The Teddy Bear Clinic is an outpatient facility of the Johannesburg Hospital and the Department of Paediatrics and offers a variety of support services to sexually abused children, their families and the Child Protection System

 Holistic Empowerment

Vision
That children will not be abused anymore. 
Where they are, we can manage them effectively so as to promote their healing and stop further abuse.

Mission
To minimize the secondary harm to children and their families when entering the child protection system by providing expertise, information and support in order to make their journey a healing one.

Concept Brief
To provide a specialized, holistic service aimed at the prevention, identification, treatment and support of child victims of sexual crimes, as well as their families. To assist the Child Protection service network including Justice, Health, Social Services, Education and Safety and Liaison by providing expert evidence, training and practical assistance where necessary. To prevent the further victimization of children who have been abused.

	To embrace the countries democratic principles and adhere to good practice in business and non-profit terms.
	To provide expert medico-legal examinations, the necessary treatment, assessment, case management and support to survivors of child abuse within the criminal justice system.
	To recognize the emotional impact of abuse on the child as well as their family, community and society at large.
	To provide support and healing for the above.
	To support children through the criminal justice process by providing information, guidance and advocacy.
	To embrace restorative justice as a viable option for the treatment of youth sex offenders.
	To recognize and deal with the multifaceted dynamics of HIV within the child sexual abuse context.
	To recognize that capacity building within communities is an essential component of developmental work in the child protection field and facilitate this through training, consultation and support.
	To continuously strive to keep abreast of current research and developments in the field and actively contribute to those within formal (tertiary academia) and informal (community-based organization development) structures.
	To abide by the ethics of the COMPACT for beneficial networking within the sector.

To achieve the above the current functions of the Clinic are:

Comprises intake (psycho-social history), medical assessments, case management and emotional support. The Clinic team comprises medical doctors, a nursing sister, volunteer counsellors and a management team. At present, on average, four hundred new cases are attended to annually, at the four clinics currently held each week.

In addition, in order to provide as close to a one-stop centre as possible, the clinic employed a Therapeutic Manager to provide forensic assessments, play therapy and support. As a result, children do not need to be referred beyond the organization unless criminal or statutory work is necessary, for which the Clinic provides support and consultation.
New initiatives which have arisen from this unit since 2000, are:

	The Support Programme for Abuse Reactive Children (SPARC), which is a youth justice initiative to divert young sex offenders (ages 7-14) away from the criminal justice system to a therapeutic programme.
	Pre and Post HIV Test counseling for children who have been exposed to sexual violence.
	We are providing social work assistance at Nthabiseng (Baragwanath) in Soweto.
	Psychological assessments requested by the Courts
	Parenting programme for parents accused of common assault against their children (inappropriate discipline) and are first time offenders. This option is preferred to a criminal case and sentencing. (Currently only running at our Jhb Kids Court Support branch).

Provides children and parents with skills, emotional support and knowledge in preparation for their appearance in court. We currently have three branches, one in Protea Court in Soweto, the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court and another at the Krugersdorp Court.

Of a predominantly medical nature, this is performed by the clinic on an ongoing basis. Training is also provided to those involved in the Child Protection field: the Child Protection Unit officers, social workers, psychologists, students, state prosecutors and lay counselors. Training is fundamental to outreach work and allows the Clinic to build the capacity of the community as well as the system at large. In addition, it makes people aware of the services offered and builds networking relationships and thus resources.