INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD CARE IN URBAN SOUTH AFRICA

formed and family ties would evolve in a setting that was home, but not in every sense of
the word. Bonds would form that resembled sibling dynamics, but also stood apart in
other ways. Older children would occasionally feel stronger attachments to certain
younger children, and for those who had been there together for a long while, there was a
unity formed through the experience. The lives and activities of the center were highly
intertwined and it was rare for me to ask where one of the children was without most of
the other children knowing the answer right away.
After spending close to a month at 5Cees, it was evident that terms such as
“orphanage,” “children’s home,” or “institution” were neither accurate nor fully
descriptive. Although the terms “orphanage” and “care center” were often used
interchangeably by the staff of 5Cees, their technical definitions struggled to keep up
with the realities of institutionalized childcare. In general, I found that debates
surrounding proper terminology often made it more difficult to understand the lived
experiences of institutionalized OVC. Exploring the daily routines, the attitudes of the
children and caretakers, and the challenges that the center faced proved to be a more
effective way in understanding its role within the children’s lives and greater South
African society.
In the chapters that follow, I present some of the challenges associated with each
of the three stages of childhood, early, middle, and late, and explore them through actual
case studies that I encountered. I will also examine how the center framed these
challenges, and what course sof action it took to address these needs. While some
challenges, such as psychological adjustment and education, are life-long challenges,
there are certain moments in childhood where these issues become especially relevant
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