can be reached. Norms Pt V §13(f) · Policy: Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §7.1
• Where abuse is suspected, the child is referred to a designated child protection organisation. Act s110(1) · Norms Pt V §13(g) · Policy: Child Protection Policy §4.2; Health, Safety and Nutrition Policy §7.2