Masters Degrees (Social Work)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Social Work) by browse.metadata.advisor "Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel"

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    Beginner maatskaplike werkers se ervaring van volwasseneonderrig in supervisie
    (2019-12) Brandt, Shanell; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The declining quality in South African supervision practice and social service delivery is attributed to the shortage of competent and trained supervisors as well as the lack of supervision. The failure of social work supervision is often attributed to inadequate education during supervision. The education function in supervision of especially novice social workers is essential for effective and quality service delivery. Despite this, the education function is neglected during supervision while the administrative function takes precedence. The social work practice mainly utilizes a traditional education process that is based on pedagogical principles. This process is by no means relevant to adults and thus (beginner) social workers' learning needs. Adult education, also known as andragogy, is fundamental to the supervision of social workers to ensure that quality services are provided to service consumers. Existing literature shows that social workers and supervisors are unfamiliar with this important and indispensable aspect of supervision. Against this background the research study aimed to gain a better understanding of novice social workers' experience of adult education during supervision. A qualitative research approach was used to explore novice social workers' experience of adult education during supervision. The study utilized both an exploratory and descriptive research design to obtain detailed information and insight into the participants' experience. For the purpose of this study, snowball sampling method was used to recruit participants. A semi-structured interview schedule was followed during interviews with 20 participants. This research report consists of five chapters. Chapter one provides an introduction to the research study, followed by chapters two and three that represent the literature review of the study. Chapter two describes the supervision process and social work context of novice social workers, while chapter three provides a description of adult education within the context of supervision. Chapter four of this research study presents the empirical study, and Chapter five the conclusions and recommendations. Key findings and conclusions from the study highlight the absence of education and the lack of application of adult education principles during supervision. It seems that pedagogy, rather than andragogy, is supervisors' approach to education. The supervision practice in social welfare organizations neglects the education function that especially disadvantages novice social workers' growth and development in the profession as well as the quality of service they deliver to service consumers. Influences of neoliberalism and a managerial approach in social work practice mean that social work supervision in welfare organizations is not regular and structured. Informal supervision (on the run) has become increasingly common in social welfare organizations and contributes to the decline in quality service delivery. Supervisors in the social supervision practice do not follow a supervision process during which novice social workers are assessed and consequently a personal development plan is not compiled to determine the growth and development of the worker. Supervision in the social work practice is experienced negatively and not performed as prescribed by standards of the South African Supervision Framework.
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    Compassion fatigue and self-care : voices of newly qualified social workers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Pretorius, Tanya; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Existing literature on compassion fatigue and self-care have increased. However, newly qualified social workers receive less attention and are often not the focus of study, with little to no research studies conducted on the plight of social workers in South Africa. They continue to find themselves in stressful and demanding situations which inhibit their ability to conduct their work effectively. This is especially prevalent among newly qualified social workers, who face challenges pertaining to transitioning from student to professional, and this is the reason they are at increased risk of experiencing compassion fatigue compared to more seasoned social workers. In this context, compassion fatigue can be regarded as an ethical concern to be addressed, as it not only negatively affects newly qualified social workers in their personal lives, but also their work performance and service rendering. Despite self-care being recognised as a promising measure to prevent compassion fatigue, newly qualified social workers are not adequately equipped to implement it and thus cannot curb compassion fatigue themselves. Against this backdrop, this research study was aimed at understanding of the compassion fatigue and self-care practices used by newly qualified social workers in the South African context. A qualitative research approach was utilised in order to capture the rich accounts of newly qualified social workers with regard to their experiences with compassion fatigue and self-care. Descriptive and exploratory research designs were used to substantiate the capturing of various narratives from the participants. To this end, a snowball sampling method was utilised for the purpose of this study. Eighteen participants were interviewed using semi-structured interview schedules. The data gathered was analysed using a thematic content analysis approach. This research document contained three literature chapters, with the first attempting to serve as a framework regarding the conceptualisation of work contexts and working conditions experienced by newly qualified social workers. The second analysed the compassion fatigue experienced by newly qualified social workers, in particular articulating its conceptualisation, symptoms, and relationship with compassion satisfaction, job satisfaction, as well as burnout. Finally, the third identified self-care practices by those prone to compassion fatigue. Building on the background established in the literature chapters, chapter five of this research study contained the empirical study. In this chapter, results from data collected from participants and literature were presented in an integrated manner. Based on these results, chapter six contained the conclusions and recommendations of the research study. The main conclusions drawn from the findings established that newly qualified social workers work under extremely harsh conditions which are worsened by challenges related to the transitioning from student to professional social worker. This, along with a lack of organisational support, has increasingly led to the development and experience of compassion fatigue among newly qualified social workers, which is detrimental to them as individuals and professionals. The symptoms of compassion fatigue are far-reaching and impede all aspects of the professional’s wellbeing. Owing to the negative impact of compassion fatigue on the quality of service rendering, it should be regarded and addressed as a vital, ethically informed concern in South Africa. In light of the prior mentioned conclusions, it is recommended that self-care not be regarded as the sole responsibility of newly qualified social workers, but rather holistically promoted by training institutions, the South African Council of Social Service Professions, the National Department of Social Development, organisations employing newly qualified social workers, and the managers and supervisors of the social workers concerned.
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    The execution of individual reflective supervision sessions: Experiences of intermediate frontline social workers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Chibaya, Nyasha Hillary; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Existing literature on supervision has failed to make provision for comprehensive information in regard to social work individual reflective supervision sessions and how to subsequently execute them. Reflective supervision has over the years received less and less attention on a global scale. This has been a consequence of neoliberalism with its sole focus on effectiveness and efficiency of management. Social workers all over the world have increasingly expressed concerns about the diminishing availability and poor quality of supervision inter alia. Consequently, protests by social work professionals have been witnessed in different parts of the world, demanding better working conditions inter alia. Against this background, this research study was aimed at understanding the experiences of intermediate frontline social workers in regard to the execution of social work individual reflective supervision sessions in South Africa. A qualitative research approach was utilized in order to capture detailed accounts of intermediate frontline social workers in regard to their experiences of the execution of individual reflective supervision sessions. Descriptive and exploratory research designs were used to substantiate the capturing of various narratives from the participants. A snow-ball sampling method was utilized for the purpose of this study. Twenty participants were interviewed utilizing semi-structured interviews. Data gathered was analyzed using a thematic content analysis approach. This research document contains two literature chapters. The first literature chapter attempts to formulate a conceptual framework for individual supervision of intermediate frontline social workers. The second literature chapter details various reflection tools and techniques that can be used in executing individual reflective supervision sessions. Chapter four of this research study contains the empirical study. The results from data collected from participants and literature are presented in an integrated manner. Chapter five contains the conclusions and recommendations of the research study. The main conclusions drawn from the findings established that social work professionals are working under unfavourable conditions where they are expected to continuously meet organisational targets and manage heavy caseloads. Social work professionals continue to receive less frequent and poor quality individual supervision. Alternatively, "on the run" supervision which is only available for urgent matters that require the supervisor's attention has become more common in social service organisations. There is little to no practice of reflective individual supervision in the present social work context which consequently thwarts the professional and personal development of supervisees. In light of the prior mentioned conclusions, it is recommended that supervision, as a specialist field in social service organisations, be specifically and substantially subsidized by the South African government; and that the practice of reflection in supervision be promoted through workshops as part of supervisors' Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
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    Management functions of frontline social workers supervising social auxiliary workers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Goliath, Justine; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The need for social auxiliary workers originated from social workers not being able to cope with all the challenges associated with addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable in South Africa. The purpose of social auxiliary workers is therefore to be assistants to social workers, helping social workers to effectively deliver services to those in need. Social auxiliary workers work under the supervision of social workers and never on their own. The social worker responsible for the supervision is not necessarily a supervisor on middle management level. For the purpose of this study, these social workers will be referred to as frontline social workers. The goal of this study is to obtain an understanding of how frontline social workers view their supervision of social auxiliary workers through the execution of the management functions. The study was undertaken to firstly provide an overview of social auxiliary work and secondly to explore the supervision of social auxiliary workers in terms of the execution of management functions. A qualitative research approach was utilised to explore social workers’ views on the supervision of social auxiliary workers in the execution of their management functions. The study made use of non-probability; snowball sampling and participants were recruited in their personal capacities. The social workers were all frontline workers, supervising social auxiliary workers in the Western Cape. The researcher used an interview schedule as data-gathering instrument. The findings confirmed that the supervision of social auxiliary workers is essential to ensure quality service delivery. Hence, the frontline social workers who are responsible for the supervision need proper training in supervision. It is recommended that an accredited training course be developed to equip social workers with the skills to supervise and manage social auxiliary workers. It is also recommended that need-specific training should be done on the four management functions essential for supervision and management of social auxiliary workers to ensure effective service delivery.
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    The perceptions of social workers on the role of financial literacy education in facilitating social development
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Jordaan, Adriaan; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Poverty is a rife socio-economic problem plaguing South Africa. As a point of departure, the study aimed to contextualise South African poverty against the global arena to elucidate the need for an increase in poverty alleviation initiatives.The study investigated the perceptions of social lworkers on the role of financial literacy education as a potential vehicle for poverty alleviation initiatives within South Africa’s social welfare paradigm, as studies conducted in countries with similar socio-economic circumstances have shown that financial literacy education can be effective as a vehicle aimed at poverty alleviation and social development.There has been a lack of local studies that have investigated financial literacy education and as such, the study was undertaken to grow the knowledge basis associated with themes of financial literacy education.The study was qualitative in nature and made use of semi-structured interviews with a main focus on open-and closed questions. Eighteen participants were utilised in the research process and the results indicated tha tfinancial literacy education was viewed as a powerful tool that could assist in poverty alleviation and social developmental initiatives. There was indicated that, in order for financial literacy education initiatives to be successful, multiple role-players would need to be involved in the process, and other challenges associated with poor socio-economic circumstances would need to be addressed in tandem with the stimulation of financial knowledge and skills.Finally, various recommendations are presented to social workers, social work organisations, and social work policy formulators based on the conclusions that were drawn.
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    Potential factors contributing to harmful supervision of social workers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Wynee, Thea T.; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Supervision of social workers in South Africa is mandatory, as determined by the Supervision Framework for the Social Work Profession in South Africa. However, it is questionable whether frontline social workers are experiencing supervision practices as helpful. Recent international and local research reports indicate that in many instances supervision is not fulfilling its intended functions and goal, leaving supervisees vulnerable to inadequate and even harmful supervision. Harmful supervision may be defined as supervisory practices that result in psychological, emotional and/or physical harm or trauma to the supervisee, owing to factors such as the supervisor’s disinterest and lack of investment in supervision, power relations, generational and cultural differences and lack of resources. This research reports on potentially harmful supervision practices based on experiences of frontline social workers in a variety of social welfare organisations in the Western Cape, South Africa. Certain findings generated from a purposive, qualitative and exploratory study by means of individual interviews with 20 social workers suggest that supervision may often become a mere “box-ticking exercise”, is crisis driven and “on the run”, and is frequently reduced to little more than compliance checking. Some of these participants experience minimum support and consequently feel at risk and vulnerable. This research document contains two literature chapters. The first explores the current literature on supervision and its intended purposes and functions in order to generate a clear framework of what supervision is supposed to entail. The second extrapolates potentially harmful supervision practises drawing on work from other fields of expertise. Chapter four comprises the empirical study, where data was collected from participants and presented in an integrated manner detailing the specific potential factors contributing to harmful supervision. In chapter five, concrete recommendations are posed to supervisors, managers of organisations and policymakers to curb these potentially harmful supervision practices. The main conclusions drawn from these findings established that harmful supervision practise is indeed occurring and that supervision is no longer reaching its intended functions. This is due to the fact that the checks and balances in place are falling away, as they are being used merely as a formality. If supervision was returned to its all-encompassing purpose, supervisors and supervisees alike would reap the benefits of its practise. While time constraints and lack of training for supervisors are valid points as to why supervision is not happening correctly, this is not an excuse for this type of malpractice, which should be treated as a serious offence. Supervision is crucial for the benefit of practitioners, but if not carried out correctly is causing more harm than good.
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    Readiness for practice of newly qualified social workers: experiences of supervisors at social service organisations in the Western Cape, South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03) Wolfaardt, Katelyn Anne; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The readiness of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) for practice appears to be a growing area of research, however, there is little focus on the professional identities of NQSWs, and a lack of relevant literature on the readiness of NQSWs within a South African context. Global research indicates that NQSWs are being prepared in some skills and competencies, however, that they do lack skills and competencies in other regards. Readiness is a concept that is interpreted differently amongst various entities, and thus, it is impossible to satisfy all individuals’ expectations as to what constitutes an NQSW that is ready for practice. NQSWs enter a difficult working environment and experience stress and anxiety as they are new in the profession, posing additional needs and challenges when they are not fully ready for practice. Supervisors are in an ideal position to identify how NQSWs handle this transition into the workplace and whether there are specific tasks or challenges that they struggle with when entering practice. With little insight into this phenomenon within the South African context, it is difficult to understand how NQSWs can be better prepared and assisted in transitioning from being a student to a professional and enhancing their readiness for practice. In light of this, the researcher’s study aimed to gain an understanding of supervisors’ experiences of newly qualified social workers’ readiness for practice at social service organisations in the Western Cape, South Africa. This research followed a qualitative approach with the intent of obtaining insight and understanding into the experiences of social work supervisors on the readiness of NQSWs for practice. Descriptive and exploratory research designs were employed to gain a deeper understanding into the subjective experiences of social work supervisors on the readiness of NQSWs for practice, as there is a lack of research on this topic within a South African context. Social work supervisors as research participants were recruited through both purposive and snowball sampling methods. Fifteen participants were interviewed for this study with the researcher utilising semi-structured interviews via telephonic phone calls when collecting data. The researcher utilised a thematic content analysis approach when analysing the data that was collected during the interviews. Within this research, there are two literature chapters. The first chapter described and explained the global and local context of NQSWs within the realm of the developmental theory of professional identity. The second literature chapter analysed contemporary international and South African research on the readiness (both covert and overt) of NQSWs for practice. These chapters provided the foundation for chapter four which presented the empirical study. Within this, the researcher presented the data that was collected from research participants and analysed their relative narratives against existing global and local research. These results enabled the researcher to draw relevant conclusions and recommendations which were presented in chapter five of this research. The main conclusions that the researcher was able to deduce from the findings was that readiness is a concept understood differently and thus an NQSW will never be seen as ‘ready’ by all individuals in society, due to their variations in perceptiveness as to what constitutes as ‘ready’. As a result, supervisors deem different competencies as necessary for NQSWs to have when entering practice. NQSWs appear to both have, and lack, specific competencies dependent on the Higher Education Institution (HEI) that they attended and, as a consequence, which competencies they focused on enhancing throughout their social work training. Specialised supervision can enhance NQSWs’ readiness for practice and enable them to transition better into the profession, however, supervisors are not always able to provide this more intensive and supportive style of supervision to NQSWs due to their own workloads. HEIs are not preparing NQSWs sufficiently for the realities of practice. Consequently, vast differences in the social work training offered at HEIs are observed in South Africa - supervisors are aware of these differences, which influence their decision as to whether they would employ an NQSW. Ensuring the readiness of NQSWs for practice should, however, not only be the responsibility of one sole entity, but rather, should consist of a collaborative approach shared amongst HEIs, supervisors, social service organisations, social work governing and statutory organisations and NQSWs.
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    Reflections of newly qualified social workers on the execution of their management tasks in non-government organisations
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Mtombeni, Tirelo Esther; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Social welfare organisations, both nationally and internationally are faced with the challenging task of adapting and converging to a socio-economic policy agenda as a result of global neoliberal reform. Due to socio-economic policy changes and expectations resulting from neoliberalism, social welfare organisations are shifting away from their traditional philanthropic ideology towards operating from business principles of cost-efficiency and management. The influence of neoliberalism within the social welfare context has been documented by various scholars. However, while research has identified the impact of neoliberal managerialism on social work practice, there has been little to no effort in exploring this from the perspective of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs), who are being increasingly expected to demonstrate management knowledge, skills, and capabilities in order to meet organisational targets. This study attempts to identify and explore the execution of various management tasks from the perspective of NQSWs in order to gain an understanding of what management tasks are expected, and how these tasks are executed by NQSWs. The study was particularly interested in the execution of time management, workload management, human resource management, financial management, risk management, change management and programme management as key tasks for the NQSW. The study approach was qualitative and interpretivist, adopting an exploratory and descriptive research design. Through a combined purposive and snowball sampling approach, fifteen NQSW participants from various non-governmental welfare organisations in the country participated in the data collection process by means of a semi-structured interview; due to COVID-19 restrictions, these interviews were conducted telephonically. Data was analysed thematic analysis and pattern matching was used for verification. The key findings indicate that NQSWs execute several important management tasks despite not necessarily being occupants of specific levels of management. The findings further indicate that NQSWs execute these management tasks over and above their frontline intervention responsibility. It is often in the process of rendering services that NQSWs find themselves executing specific management tasks. Participants identified several challenges in this informal management role. The recommendations with respect to the findings is that, regardless of one’s position on neoliberal management influence within the welfare context, this is a reality for up-and-coming social workers; training institutions would benefit from integrating management training into the curriculum, adopting a combined bureaucratic and empowerment management approach, that enables social workers to function in a neoliberal environment while retaining the values of the profession. Training institutions and NGOs needs to synchronise the preparation process with the expectations of practice within the work environment in order to ensure optimal performance of these tasks by NQSWs which is equally not at the expense of rendering effective services to the client system.
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    Die sienings van proefbeamptes met betrekking tot die bydraes van afwentelingsprogramme vir manlike jeugoortreders om hermisdaadpleging te voorkom
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-04) Du Toit, Deon Duncin; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood. This indicates a growth process the goal of which is maturity. This growth process is regarded as a turbulent phase as there are various adolescent developmental tasks to be mastered that bring about certain challenges. These challenges have resulted in youths engaging in risk-taking behaviour, such as antisocial behaviour and committing crime. Several factors or social problems in South Africa lead to the vulnerability of youths, which leads to crime. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of probation officers regarding the contribution of diversion programmes for male juvenile offenders to prevent re-offending. The research was done on the basis of an extensive literature review, which focused on the nature and extent of youth crime, the legal points of departure of the Child Justice Act (75 of 2008) and diversion programmes to prevent re-offending. A combined quantitative and qualitative research approach and an exploratory and descriptive research design was utilized in this study because the researcher wanted to develop a better understanding of the social problem or phenomenon and the perspectives of probation officers with respect to the contribution of diversion programmes for male juvenile offenders, as well as the factors that lead to re-offending in South Africa. The respondents consisted of all probation officers employed by government organizations in the Eden-Karoo Region who have the necessary knowledge and experience regarding the topic. A purposive, non-probability sampling was used. Data were gathered through a semi-structured questionnaire in 20 separate interviews. The composition of the questionnaire was based on the information obtained from the literature review. Based on the results arising from the literature and empirical research, appropriate conclusions and recommendations were made. The results were largely confirmed by the literature review, namely that diversion programmes contribute to the prevention of re-offending if correctly implemented, that significant resources in the intervention should be involved and follow-up care and monitoring after the programmes or interventions must take place.
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    Social workers' experiences of workplace violence
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Fayo, Xola Lucas; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Studies across the globe have shown that workplace violence against social workers has become an endemic problem in both developed and developing countries. Workplace violence can therefore be classified as physical violence, verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, and/or aggression. Such traumatic experiences arising from workplace violence exposure are of particular concern where access to treatment and/or psychosocial support is often unattainable. Workplace violence against social work employees is a common occurrence in South Africa. However, there are serious limitations in the present literature on understanding workplace violence in the South African social service profession. The epidemic of workplace violence remains largely under-reported and under- researched; existing research studies focus primarily on healthcare personnel workplace violence. The primary goal of the research was to gain an understanding of South African social workers' experiences of workplace violence, to better understand the causes and implications of this phenomenon. Understanding South African social worker’s experiences of workplace violence is of great significance to address and prevent the phenomena of workplace violence in a social work setting. For purpose of the study, a qualitative research approach was implemented, along with the exploratory and descriptive research designs. Purposive and snowball sampling were employed to identify prospective research participants of the seventeen semi- structured interviews. From the seventeen social workers, experiences of workplace violence within the South African context telephonic interviews were used due to Covid-19 rules and regulations and as REC suspended face to face interviews. Gathered data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The key findings of the study revealed that South African social workers experience various forms of workplace violence in practice. It varies according to individuals, organisations, and communities. Workplace violence occurs in all five types of workplace violence namely, client-related workplace violence, co-workers related workplace violence, employer to employee workplace violence, and relationships related workplace violence and organisational related workplace violence. Factors contributing to workplace violence to name the few (see, for example, lack resources, lack of safety, inability to deal with the situational crises, lack of workplace violence policy, support, and measures Non-Governmental Organisations, favouritism, unfair treatment, bullying newly appointed employees and divisions within the organisation). It was found that workplace violence does exist in the social work profession, but it is just that no one is talking about it. It was found that newly appointed social workers are being bullied, picked up a lot and when addressing these unethical treatments to supervisors, the supervisor does nothing and senior employees get away with it. To address workplace violence, it is recommended that workplace violence policies, measures and support should be implemented in South African social work practice to safeguard social workers from workplace violence. It has been recommended that the social worker's safety should be the priority, provide resources, a collaboration between DSD and NGOs, apply professionalism and attend reported issues and the DSD need to educate the communities and clients about social workers role.
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    The utilisation of support groups for non-biological caregivers of children with FASD
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-04) Breytenbach, Bianca; Engelbrecht, Lambert Karel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Non-biological caregivers often take children into their care when their own biological caregivers have failed to provide them with a safe and loving home. These children are often also affected with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Learning of a child’s disability can be a big shock to non-biological caregivers especially if it is misunderstood, available professional help is scarce and intervention resources are not readily available. These non-biological caregivers are often not prepared for the financial, emotional and physical investment that is required to fully support the children and their development. This can cause various emotional reactions and implications that are challenging for the caregivers. It is critical to recognise parenting experiences and challenges as a means of developing and promoting intervention strategies and support that will respond to the needs of the children with FASD and their non-biological caregivers especially from a South African perspective. There is a need for social workers to take on responsibility for addressing FASD as they have the professional capacity to help families living with FASD to develop and maintain stable and nurturing households. One way in which this can be achieved is through the initiation and facilitation of support groups. The goal of the study was to gain an understanding on the experiences of non-biological caregivers of children with FASD and of the utilisation of support groups to help them cope better. The researcher made use of a combination of an exploratory and descriptive research design. By using both a quantitative and qualitative approach in a complimentary manner, the researcher was able to gain an in depth insight into the lives of the non-biological caregivers and how they experience this disability and support groups that are utilised as a means of helping them cope. Permission to conduct the study was granted by the committee for Human Research at the University of Stellenbosch. The literature study firstly investigated the implication of FASD on affected children. Secondly, the extents to which non-biological caregivers are affected by the consequences of this disability were discussed. After this the utilisation of support groups as a method of supporting non-biological caregivers, with the emphasis on a mutual-aid and educational approach as theoretical underpinning was described. The empirical study was completed with 16 participants through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. An interview schedule based on the findings of the literature study was utilised. The criteria for inclusion were that participants had to have attended at least 5 support group sessions and had to be a non-biological caregiver of FASD children who had attended the support groups specifically related to this disorder. The results of this study mostly confirmed the findings from the literature study which showed that support groups play a vital role in providing necessary support to non-biological caregivers who are often unprepared for the realities of caring for a FASD child. Recommendations are aimed at the social work profession in South Africa who need to align itself in providing necessary support to non-biological caregivers through the use of support groups and various other methods of service rendering. Suggestions for future research are also made in line with how non-biological caregivers can be supported in their unique caregiver responsibilities.