Residential Care
Our residential care programmes are located in Turffontein – Gauteng and Somerset West – Western Cape. These facilities offer places of safety for orphaned and vulnerable children.
The Sanctuary is a historic unit within Cotlands, established more than seven decades ago in Johannesburg. Physical and emotional restoration is provided to the children being sheltered at the Cotlands Sanctuary where they are cared for in this unit until alternative placements can be arranged.
The Sanctuary, in addition to caring for recovered Hospice children, also cares for abandoned, abused, orphaned and/or HIV positive children until they can be reunited with family members, or until suitable community placements can be arranged.
While we cannot avoid the institutional overtones of having to operate the Sanctuary using two shifts of workers and a highly routined program, by ensuring each child is allocated a personal adult carer and exposing them to many normal experiences such as an annual holiday, trips to shopping centres, baking in the kitchen, enrolment at Cotlands’ Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre, etc — we strive to tip the balances in favour of a more home-like environment.
Cotlands has two facilities in our residential care programs; our Hospice and Sanctuary. In Turffontein however, a third facility was opened in 2006 for our older children.
Although initially regarded as separate units, the successful introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the associated improved health and longevity of our children at the non- profit organisation has resulted in children moving through both units, depending on their needs at any given time. In light of this, we refer to these units as “residential care”, as their combined services that offer the children a continuum of care.
Residential Care: Gauteng
Sanctuary
The Sanctuary is a historic unit within Cotlands, established more than seven decades ago in Johannesburg. Physical and emotional restoration is provided to the children being sheltered at the Cotlands Sanctuary where they are cared for in this unit until alternative placements can be arranged.
The Sanctuary, in addition to caring for recovered Hospice children, also cares for abandoned, abused, orphaned and/or HIV positive children until they can be reunited with family members, or until suitable community placements can be arranged.
While we cannot avoid the institutional overtones of having to operate the Sanctuary using two shifts of workers and a highly routined programme, by ensuring each child is allocated a personal adult carer and exposing them to many normal experiences – such as an annual holiday, trips to shopping centres, baking in the kitchen, enrolment at Cotlands’ Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre, etc — we strive to tip the balances in favour of a more home-like environment.
Hospice
The Hospice unit at Cotlands provides for children from birth to 9-10 months of age, depending on their level of independence at the developmental stage. The young children in this unit are usually admitted as a result of HIV related illnesses.
Children are referred to the hospice via state hospitals, Cotlands’ Home Based Care project, other childcare agencies and institutions, and directly by community members. The demand for this service has remained constant over the past few years, so the unit always runs at full capacity.
Cotlands House – Johannesburg
At the children’s home In Johannesburg, we have an additional facility we refer to as Cotlands House. Ten clinically well children, affected by HIV, attend formal schooling and are accommodated at Cotlands House; a group home setting within the community where a House-mother attends to their daily needs.
Each of our residential care units at the non- profit organisation focus on providing holistic care to the children to ensure that all needs are met according to our children’s individual medical, developmental and emotional status.
Residential Care: Western Cape
Hospice
Cotlands Western Cape is the only residential care facility in the Helderberg that specialises in paediatric HIV/AIDS. Since its opening in July 2003, 781 children were cared for. On average 9 children are being admitted and discharged per month. Hospice’s turnover is high, indicating that we are utilising this facility to its full potential. For the past year we have been constantly full with a waiting list of 5 to 6 children.
The hospice facility is equipped to care for up to 26 children from birth to 18 months. A qualified nursing sister heads up the hospice assisted by a medical doctor and four teams of medically trained personnel, comprising of a staff nurse and four child care workers. Staff at the hospice work on a 12-hour shift basis.
Sanctuary
The Sanctuary cares for up to 20 children from 2 to 6 years who are abandoned, abused and/or orphaned as well as children on ARV medication, who have recovered sufficiently to be moved out of our hospice, until they can be reunited with their families or until alternative suitable community placements can be arranged. The older children attend the ECD centre from 8h30 to 12h00 from Monday to Friday.
We encourage the family and children to maintain contact. To normalise the children’s environment at the children’s home, we aim to limit the period of placement to no more than one year, so that the children do not struggle to re-adjust to life away from Cotlands.
