When I was appointed in the family reunification post at Badisa Tygerberg in December 2024, I had very little insight into my caseload. One case, in particular, stayed with me — a four-year-old girl who was placed in temporary safe care, with no immediate prospects for reunification. At that stage, her only connection was contact with her mother. Before this placement, she had already experienced two other temporary safe care placements.
By February 2025, I had to request a postponement in court. I simply didn’t know what the best next step was for her. The safe care placement felt it was no longer in the child’s best interest for her to remain with them, as she struggled to adjust and lacked consistency in the people around her. She had already experienced too much instability for someone so young.
Desperate to find a suitable foster home, I reached out to Kin Culture — and yes, I was persistent. This little girl was not considered an “ideal” foster care candidate: she was older, her family involvement had been inconsistent, and she carried significant emotional trauma. She needed a foster family who was patient, skilled, and able to provide stability and understanding.
In March 2025, Kin Culture found a potential match. The prospective foster parents were married, had older children of their own, and were educators by profession. What followed was a lengthy and delicate process. Relationships had to be built — between the child and the foster parents, between the foster parents and the biological mother, and input had to be obtained from the biological father, who was serving an imprisonment sentence at the time.
After several postponements, everything finally came together. In April 2025, the foster placement was finalised in court. Everyone who played a role in this journey was present — the foster parents, biological parents, and the social workers who made it possible.
This story will always be one of my highlights. I had the privilege of being part of a process that gave a little girl something she had never truly had before: permanency. Today, she is happy, thriving, and growing up in a loving and stable family — exactly where she belongs. – Family reunification social worker, Badisa Tygerberg
