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This mixed-methods study collects survey data from 253 adults involved with vulnerable children in Tanzania and narrative data from 31 young adults who experienced residential care during their childhood. The research fills a gap in the literature about the lived experiences of children in institutional care and the impacts of this type of care on their lives.
The findings reveal a societal consensus on the primary role of the family in child-rearing, and acknowledges the potential harms of residential care. Survey data indicates that 59% of respondents consider preventing family…
Early childhood is deeply influential in a child’s life trajectory. Children need nurturing care to enable them to develop to their full potential. Evidence demonstrates the critical role of parents and the importance of play in holistic child development making playful parenting an important component in children’s early years development. When development is delayed, or at risk, interventions, including those that incorporate play and communication between the primary caregiver and the child are critical. But how well are caregivers equipped to better identify risks and support their…
Despite having international and national legislative frameworks and policies that guarantee children’s rights and encourage their participation in matters affecting them, consulting children has received scant scholarly attention in the African context. Notwithstanding this state of affairs, it is important to ask whether, in keeping with growing progressive practices, having children as active researchers is a feasible goal to achieve and, if so, how might this be possible. Drawing on Swartz and Nyamnjoh’s framework of research existing along an emancipatory continuum, we argue for…
Abstract
Globalization of knowledge and scholarship raises the challenges of dialogue between Global North and South. Northern knowledge and voice remain privileged, while writing from the South often goes unread. This is true also in emerging adulthood and care-leaving scholarship. The special issue of Emerging Adulthood titled “Care-Leaving in Africa” is the first collection of essays on care-leaving by African scholars. It presents both care-leaving and emerging adulthood scholars from the Global North a unique opportunity to consider the implications of a rising…
Abstract
Developmental science is both concerned with and has accumulated a wealth of evidence around factors that support and harm child development – many of which overlap substantially with the recently agreed upon global Sustainable Development Goals, placing developmental scientists in an apt position to contribute to the realization of these goals and targets.
We present community dialogues as a participatory research and program development strategy through which developmental scientists and local community partners can collaboratively surface, discuss, address, and evaluate…
Abstract
Caregivers at an institution for motherless infants in rural Tanzania participated in focus group interviews and participant observations. This paper aims at describing how they perceive infancy, caring and sensitivity in their everyday context. It adds knowledge from Tanzania about institutional infant care and the concept of sensitivity in caregiving, based on an approach sensitive to culture and context. The main result is that the caregivers are most concerned with fulfilling the infants’ physical needs. They defined infants’ social and emotional needs in a variety of ways and…
The 21-22 June 2017 Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children (VAC) in All Care Settings was the second in a series of regional consultations focused on engaging experts within the region to collaborate, share learning, and formulate a set of regional recommendations for key actors to effectively address violence against children within all care settings,…
ABSTRACT
This study employed a correlational design and examined the extent to which four components of quality of care (including food security, quality of shelter, quality of caregiving, and access to health care services) predicted psychosocial well-being of orphaned and separated children (OSC), as well as the extent to which these components of quality of care and key demographic factors, such as age, gender, and orphan status moderated the associations between care settings and psychosocial well-being of OSC. This study was an extension of Whetten et al.’s 2009 study that found…