Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
This chapter discusses the practice of child circulation in Ghana. Coe notes that in Ghana, child circulation is not meant to break a child’s connection with biological parents. It is meant to increase the child’s social connections and support structure. Per Coe, when Ghanaians go abroad, they often look to place their children in other households, generally in the homes of people not related to them in the country of migration. Traditionally in Ghana, children are known to belong to multiple mothers and fathers.
Coe discusses the two types of circulation associated with…
Over the last decade, research in basic human development has revealed that institutional care - particularly when used to serve children under five - is not an appropriate form of alternative care, and instead of protecting children can put them at further risk of harm. Efforts have been made to transition international thinking away from the use of orphanage-based systems and toward providing family-based care. With this in mind, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s (CCAI) The Way Forward Project brought together a group of…
We examine the impact of orphanhood on children’s school enrollment in 10 Sub-Saharan African countries. Although poorer children in Africa are less likely to attend school, the lower enrollment of orphans is not accounted for solely by their poverty. We find orphans are less likely to be enrolled than are non-orphans with whom they live. Consistent with Hamilton’s Rule, the theory that the closeness of biological ties governs altruistic behavior, outcomes for orphans depend on the relatedness of orphans to their household heads. The lower enrollment of orphans is largely explained caregivers…