Western Cape's New Child Commissioner Visits 20+ Care Centers

After three decades in law and 14 years as an acting magistrate in family and children's court, Sarah Roberts knows the weight of protecting vulnerable kids. In October 2025, she became the Western Cape's second children's commissioner, bringing courtroom wisdom to a role designed to amplify young voices across the province.

Roberts describes her years in court as wearing heavy cloaks. Each case involving abused children, domestic violence, or family breakdown added another layer she carried home. Now that perspective drives her mission to close the gap between policy and reality.

Since taking office, Roberts has made unannounced visits to over 20 child and youth care centers across the Western Cape. These facilities house children removed from unsafe homes, and Roberts checks everything from birth certificates to exit plans. She meets with facility managers to understand their challenges, then advocates for solutions with the provincial Department of Social Development every three months.

The Western Cape is South Africa's only province with this independent watchdog position. Roberts uses it to give children direct input into decisions affecting their lives. She's partnering with junior town councils in each municipality, creating formal channels for young people to shape their communities.

Her office continues community child rights workshops started by her predecessor. Teams visit different districts to hear directly from students about their experiences with education, health care, and social services. That feedback goes straight to provincial departments with recommendations for change.

Why This Inspires

Roberts sees patterns from her courtroom days playing out across the province. Children face high levels of violence, early substance abuse, and gang recruitment when stable adults disappear from their lives. But she also sees something else: young people desperate to be heard and hungry for adults who follow through.

"I think the children feel adults have just failed them," Roberts says. "The big thing is they have to see the change, even if it's just a small thing."

Her office handles complaints about service delivery for anyone under 18. Depending on the issue, her team provides legal advice or pushes the right provincial department to act. It's accountability with teeth, backed by someone who spent years witnessing what happens when systems fail children.

Roberts isn't interested in titles or power for its own sake. But she's excited about the next few years because this office gives her something precious: the ability to turn courtroom frustration into real recommendations that shape policy. Every visit to a care center, every workshop with students, every meeting with officials builds toward a province where children don't just have rights on paper but see those rights defended in practice.

For the first time in her long career fighting for children, Roberts has the platform to make sure young voices don't just echo in courtrooms but actually change the systems meant to protect them.