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This webinar introduced new global inter-agency guidance on kinship care. This guidance was developed in collaboration with a range of agencies including both UNICEF and Changing the Way We Care. During the webinar, panelists shared key lessons learnt on how to support kinship care, drawing particularly on examples of promising practices from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia, and Brazil.
Government representatives from both Zimbabwe and Liberia were in attendance to share their work on kinship care.
In this short video hosted by the Regional Learning Platform on Care Reform for Eastern and Southern Africa, practitioners from across the region discuss why supporting kinship care is so important, the support needs of kinship care families, and lessons learnt in supporting kinship care.
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Kinship care (care by extended family or friends of the family) is the most common form of alternative care in the region, yet also the least well-supported. This webinar explains why it is vital to invest in kinship care and provide examples of promising practices.
Background:
Studies have shown that caregivers’ economic constraints and emotional burdens have a negative implication both on their well-being and that of their children. For children raised by grandparents, age is also an additional dynamic that not only affects the grandparents but also affects the children they raise and other family members. However, poverty, HIV infection and AIDS have forced many children in Eswatini (formerly, Swaziland) to be in the care of their grandparents, hence raising concerns about their educational focus and achievement.
Aims and objectives:
The…
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
Kinship care is one of the most prevalent forms of placement that is used for children affected and/or infected by HIV and AIDS in Namibia. However, the literature lacks a systematic theory-informed understanding with respect to what is currently known about caregivers generally and specifically, elderly caregivers of orphans, and vulnerable children (OVC) in sub-Saharan Africa. This foundational chapter from Biopsychosocial Perspectives and Practices for Addressing Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases attempts to provide readers with content to assist in their…
Abstract
African child-rearing has been documented as primarily social in nature and driven by community, responsibility, and respect for elders (Nsamenang B (1992) Human development in cultural context: a third world perspective. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE; Weisner et al. African families and the crisis of social change, Bergin and Garvey, Westport, CT, 1997). Socially distributed care is common and reflects strong kinship ties that serve as a social welfare system in times of need as well as the glue of teaching tradition. The practice of child migration (fosterage) in and out of kin…
ABSTRACT
The study determined the perceived effects of prolonged residential care for children in Botswana. The study adopted qualitative descriptive research design. Data was collected through focus group discussions and face-to-face in-depth interviews from purposefully selected participants, based on their experience in child welfare and interactions with the children under study. The study obtained ethical clearance from the University of Botswana Institutional Review Board, and a research permit was acquired from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. Informed consent…
Abstract
Most recently, the role of grandmothers has been highlighted as significant in the lives of their grandchildren in South Africa. Studies have previously highlighted the contribution the Old Age Grant makes in contexts of poverty, orphanhood and the migrant labour system. Similarly, studies on the Child Support Grant (CSG) have illustrated its contribution to the well-being of children and families in general. However, missing in these examinations has been an understanding of how the CSG is contested in contexts of parental absence due to internal labour migration. Through a…
Abstract
In Botswana, residential care facilities are one of the options to accommodate children in need of care. However, in some cases they are over-utilised and the child’s stay is prolonged. Using the Attachment Theory as a guiding framework, this study sought to explore the effects of prolonged residential care for children. The study was conducted at the Childline Botswana Place of Safety in 2014. Focus group discussions and in-depth face-to-face interviews were adopted for data collection. All the participants were purposefully selected based on their experience in child welfare and…