INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

Taking into account the wide variety of contributing factors towards one’s
residence in an institution, it would appear most judicious to simply characterize the
population of South Africa’s institutionalized OVC by their residence in an institution.
This approach has been effectively applied in previous studies, and reflects a more local
perception of the population. (Blignaut, 2007) More recent scholarship has criticized the
application of fixed categories of OVC inclusion as being more stereotype-based than
contributing towards a complete understanding. These studies have favored more fluid
criteria. (Connolly & Ennew, 1996; Panter-Brick & Smith, 2000)
The Challenges Facing South Africa’s OVC Populatoin
Limited Resources
For most institutions, the first and most immediate challenge to respond to are at
the base of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow, in his theory of human
motivation, described a series of human needs starting with those essential for physical
survival, graduating to those that provide a framework of meaning and direction. At the
foundational level of his hierarchy were physical needs which included food, shelter, air,
and safety. (1943) These issues are typically the first thing that a center must ensure it is
able to provide.
While much literature and public perception seems to indicate an underestimation
of the diversity of reasons for the institutionalization of OVC, these children do often
share a number of similar challenges that can be considered challenges associated with
institutionalization. (Bequele, 2007) One of these common factors is poverty or a lack of
adequate survival resources. In 2014, South Africa’s population underneath the poverty
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