The City of Cape Town’s Identikidz programme helped reunite 369 lost children with their parents at beaches over the festive season.
Identikidz returns lost kids
The City of Cape Town’s Identikidz programme, which was implemented by their Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department, tagged more than 90 000 children at participating beaches since its launch in mid-December.
Between 15 December 2022 and 2 January 2023, officials from the programme tagged exactly 92 765 children at 16 beaches around the city. According to The City, the programme was able to help reunite 369 lost children with their families – 13 of which were handed over to the Provincial Department of Social Development when night fell and their families could still not be reached.
Over the New Year’s long weekend alone, 242 children were reconciled with their families, making it a whopping 65% of all reunions thus far for the festive season.
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The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia Van der Ross, said that they were providing a service that offered peace of mind, especially on those busy beach days.
“Feedback from our project coordinators was that most of the children who were separated from their families this past weekend were not tagged, which made it even more difficult to find their caregivers. We’ve also had some issues at some beaches where parents refused to participate in the project.” Van der Ross said.
“We want to thank those families who have made use of the service, as well as the staff who have worked throughout the peak festive season and who’ll still be on duty for the next few weekends,” she added
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