Legal guide to age thresholds for children Various laws stipulate the ages that children can legally make decisions, such as signing a contract, accessing social grants or housing subsidies, or consent to medical treatment, adoption, etc. Some of these laws are currently being
re-written and will change the various age thresholds. This legal guide, produced in partnership with the Centre for Child Law, University of Pretoria, provides information on the current laws, and proposed reforms. It is an update to the ‘Ages Fact Sheet’ which the Children’s Institute produced in 2006.
South African Child Gauge 2007/2008 'Children’s right to social services' is the 2007/2008 theme of this
popular annual review of the situation of children in South Africa. The
Children’s Act (as amended) is the primary law that is aimed at giving
effect to this right. The South African Child Gauge 2007/2008 provides
in-depth information on some of the pioneering aspects of the new law
and the budgetary and human resource challenges that need attention
to enable maximum impact for vulnerable children. It also contains an
update on legislative and policy developments pertaining to child rights,
and provides updated statistics on the demographics of children in
South Africa and their access to a range of socio-economic entitlements.
Child Rights in Focus The official CI newsletter, Issue 7, March 2008
This issue reports among others on Parliament’s passing of the Children’s Amendment Bill and related input from the Institute’s residential care research; an assessment of readers’ perceptions of the South African Child Gauge 2006; a Means to Live workshop to discuss the coherence of poverty alleviation programmes; and the launch of a training programme for health professionals on children’s rights. Read also about new Children’s Institute publications such as the third edition of the South African Child Gauge 2007/2008, and contributions to a number of academic publications.
Champions for Children Handbook: How to build a caring school community
This handbook is a guide to mobilising schools and neighbourhoods around the well-being and needs of children to create caring school communities. It was developed through action research in four school
communities in the Western Cape and the Free State. The work was done in partnership with the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union, and in collaboration with other organisations, including the Caring Schools Network (CASNET). The handbook is available in hard copy or
CD-ROM to communities who would like to participate in the research.
The Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, aims to contribute to policies, laws and
interventions that promote equality and realise
the rights and improve the conditions
of
all children in South Africa,
through research, advocacy, education and technical support.
