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Leaving a familiar environment can be daunting. Although previous studies investigated the experiences of youths who left care centres, few considered those who left during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this exploratory qualitative research study, the authors purposively recruited 12 African youths aged between 18 and 23, with at least two years’ experience of life in the care centres of Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality to investigate their experiences when they left such centres during the pandemic.
The data were collected through individual semistructured interviews, analysed according to…
A short introduction to the key components of successful care reform based on lessons learnt from Eastern and Southern Africa
Although care reform is well established in some parts of the Eastern and Southern Africa, many countries in the region are just beginning their care reform journey. This short paper is aimed at these contexts. It explains what care reform is, the different components of care reform, why care reform is important and how to start a care reform process. The paper is accompanied by a …
Engaging with key stakeholders is an essential part of any transition and must be handled with tact and wisdom. Located in South Africa, the organization Beautiful Gate began its ministry to protect street children and later grew to provide residential programs for children in need. Yet, as they began to learn more about the needs of children in families, they decided to shift away from residential care and expand their services to include the families of the children they served.
As Beautiful Gate broadened and prioritized the role of families, they communicated family strengthening as a…
Beautiful Gate was established in 1994 by a Dutch missionary couple who simply desired to do what was “just, good, and right” for children. It began as a children’s home for children living on the streets in the suburb of Muizenberg in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1999, at the request of the government, a second location was opened in the neighboring township of Crossroads as a hospice for children dying of HIV/AIDS. The hospice eventually moved to a new site in the Lower Crossroads area in 2004. The larger site made possible additional community services, including a medical clinic, community…
These presentations from Know-How Center Bulgaria, Children and Family Initiative, and Changing the Way We Care, were delivered during the September 30, 2021, workshop of the Care Measurement Task Force of the Transforming Children's Care Global Collaborative Platform. The focus of the workshop was translating research evidence into action.
Abstract
The study sought the socio-economic supports available for the high school adolescent girl learners from child-headed families (CHFs). The study used the phenomenological research design using a total of 40 learners from five (5) rural schools which were randomly selected for the study. Data were collected using focus group discussions and individual interviews. Data collected were thematically analyzed by scrutinizing them for commonalities. The findings of the study revealed that the adolescent girls in CHFs receive the majority of their socio-economic supports from the…
People with disabilities have the right to live in the community, according to Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, more than a decade after the adoption of the CRPD by the UN and nearly global ratification, children with disabilities continue to be placed in institutions in every region of the world. Worse still, low-middle income countries that have never had systems of institutionalization have started to build them.
In 2017, the CRPD Committee adopted general comment No. 5 on Article 19 on living independently and being included in the…
Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, girls and boys in Southern Africa already faced various forms of abuse, including sexual violence, child marriage and exploitation, and throughout World Vision’s response over the past six months, we have continually been concerned about how the pandemic may worsen these trends.
This publication presents the voices of nearly 200 children and young people from across the Southern Africa region who shared their experiences on how COVID-19 continues to have an impact on their lives. During these conversations children and young people told…
The Building Positive Futures project was a pilot study that sought to test a range of quantitative and qualitative research tools for use in leaving care studies in Africa, including a peer research approach. As there have been few previous African studies on care leaving, the research team hoped to develop their understanding of how best to conduct cross-country…
Across Africa, there are many young people who do not live with their biological families and grow up in alternative care. Despite knowing that African young people who grow up in care can struggle as they move into adulthood, there is very little research on leaving care in African countries. To help increase understanding of careleaving in Africa, a group of researchers from Queen’s University Belfast in the UK, University of Johannesburg in South Africa, University of Ghana and Makerere University in Uganda came together to do this research. They tested a range of methods to find…