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This youth-led study sought to capture the perspectives of Indigenous youth who had been involved in the criminal justice system (or who were at high risk of such involvement), and who had accessed substance use treatment and/or had experienced barriers to accessing substance use services.
The study was conducted by members of McCreary Centre Society’s Youth Research Academy (YRA) with support from trained researchers.
The study built on a YRA project conducted in two British Columbia (BC) communities in 2016.
Abstract
This paper challenges the view that, in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the African extended family is no longer able to care for and support orphaned children. The paper is based on a qualitative case study conducted in a South African urban area on the lived experiences of orphaned children aged 9–14. Data were collected from the children, their teachers as well as their main caregivers. The study found that, despite the poverty facing the extended family, emotional support, family cohesion and support for learning can serve to meet the educational needs of orphaned…
Abstract
The representation of HIV/AIDS as a sexual and self-inflicted disease has drawn popular and scholarly attention to stigmatized populations. Little is known about the experiences of children with HIV-positive parents. This study reports on children’s experiences of living with HIV-positive parents within the family context of Bangladesh. A qualitative research design using in-depth interviews with 19 HIV-positive and HIV-negative children was undertaken. The results indicate that children felt high levels of psychological distress after learning of their parents’ HIV diagnosis.…
Abstract
The aim of this mixed-method study was to explore the trajectories of leaving home, and views and experiences among children and youth in the Kagera region in Tanzania, who have lived on the streets or been domestic workers. The main results showed that orphanhood and mistreatment were the main reasons for leaving home: few children lived with their parents before they left, and leaving home was a complex process over several years where three trajectories were identified. The children who had left home showed strong agency and competency but lived in vulnerable conditions,…
This video features a segment of a talk on the effects of care environments on children, hosted by the Christian Alliance for Orphans. The key speakers featured include Dr. Kathryn Whetten & Dr. Charles Nelson, who discuss the Positive Outcomes for Orphans study (POFO) and the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), respectively.
Dr. Nelson speaks about the institutionalization of children and its impact on the brain development of institutionalized children. Many children in institutions, says Dr. Nelson, experience isolation, a lack of response to distress, a…
This report summarizes the findings of a study on parental and alternative childcare in Luang Prabang (LPB) and Xayabury (XYB) provinces in Northern Lao People’s Democratic Republic (P.D.R.) The objectives were to document (a) existing family and community practices aimed at preventing parental separation and promoting parental care and family reintegration; and (b) alternative care arrangements for children separated or removed from, abandoned, or relinquished by their parents in these provinces.
The study found that there are few abandoned children in…
As a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, there are now more than 12 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of these children have been absorbed into their extended families. A minority of AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children are living in residential care facilities. Although concerns have been raised regarding the care received in such facilities, very little is known about children's perspectives on their own experiences residing in these institutions.
As part of an ongoing initiative to better understand the impact of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa and what can be done to…
Research was conducted in five Rift Valley towns (Eldoret, Kitale, Molo, Nakuru, and Naivash) in Kenya in 2011 to understand the link between emergencies and the perceived increase of children joining the streets. The findings are based on interviews with 3,138 children, of whom 2,696 were directly connected with the streets.
Findings show that food insecurity is one of the biggest factors (59%) that cause children to drop out of school and gravitate toward the streets to find food and earn money. Other major factors identified included abuse at home (23%), particularly when…
UNICEF; the Ministry of Education and Science; the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, EveryChild; Save the Children and the Children of Georgia commissioned an independent assessment of the deinstitutionalisation of children in Georgia in March and April 2010. The independent assessment examined, specifically, the deinstitutionalisation of children in special education boarding schools and child care institutions. Through interviews with key informants, children who had been reintegrated into communities, and children in foster care as well as visits to small group homes, child…
Research examining the well-being and situation of young people leaving institutional care in Africa remains a little noticed field of study. There is hardly any research documenting young people‘s transitions from care to adulthood in the sub-Saharan context, especially in Kenya, there are no policies or regulations on after care life for young people who have exited institutional care.
The study wishes to improve the understanding of the experiences of careleavers in Kenya during the transition process, by allowing them to have their own voices heard. In so doing, the…