Invisibility, informality and impropriety: multi-stakeholder perspectives on the implementation and administration of south africa’s care dependency grant for children with disabilities
dc.contributor.advisor | Swartz, Leslie | en_ZA |
dc.contributor.author | Trafford, Zara Katya | en_ZA |
dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Psychology. | en_ZA |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-08-20T09:53:14Z | en_ZA |
dc.date.accessioned | 2024-01-08T10:47:33Z | en_ZA |
dc.date.available | 2023-08-20T09:53:14Z | en_ZA |
dc.date.available | 2024-01-08T10:47:33Z | en_ZA |
dc.date.issued | 2023-08 | en_ZA |
dc.description | Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2023. | en_ZA |
dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The key state-subsidised intervention for the social protection of disabled children in South Africa is the care dependency grant (CDG). Despite its importance to these children and their families, however, the CDG is profoundly under-researched. The CDG is an unconditional cash transfer, available to the primary caregiver of a child who requires full-time care due to their disability. To be eligible, caregivers must have an income below a certain threshold, and their child must undergo assessment by a doctor to gauge the child’s need for care. The CDG is legislated by the national Department of Social Development (DSD) and all grants are managed and distributed by officials at the DSD’s implementation agency, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA). Additional role-players include social workers, civil society organisations, activists and academics who support and advocate for disabled children and their families. This study aimed to expand the extremely limited evidence base on the CDG by interviewing the abovementioned stakeholders. This dissertation is presented in three parts. Part One includes the study background, a critical literature review and the methods used. Other chapters in Part One assess the translation of international guidelines into local policy and implementation, the importance of context in the design of interventions for disability-related support, and the history of legislation on the CDG. Part Two presents three published articles, which focused on the CDG’s central stakeholders: SASSA officials, assessing doctors and caregivers. These chapters compare how different stakeholders understood CDG eligibility guidelines, application processes, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and related issues, revealing both overlapping and diverging perspectives. Key areas of discussion in these chapters include the measurement of disability and the role of ‘severity’, the role of subjectivity and objectivity in the administration of public benefits, and the (in)sufficiency of income support as a standalone social protection intervention. Part Three contains two chapters that synthesise findings from the desk-based and empirical research conducted for this study and ask more philosophical questions of the data. The first of these final two chapters explores the idea of ‘constructive informality’ in the local implementation of national policy on the CDG. It argues that while the negative dimensions of informality have historically been considered a threat to efficient bureaucracies, ‘constructive informality’ may actually contribute to the achievement of important policy goals. The second of these final two chapters contends that disabled children and their families experience a particularly intense and multi-layered ‘invisibility’ in South Africa, and that the systemic neglect of disabled children is rooted in the discomfort non-disabled adults feel when they ‘gaze upon’ these children. The chapter ends with caregiver’s narratives about their children’s personalities and their own hopes for the future, giving these parents the last word in a study primarily concerned with these families’ wellbeing. Those of us working in this area should commit to observing, documenting and communicating more nuanced stories about disabled children, while continuing to advocate for more material support for these children and their families. | en_ZA |
dc.description.abstract | AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sleutelstaatsgesubsidieerde intervensie vir die sosiale beskerming van gestremde kinders in Suid-Afrika is die sorgafhanklikheidsbeurs (SAB). Ten spyte van die beurs se belangrikheid vir hierdie kinders en hul gesinne, is daar uitermatig min navorsing oor die SAB. Die SAB is ’n onvoorwaardelike kontant-oordrag, beskikbaar aan die primêre versorger van ’n kind wat voltydse sorg vereis as gevolg van ’n gestremdheid. Versorgers moet aan sekere inkomste-drempels voldoen en die kind moet deur ’n dokter geassesseer word om die kind se behoefte aan sorg te bepaal. Die SAB word deur die Nasionale Departement van Maatskaplike Ontwikkeling (DMO) gereguleer en alle toelae word deur amptenare by die DMO se implementeringsagentskap, die Suid-Afrikaanse Maatskaplike Sekuriteitsagentskap (SASSA), bestuur en versprei. Bykomende rolspelers sluit maatskaplike werkers, burgerlike samelewingsorganisasies, aktiviste en akademici in, wat gestremde kinders en hul gesinne ondersteun en bepleit. Hierdie studie het ten doel gehad om die uiters beperkte bewysbasis oor die SAB uit te brei deur onderhoude met die bogenoemde belanghebbendes te voer. Hierdie proefskrif word in drie dele aangebied. Deel Een sluit die studie-agtergrond, 'n kritiese literatuuroorsig en die gebruikte metodes in. Ander hoofstukke in Deel Een evalueer die vertaling van internasionale riglyne na plaaslike beleid en implementering, die belangrikheid van konteks in die ontwerp van intervensies vir gestremdheidsverwante ondersteuning, en die geskiedenis van wetgewing oor die SAB. Deel Twee bied drie gepubliseerde artikels aan, wat fokus op die sentrale belanghebbendes van die SAB: SASSAamptenare, assesserende dokters en versorgers. Hierdie hoofstukke vergelyk hoe verskillende belanghebbendes die SAB-geskiktheidsriglyne, aansoekprosesse, insluiting- en uitsluitingskriteria, en verwante kwessies verstaan, en openbaar oorvleuelende en uiteenlopende perspektiewe. Sleutelbesprekingsareas in hierdie hoofstukke sluit die meting van gestremdheid en die rol van 'erns', die rol van subjektiwiteit en objektiwiteit in die administrasie van openbare voordele, en die (on)voldoende inkomste-ondersteuning as 'n enkele sosiale beskermingsintervensie in. Deel Drie bevat twee hoofstukke wat bevindinge saamvat van die lessenaargebaseerde en empiriese navorsing wat vir hierdie studie gedoen is, en filosofiese vrae vra oor die data. Die voorlaaste hoofstuk verken die idee van onstruktiewe informaliteit' in die plaaslike implementering van nasionale beleid oor die SAB. Daar word geargumenteer dat terwyl die negatiewe dimensies van informaliteit histories as 'n bedreiging vir effektiewe burokrasieë beskou is, 'konstruktiewe informaliteit' eintlik tot die bereik van belangrike beleidsdoelwitte kan bydra. Die laaste hoofstuk beweer dat gestremde kinders en hul gesinne 'n besonder intensiewe en multi-laagse 'onsigbaarheid' in Suid-Afrika ervaar, en dat die stelselmatige verwaarlosing van gestremde kinders gegrond is in die ongemak wat niegestremde volwassenes ervaar wanneer hulle na hierdie kinders 'staar'. Die hoofstuk eindig met versorgers se narratiewe oor hul kinders se persoonlikhede en hul eie hoop vir die toekoms, en gee hierdie ouers die laaste sê in 'n studie wat primêr gemik is op hierdie gesinne se welstand. Diegene van ons wat in hierdie gebied werk, moet toewyding toon tot die waarneming, dokumentering en kommunikasie van meer genuanseerde verhale oor gestremde kinders, terwyl ons aanhou om te pleit vir meer materiële ondersteuning vir hierdie kinders en hul gesinne. | af_ZA |
dc.description.version | Doctorate | en_ZA |
dc.format.extent | xvii, 270 pages | en_ZA |
dc.identifier.uri | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128777 | en_ZA |
dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
dc.rights.holder | Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
dc.subject.lcsh | Children with disabilities -- Care -- South Africa | en_ZA |
dc.subject.lcsh | Care dependency grant -- -- South Africa | en_ZA |
dc.subject.lcsh | Subsidies -- -- South Africa | en_ZA |
dc.subject.lcsh | Social security -- South Africa | en_ZA |
dc.title | Invisibility, informality and impropriety: multi-stakeholder perspectives on the implementation and administration of south africa’s care dependency grant for children with disabilities | en_ZA |
dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |
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