Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The White Paper for Social Welfare of 1997 was created in order to address past
inequalities. The main goal was to ensure that all citizens are provided with the equal
chance of a better standard of living. The White Paper then gave rise to the Social
Assistance Act 13 of 2004 in order to make provisions for social assistance for the most
vulnerable groups in society, such as the elderly and persons with disabilities. The Social
Assistance Act 13 of 2004 covers the disability grant, the care dependency grant, the child
support grant, the foster care grant, war veterans grant, old person's grant, as well as relief
of social distress. This legislation was then supported by other legislations such as the South
African Social Security Agency Act, then gave rise to SASSA which is an agency that is
responsible for implementing these grants.
The purpose of the study was to explore policy implementation in relation to the care
dependency grant. In order to achieve this, the study utilized the systematic approach and
secondary data collection techniques from previous studies in order to establish the efficacy
of the government's response to the needs of children with disabilities.
Policy implementation plays a crucial role in the policy process. There are certain conditions
that need to be met so that the policy objectives are implemented successfully. However, the
findings suggest that the current disability policy is not sufficiently implemented since these
conditions are not met. Some crucial challenges faced here range from failing to align
policies between departments to the lack of human resources within government; this
subsequently denies a high number of children with disabilities their right to social protection.Author's Keywords: Care Dependency Grant, Disability, Policy Implementation, Accessibility
Constitution, SASSA, Social Assistance and Medical Assessment
