Pretoria - There are more than half a million children in foster care in South Africa, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said on Monday.
She told reporters in Pretoria that access to care services for children had increased greatly over the past two decades.
“ (It) has increased from about 78 000 foster children in 1994, to 372 960 beneficiaries and 532 159 foster children at the end of March (this year).”
Access to early childhood development services (ECDs) had also “broadened significantly over the past five years.
“By the end of the 2012/13 financial year, more than one million (1 009 022) children were accessing ECD services throughout the country.
“The number of children directly subsidised by the state has increased from 432 727 in 2009/10, to more than 545 347 in 2013,” Dlamini said.
Sapa