Assessment Centre promises broken

SERIOUS allegations of mismanagement have emerged about the Assessment Centre for homeless people in Franklin Street amid calls by residents that the dysfunctional City project be shut down.
The multi-million-rand contract from the City’s department of social development was awarded to Melanie Brand, owner of a coaching business EMCE, to set up and run the assessment centre to assess homeless people who are ready to come off the streets before referring them for further treatment or second-phase institutions such as rehabilitation centres.
Melanie denies that the assessment centre has degenerated into a shelter but admitted that several homeless people have been staying at the centre for months, instead of the maximum of 72 hours which she promised concerned Franklin Street residents at the beginning of the year when the centre opened.
Melanie admitted to ObsLife that the centre was housing homeless women. “There’s kind of a permanent arrangement for women in Observatory, but we only have six women....”
However, a resident in Franklin Street who wanted to remain anonymous said that there are about 30 to 40 people in the centre which operates "more as a hostel than as an assessment centre."
An outraged Franklin Street resident said Melanie has made no attempts to communicate any changes to the centre’s mandate or operating procedure. He said that she has been supplied with all the relevant contact numbers. Another resident said that she saw Melanie recently, yet Melanie did not take the opportunity to speak to her about the fact that she had gone against her agreement with Franklin Street.
Melanie explained to ObsLife that she is using the Franklin Street centre to house women because of problems that arose between women and men at the Maitland second-phase shelter, which she also runs on contract from the city.
But she is adamant that the Franklin Street assessment centre should not be called a shelter, but an assessment centre.
Yet Melanie's explanation how the Franklin Street centre works is that of a typical shelter. The inmates are given breakfast and are then sent out during the day to fend for themselves before being allowed back into the centre at night.
Professionals in the field told ObsLife that properly run assessment centres keep their inmates inside for the duration of their short stay while assessments take place. Kenneth Roman, the Observatory Improvement District’s street-people field worker, said that if a homeless person is ill and unable to work, they should not be told that they must go out to work if they physically can’t. Those on medication should receive three meals per day and not be denied food.
The centre seems to suffer from a serious lack of professional involvement. Despite requests from ObsLife, Melanie failed to provide the names and contact details of professionals involved. In an email, she claimed that three psychologists were involved at the centre, but only for “debriefing” staff. She didn’t provide names or contact details. Contrary to her stated plans when the centre was launched, she made no mention of the involvement of any medical doctor or psychiatrist.
Melanie told a recent meeting of the Social Issues Forum, a gathering of local street-people activists, that an auxiliary social worker does all of the centre’s assessments and is overseen by the centre’s social worker, Amanda Adams. She made no mention of any medical or psychological assessments being done.
Professionals whom ObsLife spoke to expressed surprise at the idea of an assessment centre where the assessments aren’t done by professionally qualified psychologists or medical doctors.
The lack of professionalism at the centre seems to reach right down to the support staff. Melanie confirmed to ObsLife allegations by a centre inmate that a staff member had been caught drinking on the job, and admitted that the centre employs previously homeless people as caretakers and field workers. Kenneth criticised this practice, saying that there are many unemployed qualified social workers and field workers who need jobs, yet the centre chooses to employ inexperienced and risky candidates.
Melanie admitted that a “house mother” at the assessment centre who cares and cooks for the inmates was sacked after being caught drinking on the job. According to an inmate at the centre who is herself battling alcoholism, the house mother sent her to the liquor store to buy booze.
Further questions around the centre’s lack of insight into dealing with alcoholics arises from an interview with ObsLife in which she said that she was trying to get a certain inmate to “drink 20 percent less”.
A psychologist and health professional who commented on this approach said such a weaning-off approach to alcoholism is highly unusual in South Africa and controversial overseas. The South African approach is to encourage complete abstinence. The professionals expressed concern that the assessment centre was trying to rehabilitate an inmate, whereas their job is to assess and refer. Lynn Brandt, a social worker from Mowbray, said it was against the law for a social worker to make a diagnosis.
Observatory was earmarked as the home of the City’s first assessment centre because of the network established by the Social Issues Forum. But Kenneth says there has been no cooperation with him as the local field worker. "We not even working together. They have field workers in Observatory, I work in Observatory. We set up numerous meetings, they never pitch for one meeting," said Kenneth.