INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

The high rate of unplanned pregnancies was only a portion of the contributing
factors towards paternal abandonment. This combines with the patriarchal elements
found in many of South Africa’s indigenous cultural traditions. Prior to the inception of
Christian morality and Western influences, polygamy was far more common among
South African tribes and is still practiced in some form throughout the region, although
with more ambiguous degrees of social acceptability. These family structures, centered
around a single patriarch and numerous wives placed the burden of immediate child
raising upon the mother.
Grandparents were also heavily involved in children’s upbringing, grandmothers in
particular. A large portion of the children in desperate situations that Pastor Mike would
discover while visiting the townships were living with grandparents, many of whom had
extremely limited income opportunities and ailing health. The elevated role of
grandparents was a combination of the traditional level of importance of extended kinship
networks and the more recent urgency brought about by the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Unsurprisingly, when asking the group of boys to draw their story involving a family, a
grandmother was included without much hesitation. Notably, a father character was also
included, however the nature of the exercise gave plenty of room for new characters to be
added, meaning that there was likely more to infer from someone’s inclusion than
exclusion.
The instability that threatened most immediate families rendered sibling
attachments particularly critical. For many children a sibling would represent the one
consistent companion that they’ve had throughout difficult transitions. Pastor Mike
recognizes the importance of this attachment and mentions it is his goal to not separate
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