In the migration process, especially when leaving a war, the most vulnerable group are families with children and unaccompanied children. In addition to the hardship of reaching South Africa, newly-arrived families often cannot handle the pressure of severe socio-economic conditions; children find themselves exposed to risks such as neglect, ill health and lack of schooling; families break up which unfortunately leads often to the abandonment of the child.
Through Lawrence House the Scalabrini Centre addresses the need of assisting these vulnerable children. The absence of clear procedures and best practices on dealing with refugee children and the limited access to social grants, urged the Scalabrini Centre in 2005 to create a place able to combine the provision of shelter and care with the necessary legal knowledge as to become a reference point for other organisations which are less experienced and/or specialised in the work with refugees.
The programme was initially started to assist a group of about 25 abandoned minors of which today almost none fall into that category since their families have been located and Lawrence House is working on their reunification.
Today Lawrence House is a registered children’s home with the Department of Social Development (Reg. Nr 15/5/20/2/1 C6887) dedicated specifically to the care of abandoned, separate or unaccompanied refugee minors. The Home and its separated teenager cottage can accommodate up to 30 children, boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18. Currently the children are from Angola, DRC, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Lawrence House aims at offering abandoned and orphaned foreign and refugee children a stable home environment where they can attend school and heal the trauma of separation from their families with the ultimate aim of ensuring safe family reunification.
Thanks to their placement in Lawrence House the children enjoy 24 hour care, schooling, recreation and counselling, and the hope to find in the near future a new, permanent home and a stable family. From a care perspective the main focus is to equip all our children with the necessary tools to be able to return to their communities one day as independent, self confident and mature individuals.
