INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

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A Fluid Definition of Family I asked Sarah about the legal guardianship status of the children. “We are considered partial guardians,” she informed me. South Africa’s Guardianship Act of 1993 allowed for the state court to provide surviving relatives with partial guardianship in the event of parental death or incapability, while an agency or institution took on a foster care role. “This guardianship is usually between us and a surviving father or grandparent,” Sarah explained. “In fact, we aren’t technically considered a children’s home. Legally speaking, being a children’s home would require us to become full guardians of the children. Even more difficult, that would require the child’s family to surrender their guardianship, and people don’t want to do that.” For 5Cees, it was very important to make the children’s families feel valued and included in their future. This approach introduces even more versatility to what is already a very fluid definition of family. From listening to the stories the children had to tell about their families and memories from outside the center, it became clear that their relationship with their family networks was not completely severed. Relatives would often be informed and involved as big decisions were required concerning the children’s wellbeing. Many continued to speak of grandparents and off-site siblings with a degree of familiarity similar to noninstitutionalized children. Many of the center's psychosocial goals included helping children develop positive relationships with their remaining family throughout life. This can become a further challenge as children get older and become more aware of the circumstances that led to their placement at the center. 97
“My dad is still alive,” Xolani informed me during our conversation. “He lives over in Alexandra and I see him more often now. To be honest with you, I used to have a lot more resentment towards him. It’s still hard for me to have a good relationship with him, but I’m working on that now.” I mentioned that this was something I could sympathize with as a part of getting older, and he nodded in agreement. “Yes, you realize they won’t be around forever.” For kids to hold some degree of resentment for absent or nonproviding fathers was fairly common, but for one to be as aware, proactive, and verbally open about it as Xolani was particularly rare. Xolani’s experience reflected a common phenomenon in various parts of South African society, that of paternal abandonment. The rate at which fathers assumed no responsibility for their biological children or abandoned the child and its mother shortly after birth was particularly high. “In South Africa, it’s extremely common,” confirmed Pastor Mike. “People become sexually active early and many do not take very many precautions. This results in teen pregnancies and unexpected pregnancies becoming quite common,” he added before continuing to explain how the center would have to work with other organizations in the event of teen pregnancies. “You have a lot of these children having no idea who their father even is, or where he’s gone.” This was again evident when right after my conversation with Pastor Mike, I spoke to Phumeza and Nando, two siblings who were originally a set of four before their two oldest brothers moved out of the center. Their situation reflected a common scenario where they were placed in the center after their mom had passed away. Another child who was within earshot tried to aid their recollection. “Your dad couldn’t afford to take care of you?” “Ah,” responded Nando, “I have no idea where my father is.” 98
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INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URB
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© 2016 Philippe Lazaro iii
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NAME OF AUTHOR: Philippe Lazaro CUR
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Lastly, none of this would have bee
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. I
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Chapter Page Interpreting Findings
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LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Nkho
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with low resources. The popular per
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hemisphere in terms of aid and char
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and reports involving South African
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view that demonstrating compassiona
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understand the complexities surroun
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For the sake of consistency, the te
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Christianity served as a driving fa
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In Uganda, many non-governmental or
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childhood. (Emihovich, 2006) A comm
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this time period, the communist nat
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the later part of the twentieth cen
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International attention and policie
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parental adult figures active in ch
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societies do not have an option and
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culture, where things, concepts, an
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uses of the term are fluid, confirm
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“When people start an orphanage,
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features of South African townships
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elatives and inherited kin. (MacLel
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Taking into account the wide variet
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criminality one of the most urgent
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2012) In a study on mental health p
Page 59 and 60: One substantial exception to this t
Page 61 and 62: CHAPTER III METHODS Design of the R
Page 63 and 64: In order to ensure an ethical appro
Page 65 and 66: facilities before beginning a long
Page 67 and 68: teacher, a care mother, a social wo
Page 69 and 70: facilitators gain insight into the
Page 71 and 72: knowledge. Images were observed for
Page 73 and 74: South Africa, I wondered if that wa
Page 75 and 76: needy, and destitute.” In most of
Page 77 and 78: This flow of thought most accuratel
Page 79 and 80: a large staff to meet the variety o
Page 81 and 82: certain nutrients.” The children
Page 83 and 84: portion of its revenue from investm
Page 85 and 86: and critical to address. Organizing
Page 87 and 88: would help to paint a picture of th
Page 89 and 90: themselves. It was through them tha
Page 91 and 92: majority. Marc claimed that Johanne
Page 93 and 94: inferred that Nkokheli’s artistic
Page 95 and 96: Crisis-Affected Families Health and
Page 97 and 98: children. In the case of Zukela, a
Page 99 and 100: depression were commonly reported.
Page 101 and 102: paperwork and bureaucracy that come
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Page 105 and 106: not explicity prohibit corporal pun
Page 107 and 108: the year, going as far back as 2010
Page 109: After spending a large amount of ti
Page 113 and 114: siblings. This became particularly
Page 115 and 116: of terminology reflected the porous
Page 117 and 118: the children seem to have difficult
Page 119 and 120: them who could be on a similar traj
Page 121 and 122: to be addressed. Unlike with psycho
Page 123 and 124: The episode of expulsion clearly re
Page 125 and 126: candy house, a pair of women’s sh
Page 127 and 128: ecent life updates, he rolled up hi
Page 129 and 130: children at the center. Many of the
Page 131 and 132: Part of the reason for such an earl
Page 133 and 134: I asked Sarah about the large numbe
Page 135 and 136: difficult for me to provide help wi
Page 137 and 138: CHAPTER VII THE END OF CHILDHOOD (A
Page 139 and 140: away in the earlier part of the yea
Page 141 and 142: My multiple-hours-long interaction
Page 143 and 144: encouragement to the younger ones.
Page 145 and 146: in financial habits. Collectivism e
Page 147 and 148: Upward mobility Cases like Lindela,
Page 149 and 150: however it inevitably played a cruc
Page 151 and 152: where this transition even begins.
Page 153 and 154: what is the center committed to do
Page 155 and 156: shelter, a top expectation of the c
Page 157 and 158: his contribution as a gardener, alt
Page 159 and 160: passages of scripture relevant to c
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somewhat parallel to the experience
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to visit the United States on a fun
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intake, families are typically assu
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organizations that take aim at the
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CHAPTER IX CONCLUSION After the Stu
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the background that the children ar
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variation as to how the effects of
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institutionalized child care. Signi
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towards a more inclusive title. The
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organizations. This project takes f
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forward another suggestion: looking
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As these children, often from disad
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APPENDIX A. List of Subjects Interv
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1) What is your age and what year a
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3) What do you do after you eat? 4
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12) What sorts of services do the c
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10) What are the biggest threats to
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10) Do you think the children are g
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Barbarin, O. A., & Richter, L. (200
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aid and democracy promotion (pp. 21
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AIDS-orphaned children in Cape Town
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Drah, B.B., (2014). Queen mothers,
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Address the Needs of Orphans and Ot
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Education. 45(1-2), pp. 51-66. John
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Maslow, A.H. (1948) A Theory of Hum
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Mnubi-Mchombu, C., Mostert, J., Och
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Olanrewaju, A.D., Jeffery, C., Cros
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Ramphele, M. (2002) Steering by the
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Schene, P. A. (1998). Past, present
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Tagurum, Y. O.; Chirdan, O. O.; Bel
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Psychology and Psychiatry, 11(2), p
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INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

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