Maria Kloppers Campus
On a hill in Observatory, Johannesburg, the beautiful Maria Kloppers campus with 4 residential houses and a baby unit overlooks the valley below. This campus can accommodate approximately 50 children including 12 babies that need a place of safety.
THE TYPE OF CHILDREN ON THIS CAMPUS
Childcare workers in the baby unit need to be awake around the clock to ensure that the 12 – 15 babies are well-cared for.
Ten children are accommodated in each of the four houses. They range in age from 18 months – 18 years and they are cared for by childcare workers.
The babies and children come from all races.
Boys and girls are represented in more or less equal numbers.
Babies with illnesses or disabilities taken into care exceed the norm in society.
The aim of this campus is
To provide holistic care for children from birth to the time when they can be re-integrated into society. That time should be sooner rather than later, especially in the case of babies. The campus also tries to keep siblings close to one another and it is therefore regarded as the family focused programme.
Placement of babies and toddlers with own parents as a first choice, with adoptive parents as a second choice or with foster parents as a third choice is the ideal. Despite this, some children will remain in the care of Abraham Kriel Bambanani.
In line with our mission, the development of children in every phase of their life remains a priority. Each child has his or her own development plan, in which they are involved as soon as they are old enough to understand it.
ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE PROGRAMS
It is a well-established wisdom that babies need to bond with a primary care giver in order to develop the social skills that are needed for a happy and fruitful life. This is almost impossible to achieve in a children’s home, where staff care for many and are not permanent as seen from a child’s perspective. For that reason it is in the babies’ best interest to be re-united with their biological mothers or if that is not possible to be adopted or placed into foster care. We work with outside agencies that do the adoptions. Click here for more information on adoption and foster care.