The number of orphaned children in South Africa is estimated at 1.5 million, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said on Monday.

Although the country had done "incredibly well" to provide a safety net for the poor, which included giving a child support grant to 8.3 million children, more needed to be done, said Skweyiya in a speech.

"However, South Africa is facing a challenge of increasing numbers of orphaned children, abandoned babies, worrying levels of abuse, neglect and exploitation of children. Most of these children need permanent homes," he said.

He said the department currently provided social support to 20 657 child-headed households, while 11 328 community caregivers were trained.

Children being abandoned and neglected could be partly attributed to high levels of poverty, unemployment and unwanted teenage pregnancies.

Foster care was a useful short-term intervention while encouraging families to adopt children was a permanent solution.

"According to South African Social Security Agency's statistics as of September 2008, a total of 494 992 children were in foster care and were receiving the foster care grant.

"In addition, there is a backlog of about 157 000 reported cases of foster care waiting to be finalised."

The backlog was due to a shortage in social workers.

According to the adoption register, the number of adoptions in South Africa was "very low" because of a lack of awareness about adoption services.

In the 2007/08 financial year 1682 children had been adopted, compared to 2055 children in 2006/07.

"We therefore need families and individuals to come forward and provide children with permanent homes, to make their lives more stable and meaningful," said Skweyiya.

Sapa