Since the start of lockdown, social workers have battled to follow up on their cases, worsening the mounting backlog of foster care grants and placements, GroundUp reported.

According to Lumka Oliphant, spokesperson for the Department of Social Development (DSD), lockdown also affected social workers' capacity to extend foster care orders through the Children's Courts.

In a statement on 9 June, the Centre for Child Law and the Children's Institute welcomed the Social Assistance Amendment Bill, which is expected to help address the "foster care crisis" by lessening "the pressure on the foster care system that is causing the crisis in the child protection system, particularly the children's courts that deal with such matters".

Meanwhile, DSD Western Cape spokesperson Esther Lewis said designated social workers had continued doing their jobs from home during lockdown.

Designated social workers collaborated with local Children's Courts to ensure that foster care orders were timeously extended and remained valid during lockdown," said Lewis.