INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

CHAPTER III
METHODS
Design of the Research
Christ Church Child Care Center, also known as 5Cees, is a childcare institution
located in Hillbrow, in urban Johannesburg. Its campus consists of three multi-story
buildings constructed around a central courtyard. This design allows for some insulation
from the outside street area which is densely populated and widely considered unsafe due
to crime and violence. Each of the different units acts as a dormitory for children who are
separated by gender and age. The teenage boys occupy one wing, and the teenage girls
another. The younger children are divided even further, into smaller groups, which allows
them to receive more attention from their caregivers. Each unit is also occupied by one or
two care mothers.
The center houses anywhere from 40-50 children at a time, ranging from children
as young as three, to children on the verge of aging out at twenty years old. Some of these
children have surviving parents, or older siblings who live in impoverished settings
around Hillbrow or nearby townships. Many of the children have relocated from
townships themselves due to parental illness. In many instances, it is common for
children to receive visits from siblings or other relatives, or to spend holidays away from
the center with their family members. Because the population it serves bears so many
trademark characteristics of OVC, 5Cees served as an ideal site for my research.
I designed a study that incorporated participant interviews, observations from
living at the center, and the collection of visual images from its resident children in
response to various prompts. From these practices, I was able to construct a portrait of
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