CARE NET Development and support organisation, an NGO taking care of the orphaned, vulnerable and lost children, celebrated a year since the discovery of a baby that was found dumped at a dumping site in Winterveldt near Mabopane Station.
The undisclosed baby was confirmed to have been abandoned without knowing how long he was left alone in the dumping area.
Care-Net officials working with government tried to reach out to the biological parents of the baby even tried to work with the media to find the real parents but still could not find them.
Enthusiastically celebrating one year anniversary since the discovery of the neglected baby, Founder and Director of CARE NET, Ms Mmatṧatṧi Mokgohloa, said, ‘‘the child was found in the hospital, but before that, the baby was found in one of the dumping sites in Winterveldt.
“The Loate Police officers took the child to ODI hospital for medical assessments, after the assessments they found that the child was not sick. The hospital social worker called us to fetch the three-month-old baby and we placed the baby in foster care because we do not have a children’s home yet.
“But before the baby was placed in foster care, we took him to a children’s home in Johannesburg at Walter Sisulu Children’s Home in Soweto where foster parents were also found.
“The Child Welfare does the visits to the child because we are far from the child,’’ said Ms Mokgohloa.
Social Worker, Ms Xoliswa Mayeza, working at the Care-Net said after they received a call from ODI hospital they had to assist the child with documentation because the child had no real Identity and could not get any proper services.
She said they had to do medical assessments and get Form- 7 from the magistrate for the birth certificate of the child to be registered by the Department of Home Affairs.
“Because the child was unknown, he had to be registered under Social Workers and be assessed for suitable foster care parents.
“Even though we tried finding the biological mother, we are not going to give back the child to the mother because she dumped the child,” Ms Mayeza said.
Ms Mittah Pelle, Social Auxiliary Worker, at the Care-Net said, “As we speak, the child is safe and healthy, living with his foster parents.’’
