Protecting Our Children and Youth. How Social Service Delivery can Prevent Crime

This research paper assesses the potential of South Africa's Departments of Education, Health, and Social Development to prevent crime among children and youth up to age 18 through social service delivery. It argues that while these departments have mandates and policies that could reduce offending and victimisation, their effectiveness is severely limited by funding shortages, poor service quality, and a lack of standardised early childhood development.

• The Departments of Education (DOE), Health (DOH), and Social Development (DSD) are the primary entities responsible for child care and crime prevention opportunities in South Africa. The DOE focuses on General Education and Training, the DOH manages maternal and child health and primary health care, and the DSD handles social assistance, child protection, and child justice.
• Social security spending dominates the Department of Social Development's budget, which creates competition for other targeted social services. In the 2003/04 period, social security accounted for an average of 92% of social development budgets.
• Early Childhood Development (ECD) services in South Africa face significant challenges regarding reach and quality. In 2001, fewer than one-sixth of the estimated 6.4 million children aged 0–7 were enrolled in ECD provisioning. Furthermore, only 10% of ECD educators were considered appropriately qualified, and 15% were deemed underqualified.
• There is a stark disparity in funding between early childhood development and formal schooling. The average per capita spending on ECD is R390.00, compared to an average of R4,243.00 for school education.
• Primary prevention efforts, such as general education and information programmes for parents and caregivers, are insufficient. Most activities are limited to specific annual events like Child Protection Week.
• Early intervention and diversion services for young offenders are largely dependent on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) due to limited government funding and personnel. Entities such as Nicro and Khulisa carry much of the financial burden for diversion services.
• The schooling system is a critical vehicle for crime prevention, but poverty and other pressures can lead to disengagement, truancy, and drop-outs, which may drive children to seek alternatives such as making a living on the street.

APA

Frank, C. (2005). Protecting Our Children and Youth. How Social Service Delivery can Prevent Crime. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/01-sep-2005-sacq-no-13/protecting-our-children-and-youth.-how-social-service-delivery-can-prevent-crime-cheryl-frank

Chicago

Frank, Cheryl. Protecting Our Children and Youth. How Social Service Delivery can Prevent Crime. Institute for Security Studies, 2005. https://issafrica.org/01-sep-2005-sacq-no-13/protecting-our-children-and-youth.-how-social-service-delivery-can-prevent-crime-cheryl-frank.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Frank |first1=Cheryl |title=Protecting Our Children and Youth. How Social Service Delivery can Prevent Crime |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=1 September 2005 |url=https://issafrica.org/01-sep-2005-sacq-no-13/protecting-our-children-and-youth.-how-social-service-delivery-can-prevent-crime-cheryl-frank |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{frank2005protecting, author = {Frank, Cheryl}, title = {{Protecting Our Children and Youth. How Social Service Delivery can Prevent Crime}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2005}, month = sep, url = {https://issafrica.org/01-sep-2005-sacq-no-13/protecting-our-children-and-youth.-how-social-service-delivery-can-prevent-crime-cheryl-frank}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }