Child maltreatment prevention readiness assessment: South Africa

Despite the attention to service-oriented policy, a number of challenges remain, including the high number of youngest children (0 to 4 years) who do not have access to early childhood development services. A study of ECD services in the Western Cape Province found that service integration for younger children was consistently poor while identification and referral of children with problems were seldom done at community level. Furthermore, ECD site management did not engage proactively with families of children who have problems and provide support or encourage attendance of ECD facilities (Dawes, Biersteker disrupts schooling, does not lead to marriage and contributes to the widespread situation of 'absent fathers' during a child's upbringing. Children born to young mothers grow up with fewer opportunities for development provided by families than with present fathers. Furthermore, maternal poverty, due to low educational attainment and consequent poor incomes, contributes to stressful parenting among young single mothers (Panday et al, 2009). Maternal education deficit has been associated with negative child welfare, education and health outcomes (Ardington et al, 2011). A study using the Cape Area Panel Study data, waves 1 to 4 of this longitudinal study of young people in Cape Town since 2002, found that teenage child bearing had poor health outcomes for children an intergenerational effect of poor health as indicated by children who were underweight, shorter than their age and stunted (Branson, Ardington they may be indirectly affected if their caregivers die in violent incidents.