Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
31 January 2024 | 16:39 CAT

The care dependency grant covers disabled children from birth until they turn 18. Photo/Money101

A new study has indicated that the Care Dependency Grant for children with disabilities in South Africa is insufficient to meet the needs of these children and to ensure the social protection of their families. For families with minimal or no other income, the CDG cannot cover the additional costs of managing childhood disability, and even those who gain access are at risk of extreme poverty.

This is according to Dr Zara Trafford from the Institute for Life Course Health Research in the Department of Global Health at Stellenbosch University, who recently received her PhD in Psychology at the University.

In an interview with Radio Islam International, Dr Trafford underscores the aim and findings of her study.

Trafford interviewed parents who receive the CDG, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) officials, doctors who conduct CDG assessments, social workers, activists, academics and adults with disabilities. She also held focus group discussions with some of the parents.

“The aim of my study was to speak to a whole bunch of different stakeholders and different groups of people around the central focus of the CDG. That included parents or other primary care givers turning out to be only the mothers that I spoke with,” Dr Trafford says.

Dr Trafford says that although the CDG provided much-needed support to families, it was simply not enough to support children with disabilities due to high unemployment, the lack of respite care, and a lack of complementary services and provisions from other government departments.

Trafford points out that social workers and assessing doctors also indicated that families struggled to access the CDG early enough for optimal effects on the health and well-being of recipient children.

She said, “while the caregivers who participated in my study had eventually gained access to the CDG, this had often been delayed for many years. In most of these cases, parents had only gained access after repeated rejections from frontline SASSA officials, although these officials are not technically supposed to make these decisions.”

Dr Trafford added that the assessment process also hampers the implementation of this grant to determine if a child is eligible to receive it.

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Muallimah Annisa Essack and Dr Zara Trafford from the Institute for Life Course Health Research in the Department of Global Health at Stellenbosch University.