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This article delves into the challenges faced by orphans in Nigeria, specifically focusing on their psychological development and overall welfare. In 2003, there were an estimated 7 million orphans in the country, a number projected to rise to 8.2 million by 2010. This increase underscores the significant challenges posed by factors such as HIV/AIDS, conflict, and poverty.
Globally, the orphan crisis is alarming, with predictions suggesting that by 2020, as many as 200 million children worldwide could be without parental care. The study emphasizes the importance of offering childcare…
Research in Africa indicates an increasing number of children needing a secure and stable alternative family environment, yet the commonly used kinship care system is insufficient to meet this need requiring the support of non-kinship care. This study examined the socioeconomic and demographic drivers of willingness to foster non-kin children among mothers in Nigeria.
Data from 779 mothers of children ages 2-10 were analyzed using Pearson correlation matrix and linear regression analysis to examine the associations among socioeconomic/demographic characteristics and willingness to foster…
Purpose:
This article examines the practice of customary child fostering in Nigeria and the state of parental rights in such a situation. Customary child fostering is a long-lasting practice in Nigeria, and it has an impact on parental rights. The significance of the practice and its impacts in mostly Nigerian traditional communities raise the question of its regulation so as to safeguard children's rights as well as parental rights. Hence the adoption of the Child Rights Act 2003 by Nigeria is regarded as a comprehensive approach to quelling a socio-cultural conflict.
Design/…
Abstract
West African countries adopt child fostering or kinship placement as a traditional form of social protection that balances care and support for families with limited resources, experiencing unforeseen setbacks; or requiring household support. The traditional kinship placement advocates the provision of nurturing and education for the child by the fostering family. However, the traditional kinship placement appears exploited with children taken away from their homes, by such familiar persons as relatives and family friends, who may or may not fulfill the traditional expectations of…
ABSTRACT
Background: The prevalence of malnutrition in Nigerian orphanages is not clearly defined despite the high burden. This study was conducted to determine and compare the nutritional status of children living in orphanages and children living in the host communities.
Methods: It was a comparative cross-sectional study. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 180 under-five children each from orphanages and host communities. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain data on socio-demographic characteristics and nutrient intake. Weight, height, mid-upper-arm…
ABSTRACT
Schools in migrant-sending contexts often educate many children whose parents live abroad and decide to ‘leave’ or ‘send’ their children to be raised ‘back home’. Yet there has been little attention to how transnational child-raising is enacted by non-kin actors within educational institutions. This paper addresses this absence, exploring Lagos private schools as crucial sites of care for children with parents in the diaspora. Examining educators’ perspectives on schooling children ‘sent back’ to Nigeria from the UK and USA, the paper argues that they undertake intensive and…
Abstract
Orphanages have traditionally played a key role in meeting the needs of abandoned and displaced children. This is still the case in many countries like Nigeria where they provide shelter for children of all ages presenting a variety of needs. For those defined as orphaned and vulnerable, there are few alternatives and no budgetary allocations for residential provision. In this situation, the management of orphanages has become a salient issue and the dearth of research is serious as social and family systems are under increasing pressures and more children from Africa are entering…
Abstract: The wide gap between the demand for children and the available adoptable children in Nigeria meets with anecdotal claims on the existence of corrupt practices and systemic vulnerabilities within the child adoption domains. This study investigated the exactitude of these claims on the corridor of child adoption in Nigeria. Data were collected through sessions of qualitative interviews with adoption officials, legal practitioners, and intending/prospective adopters and orphanage managers. Findings revealed that the claims of corrupt practices within the system were not only…
Abstract
The need for alternative child care in Nigeria and other developing societies around the world is crucial given the increasing reports and studies on the negative impact of institutional care on child development. Children living in institutions often lack individual care and are cut-off from their communities and cultural identity. Such children also do not experience care in a family environment, hence the need for family-based alternatives. Alternative care such as adoption, community-based care, family strengthening, formal foster care, Islamic Kafalah, kinship fostering, and…
ABSTRACT: The level of poverty in Imo state since the present democratic dispensation is easily discernable especially when the conditions of orphans in the state are considered. This study investigates and assesses the experiences of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) who live with poverty, insecurity and social stigmatization in Owerri due largely to reasons of loss of parent(s) or being born by parents who are not there to take responsibilities for them. The purpose of the study is to inform and reform social policy by providing a better understanding of the suffering of orphans in our…