Cape Town - The 13-year-old girl who was used as a sex slave - allegedly by her own mother - has been placed back into the care of the same social worker who failed her the first time.
The Daily Voice has learnt the traumatised teen was placed into foster care in March. But that she ran away - back into the evil clutches of a suspected paedophile ring operating in Atlantis.
Ward councillor and shelter owner Barbara Rass, in whose care the girl had been placed since her horrific plight came to light, reveals the teen’s case was never investigated and that the foster mom is still receiving her child-care grant.
That is because the social worker handling her case was unaware the child had run away from her foster mother.
“That means she was in the care of the department when she was raped,” an outraged Barbara tells the Daily Voice.
The girl said her mother had been selling her for sex, sometimes for as little as R20 a time.
She said her mother often watched as the men raped her. The woman has since been arrested on charges of rape.
In the latest developments, the Department of Social Development yesterday took the child away from Barbara.
She will now be placed back into foster care - and her case handled by the same social worker who failed her in March.
Melany Kühn, spokesperson for Social Development MEC Albert Fritz, could not explain why the social worker was unaware of the teen’s circumstances. But she says the girl did not want to stay with Barbara anymore.
“I can confirm that the child in question was taken to a place of safety,” Kuhn says. “She had in fact also requested to be moved.”
Wendy Rass, of the DA Ward Councillor’s office in Atlantis, says they fear the teen will fall through the cracks again.
“They didn’t know the child was being raped. Where was the social worker when this was happening?” she asks.
“How did they not know she ran away? She is now back with them and what is going to happen now, where will she end up?”
Daily Voice