Child Welfare opens 6th foster home with grateful hearts

GEORGE NEWS - With grateful hearts, the George Child and Family Welfare Society (GCFW) opened its sixth foster home for children in Blanco on Friday 12 September.

Accommodating six children, the beautiful, newly built house, located on a large property with lots of outdoor space, is the culmination of a project that started in 2007 to make provision for children in need of foster care. It began with the donation of a house by KFM in that year.

According to the manager, Sue du Toit, while waiting for this property to be registered in Child Welfare's name, it was used as a safe house for children and various community projects until 2013, when the transfer was finalised.

Sabine Plattner of the Hasso Plattner Foundation, which largely funds GCFW, renovated the house and it was named Sabine's Haven, after her.

Realising the great need there is for stable foster homes and hearing Du Toit's vision of having more homes in close proximity of one another, in 2019, Plattner decided to build or acquire one house per year until six homes were established.

Sabine's Haven now serves as a short-term crisis home where children who urgently need to be removed from their families are accommodated until they are placed at a foster home.

All the GCFW houses are currently filled to capacity.

The children who will call the new house their home have a peek in the fridge.

Du Toit said they witness how children's lives are changed for the better at these homes.

"Those of us who have the privilege of watching them come in as broken little children and grow into these happy and well-adjusted kids, [know that it] gives you the energy to keep on."

She thanked the large number of other sponsors and contributors without whose donations and help the new house would not have been possible.

"We have had such amazing help from the community and businesses, and will be eternally grateful for it."

The team from George Child Welfare who were involved with the project: Jo-Anne Kleynhans, Winnie Smith, Agnes Maree, Leilanie Peacock, Sue du Toit, Rachel Jooste-Booysen, Andile Fanelo and Reggie Tamboer.

Johan Venter (Paintsmiths George), Andy Kleinhans (building contractor), Ace Fanelo (George Child and Family Welfare), Penny Vorster (Liminal Architects), Marlize de Bruyn (town planner), Lili Grobler (Stiles), Nina Appiah-Baiden (Stiles), Johan van Tonder (Stiles), and Tamryn and Brendan Maguire (Velvet Home and Living).