INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

uses of the term are fluid, confirming the challenge of presenting a uniform meaning of
the word orphan, void of the effect of stigma.
Two studies from Zimbabwe both accounted for a mixed typology of orphans,
including paternal orphans, maternal orphans, and double orphans, the latter defined as
children who have been orphaned by the death of their grandparents who served as their
caretakers after parental death. (Nyamukapa & Gregson, 2005; Nyamukapa, 2008)
Surveys across Sub-Saharan Africa by Monasch limited the range of ages to those under
15, (2005) while a study from Uganda considered those under 18 years of age. (Sarker,
2005) Studies conducted in Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, and Ethiopia considered their
respective societies’ maternal responsibility for child-rearing and defined orphanhood by
the death of a mother, regardless of the father’s status. (Crampin, 2003; Masmas, 2004;
Bhargava, 2005) Blignaut’s pediatric health study defined orphanhood in a more similar
way to how it is perceived by South African society by basing its definition on residence
in a home for orphaned or abandoned children. (2007) Cluver, also avoided a specific
definition of orphanhood, instead defining its control group as those children who had
“not experienced a parent dying.” (2006) Among the Sub-Saharan countries included in
the Sherr, review, the common distinction among described orphans is their inability to
live independently and the necessity of institutionalized care or some variation of
adoptive or foster parenting.
The other common association that accompanies the label “orphan” is that of
social stigma. The social implications of the definition are pronounced enough so that the
term is more likely to be reserved for children in destitute situations only. Zambia issued
a report on Orphans and Vulnerable Children which stated that ‘although all languages in
32