Publications & Advocacy

Our Public Stance On The Rights Of The Child

Heaven Sent Foundation believes every child has the right to dignity, health, safety, education, and equal opportunity. Our publications page is where we state that position clearly and publicly.

African child portrait representing dignity and protection

Featured Publication

Statement On The Rights Of The Child

Publication 01 March 2026 Heaven Sent Foundation NGO

Heaven Sent Foundation stands for a South Africa where no child is denied health, dignity, confidence, or educational participation because they cannot access basic hygiene products. We affirm that hygiene, menstrual health support, and safe care environments are deeply connected to the rights of the child.

A child cannot fully enjoy the right to education when they stay home because they do not have sanitary pads, soap, toothpaste, or other essential care items. A child cannot fully enjoy the right to dignity when poverty forces them to face school life in embarrassment, discomfort, or isolation. A child cannot fully enjoy the right to health when preventable hygiene-related conditions continue simply because support did not arrive in time.

We therefore advocate for coordinated action from families, schools, businesses, government, and civil society to ensure that children in under-resourced communities receive practical, respectful, and consistent hygiene support. Our work is not charity without direction. It is a response to rights that must be protected in everyday life.

Core Position

What We Publicly Stand For

Right To Dignity

Every child deserves to feel clean, respected, and confident at school and in society.

Right To Health

Basic hygiene support is connected to health protection and prevention of avoidable illness.

Right To Education

No learner should miss school because they cannot afford toiletries or menstrual health products.

Right To Equality

Children in rural and under-resourced communities must not be left behind because of poverty.

Right To Safety

Children need support systems that protect wellbeing, privacy, and respectful care.

Right To Be Heard

Children's lived experiences should shape program design, outreach, and ongoing support.

Publication Themes

What This Page Will Publish Over Time

Child Rights Statements

Public positions on dignity, school participation, menstrual health, and protection of vulnerable learners.

Impact Briefs

Short written updates showing what support was delivered, where it was needed, and why it mattered.

Advocacy Notes

Messages calling on partners, schools, donors, and decision-makers to respond to hygiene poverty.

Program Reflections

Lessons from field experience, beneficiary feedback, and dignity-centered distribution practice.

Cases Publication

Child's Best Interests Come First

Case note 27 March 2026 Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital v M.D and Another

At Heaven Sent Foundation, we welcome the recent Western Cape High Court judgment in Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital v M.D and Another (Reasons) (2026/049305) [2026] ZAWCHC 150, handed down on 27 March 2026.

The matter concerned a six-year-old child, referred to as A.D to protect her identity, who required urgent medical intervention after developing a life-threatening condition. The child's parents objected to the proposed medical treatment on religious, traditional and cultural grounds. The Court was therefore required to decide whether parental objection could stand where a child's health, dignity, life and wellbeing were at serious risk.

The Western Cape High Court confirmed that a child's best interests are paramount and that parental authority has limits where refusal of medical treatment places a child in danger. The Court authorised the necessary medical intervention, placing the child's health, safety, dignity and future wellbeing above adult disagreement.

This judgment is important because it confirms that children are not the property of adults. They are independent rights-holders with their own constitutional protection. The case reflects the spirit of section 28 of the Constitution, which provides that a child's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child.

For Heaven Sent Foundation, this ruling is a powerful reminder that every decision affecting a child must place the child's safety, dignity, health and wellbeing at the centre. It strengthens our belief that children should never be left behind because of poverty, neglect, family conflict, administrative failures, or lack of access to support.

Every child deserves protection, care and the opportunity to live with dignity.

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