SKWEYIYA ADCJ flow from the provision may not always affect the child offender while still a child.52 The impact of registration is reduced in practical terms and varies according to the particular child‘s circumstances and age. However, this Court has held that consequences for the criminal conduct of a child that extend into adulthood (such as minimum sentences) do implicate children‘s rights.53 So, in the case of J, the fact that he was a child when the offence was committed means that his rights as a child are implicated, albeit that the consequences of registration will, for the most part, only be felt as an adult. [44] Child offenders who have served their sentences will remain tarred with the sanction of exclusion from areas of life and livelihood that may be formative of their personal dignity, family life, and abilities to pursue a living. An important factor in realising the reformative aims of child justice is for child offenders to be afforded an appropriate opportunity to be reintegrated into society.54 Furthermore, it is undoubted that there is a stigma attached to being listed on the Register55 even if the Sexual Offences Act closely guards the confidentiality56 of its contents. Given that a child‘s 52 For example, it is a criminal offence to employ a child under 15 years in terms of section 43 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997. It would therefore have no effect with respect to employment restrictions to have a child under 15 on the Register until such a time as the child becomes eligible to be employed. Similarly, licensing authorities and childcare authorities may be unlikely to grant licences and authorise custodial care of a child to another child. In terms of section 231(2)(c) of the Children‘s Act, a prospective adoptive parent must be over the age of 18 years. While there is no explicit requirement in the Children‘s Act that foster parents must be over the age of 18 years, it is ―inconceivable that a children‘s court could ever regard a child as a suitable person to be entrusted with the foster care of another child.‖ (Schäfer Child Law in South Africa: Domestic and International Perspectives (LexisNexis, Durban 2011) at 468.) 53 Centre for Child Law above n 39 at para 35. 54 See, for example, S v Saayman 2008 (1) SACR 393 (ECD) at 403B-C in which Pickering J discusses the role of reintegration within a restorative approach to criminal justice. 55 Teddy Bear Clinic above n 14 at para 57. 56 Section 52 of the Sexual Offences Act. 24