Study suggests link between child support grant and drop in deadly abuse and neglect

Bludgeoned by a sledgehammer, poisoned, choked and drowned in a bucket of water. That was the fate of some of SA’s victims, killed recently by their mother or father.

In the most recent case, SA may never know why Eastern Cape mother Nomboleko Simayile killed her children, Lizalise, Inganathi, Othalive and Elihle, who were between the ages of two and 11, with a sledgehammer on November 9 in Mhlabubomvu.

The woman died in custody before she could stand trial.

While the contributing factors behind filicide are complex, a study by the SA Medical Research Council, released on the eve of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, showed a decline in fatal child abuse and neglect between 2009 and 2017. 

There was an estimated 192 deaths of children from abuse and neglect in 2017, compared to 458 in 2009. 

This indirectly suggested that the child support grant may have contributed to the reduced number of fatal child neglect and abuse cases.

“It is not a direct finding of our research that children are not likely to be murdered due to the child support grant, however we believe that this is the most likely explanation. We are saying that children were often killed in the first days of their life as they were seen as a burden on their mothers, whereas with expanded access to child support grants they are seen as a financial resource,” said research professor Naeemah Abrahams.

The study did not look at the motives behind filicide during that period.

A key finding was, despite the high number of cases of child murders reported, the number of deaths due to abuse and neglect more than halved.

“We found that most children are murdered as infants (under a year of age) and murders of this age-group have particularly reduced. Previously we found girls more often killed by a caregiver or parent than boys, which also reflects the gender inequity and lesser value given to women and girls in our society, but in the 2017 data we didn’t see this anymore,” Abrahams said.

The study found most children were murdered in rural areas.

“The study shows we have the greatest challenges in rural areas and we need to consider what can be done to support children and families more in these impoverished communities. Mothers or caregivers do have access to child support grants in rural areas, but they are more likely than urban mothers or caregivers to lack other sources of income — rural unemployment is widespread — and we need to recognise the impact of this on children and redouble our efforts to financially support households in these areas through employment access or grants.

“If it is the explanation, and I want to emphasise that we feel it’s the most likely explanation but wasn’t proven to be the explanation by our study, then it’s a good thing. The government spends a huge amount of money annually paying for child support grants and it’s wonderful that we have seen this additional benefit. I use the word ‘additional’ as there are many other well-documented benefits from the grant for children,” said Abrahams.

Though the number of fatal neglect and child abuse cases decreased in that period, SAMRC researchers said more needed to be done.  

“For as long as one child dies from abuse and neglect, our country cannot rest. However, our findings show a marked reduction in fatal child abuse and neglect over the period between 2009 and 2017. Importantly for our struggle for gender equality, we have seen that the increased risk of the murder of girl children that was previously reported is not seen in 2017. This is incredibly important as it demonstrates that child abuse and neglect, especially female infanticide, is preventable.”

“We have suggested that the most likely explanation is due to the availability of the child support grant. Yet, we have shown that all efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect need to be redoubled in rural areas and the role of SA Police Service in case investigation must be strengthened. We need to ensure there is no backsliding on the gains shown and that justice is delivered for all children killed in SA,” said Abrahams.  

The researchers added that they could only comment on the period for which they had data, which coincided with a substantial increase in access to the grant.

“It is also the case that a grant may be beneficial even if it doesn’t provide for all of a child’s needs. The grant would have to be much larger to lift a child out of poverty and the country could not afford that. It is important for social policy to have further evidence that the grant is beneficial, even if it is a small contribution to a family.”

Child rights and protection consultant Dr Joan van Niekerk found the reduction in child killings during the period of the study hard to ascribe to the child support grant.

She said the factors involved in extreme abuse and killing of children were varied and rarely single-factor related.

Van Niekerk said extreme abuse and killing of children resulted from:

• Extreme frustration, for example a baby crying continuously and not knowing how to quieten it.
• Extreme and uncontrolled anger directed at a child’s behaviour.
• Not knowing where to turn in a situation of no or few resources and assistance from the other parent of the child. It is of note that it is always women who are charged with abandonment of a child, never the child’s father who may have already abandoned both the mother and the baby or child, leaving her unsupported and destitute.
• Revenge killings of children, where the partner may have left the relationship and the anger or frustration is taken out on the child.
• Unmanaged mental illness such as severe post-natal depression, manic depressive psychosis, and deep-seated paranoia.
• An attempt to ensure that a violation against a child will not be discovered, such as after a rape or severe beating
• Accidental shield injuries in a domestic violence situation where a mother will pick up a baby believing that her partner will not hit her with the baby in her arms, or a child is in the arms of one of the adults and the other adult tries to harm the person holding the child, or throws boiling oil or water over the mother and it goes over the child.

Van Niekerk said there was little support and guidance to parents and caregivers in SA.

“Our perinatal clinics are overcrowded, we do not encourage the attendance of men at these clinics which would give opportunities for both parenting education as well as enable partners to see their children as living human beings.”

“As the majority of first births occur in the under 20s, we should be offering parenting education in schools. Contrary to popular belief, when this is well done and young people realise the responsibilities of parenting, both emotional and financial, there is some evidence to indicate that this results in the reduction in teenage pregnancy.

“We need to support young parents in communities more and to return to the credo that child protection is everyone’s business. Punitive measures should be limited and developmental and education programmes prioritised,” she explained.

Van Niekerk said SA needed to take all forms of violence against children seriously and intervene with helpful programmes and interventions as early as possible.

“We discourage the self-reporting of parental harm or risk to children via punitive attitudes and beliefs relating to parents who are unable to parent positively, instead of encouraging them to request help. And we need many more resources that provide the kind of help needed.”