General Enquiry

Leliebloem House

Welcome
About Us
Our Projects
Wishlist
Make a Donation
Why Support Us
Contact Us

Child & Youth Care Centre

Today, Leliebloem House is a registered, non-for-profit organization!

Leliebloem House was founded as a House of Mercy by Bishop Gray in 1868.

Archdeacon Lighfoot, gave a sum of money for the purpose of establishing a refuge for fallen woman in Plein Street, Cape Town. In 1886, House of Mercy was resettled on a site on the Leliebloem Estate (where the present Holiday Inn is), made possible through the generosity of the society of St John the Evangelist.

Today, Leliebloem House is a registered, non-for-profit organization, a residential centre for 84 children from troubled families, i.e. children who are in difficult circumstances and in need of special care and intervention.

We endeavour to offer the least restrictive setting for these children who have been placed with us by the courts because of the inadequacy of or a complete breakdown in the primary care environment.

Revamp Weekend 27-29 July 2012

To help establish loving homes for orphaned, vulnerable and destitute children in South Africa…

Child & Youth Care Centre

The house is committed to the concept & practice of Customised Treatment & Development Programmes!

Leliebloem House is run under the auspices of the Anglican Church of South Africa and is located in a middle class neighbourhood.

The children, however, come from high-risk environments where very poor and negative socio-economic conditions prevail. The reasons for alternative care placements of the children are:

They are mostly from single parent families where unemployment, alcohol or drug abuse is prevalent.They have been neglected and abused, either sexually, physically or emotionally.
They are at-risk because of poor parental control as well as emotional or physical deprivation.
The biggest challenge is to establish and maintain healthy interpersonal relationship. This challenge is huge when one considers that they did not form strong attachments with primary care-givers.

The affairs of the house are governed by a management committee consisting of nominated members of the church and elected members of the Leliebloem House Association. The principal is accountable to this management committee for the efficient daily management of the house. The Activities of the staff are co-ordinated through three departments, viz, Child Care, Treatment and Auxiliary Services. Ten residential Child and Youth Care Workers, and seven Household Assistants provides for the needs and developmental opportunities of these most lovable children. We utilize the services of volunteers, and high school children are encouraged to do their community projects at Leliebloem House.

Each cottage accommodates 14 children who are enrolled at schools in the local community, and they are encouraged to participate in well-structured community projects and activities. The healthy, professional relationship that develops between agency, staff, and children, is the vehicle by which Leliebloem House’s and the children’s goals and objectives of both are met.

The house is fully committed to the concept and practice of Customised Treatment & Development Programmes. Our volunteer program has been in place for a few years and has proved to be very successful as we have had volunteers from USA, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and England.

We have embarked on Experimental Learning Camps for educators and learners which proved to be a huge success and the Family Re-unification Programme which has shown its successes year after year. Our objectives are to bring wholeness and healing of the child and the family. The child has to be reunified with his/her family and returned to the community. The challenge is to equip the child with the necessary skills to master his or her life situation whilst offering the family new skills as part of the reconstruction and development of that family unit. The interests of the child are always pf paramount importance. What is best for the child is the norm.

We appeal to you for your support. Join us in our efforts to provide the very best second chance for our children, who are being provided with the opportunity of reworking and re-negotiating their developmental stage of their lives.

Child & Youth Care Centre

On Sunday 29th July, The Extreme makeover at Leliebloem child & youth care centre ended with the excited children arrived back at their home in intense anticipation as to how their new bedrooms, play rooms, gardens and living areas would now look.

The youngest child age 4, was allowed to cut the ribbon and go to see his house first.

The joy of seeing the children screaming with excitement as they ran into all the rooms laughing and shouting for joy brought tears to many of the onlookers, sponsorers and volunteers eyes.

Browse our photo gallery of the day the children saw their new home

Photo Gallery

Residential Care:

Leliebloem House is a registered, non-profit Child and Youth Care Centre, founded in 1969. It serves as a home-away-from-home for 84 children from troubled families who are removed from thier primary caregivers for specialist intervention.

The children come from high-risk environments where very poor and negative socia-economic conditions prevail. Some of the characteristics are:

Families with poor parental control
Some of the children have been neglected or abused, either sexually, physically or emotionally
Many of them come from single parent families where unemployment and alcohol abuse are prevalent
Some of the children have lost a parent and guardians or have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS

Isibindi:

“Within the Isibindi model, child and youth care workers visit identified orphans and vulnerable children in their homes and provide comprehensive services. This includes accompanying and representing children at schools, health services and government offices, when necessary. They also provide psychological support through memory box activities, grief work, building of relationships, identifying needs and feelings, providing developmental care, behaviour management, activity programming, risk assessment and life space counselling.”

– Winnie Direko (Honourable MP), on the occasion of the second reading of the Report of Portfolio Committee on Social Development on Children’s Amendment Bill, Parliament, Hansard.

The Family Reunification Program is aimed at restoring family bonds!

Adolescent Development Programme:

We provide a therapeutic development program to a 105 adolescents from the Athlone area and surrounding communities.

The program equips young adolescents with life skills and mentorship training in order to make informed choices for themselves whilst simultaneously providing them with opportunities to interact with their peers and offer positive peer support to each other. The program offers experiential learning camps, intensive workshops, life skills training and weekly peer support groups to young people. The program runs over a 12 month period during which three groups of 35 adolescents participates in all of the above activities.

At the end of the program the adolescents graduate from the program but after care support is still available to those adolescents who require it. Parenting skills training workshops will be offered to the parents and guardians of adolescents who is participating in the program. The parenting support workshops enable parents to better manage adolescent behaviour. The program comprises of a range of activities in order to uplift and empower young people and their parents/ guardians.

Family Reunification Programme:

The Family Reunification Program is aimed at restoring family bonds and reintegrating children back into their families and communities.

The success of our program lies in the fact that we have a team solely dedicated to reunification activities. This allows us to respond immediately to families in crisis and affords us the time needed to build supportive working relationships with the families.