The Centre for Social Science Research has published Challenging Dominant Policy Paradigms of Care for Children Orphaned by AIDS: Dynamic Patterns of Care in KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa. This paper begins to uncover the complex nature of child care in the context of rising numbers of children orphaned by AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The paper underscores the critical need to continually reexamine the assumptions underlying theoretical understandings of care and family in order to account for unique impacts of HIV/AIDS in different communities. The paper draws attention to the role of human agency in responding to the pandemic and the resilience of local communities to a situation that policy actors tend to view as a ‘crisis’. This research demonstrates that local actors possess knowledge that not only challenges dominant understandings of ‘crisis’ but also offers alternative formulations of policy problems and solutions that are more attentive to the local conditions that shape the reality of care.
The evidence suggests that policies should not idealize the benefits of placing children with kin caregivers or discount the role of non-kin caregivers in meeting the developmental needs of orphans. Such simplistic policy formulations may marginalize the potentially important and positive role that non-kin individuals play in care for orphans as the impact of the pandemic increases.
©Jointly published by the CCSR, UCT, and HEARD KZN