The Production and Reproduction of Kinship in Charitable Children's Institutions in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya (original) (raw)
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The focus this study was on the mechanism by which family care services influence sustainability of charitable children’s institutions in Nyando Sub-County, Kisumu, Kenya.This study was guided by the following objectives: to assess the extent to which: kinship care influences sustainability of charitable children’s institutions; guardianship care influences sustainability of charitable children’s institutions; independent living care influences sustainability of charitable children’s institutions, and foster care influences sustainability of charitable children’s institutions. The theoretical underpinnings of this study were: theory of sustainability, ecological theory, theory of hierarchy of needs and structural functionalism. The current study adopted a cross-sectional research design. Respondents were sampled from a population of 160 beneficiaries of alternative family care services in 10 charitable children’s institutions within Nyando Sub-County of Kisumu County, Kenya. A sample size of 113 respondents was selected using Krejcie and Morgan’s formula. The sampling procedure entailed a stratified proportionate sampling for the four family care services offered by charitable children’s institutions. Data was collected and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive analyses comprised of the frequencies, means, standard deviations and percentages. Inferential analysis explained the relationship between the independent and dependent variable using correlation and linear regression analyses. The study established that family care services did not have a significant influence on sustainability of charitable children’s institutions. However, coefficients of linear regression had a negative direction suggesting that increase in family care services would likely decrease sustainability of charitable children’s institutions. When the hypotheses were tested, no significance was established hence, all the null hypotheses were accepted. It was established that there was no significant relationship between: kingship care and sustainability of charitable children’s institutions; guardianship care and sustainability of charitable children’s institutions; independent living care and sustainability of charitable children’s institutions and foster care and sustainability of charitable children’s institutions.These findings provide government departments of children’s services, management of charitable children’s institutions, Non Governmental Organizations and other stakeholders with empirical evidence of percieved ineffectiveness of current family care services. The empirical evidence is not supportive of the migration to home based care. However, these results provide a basis for recommendations that will enhance sustainability of family care services. The experience by charitable children’s institutions in management of institutional care can be re-oriented, through project methodology to ensure the change to family care is implemented in a sustainable way. Future research could use a longitudinal design to capture the opinions of caregivers, placement project managers and government officials on drivers of sustainable alternative family care.
What matters to children living in kinship care: "another way of being a normal family
2021
Background: Kinship care is the long-term caring arrangement within the family constellation for children who cannot remain with their birth parents. Despite being the most prevalent alternative care arrangement for children worldwide, there is a lack of research into kinship care. Few studies focus on the child's perspectives, and very few explicitly focus on the meaning of permanence for the children. These children often have similar needs as others that have experienced abuse and neglect. Additionally, they must manage complex dislocated family relationships, and most experience financial hardship with very little support. The little kinship care research that has been done reflects a preoccupation with comparing kinship care as an alternative to state care rather than a family set up within its own right. Also, research, legislation and practice for kinship care has been founded on the concerns and debates for adoption and fostering processes. This typically produces a range of atheoretical, descriptive outcome studies that often provide conflicting answers by focussing on the what rather than the how. This can cause ambivalence for practitioners, academics, and policymakers. Objective: This is the first study that has solely sought the views of children in kinship care in England. It explores the lived experiences of 19 children in such arrangements. More specifically, it focuses on kinship care as a permanence option. The study does not presuppose certain theories of permanence, childhood, or family. Instead, theoretical explanations emerge from the children's own valuations of their family lives. This can enable social workers to find more attuned ways to support, protect, and permanency plan for children out with the traditional concepts of permanence, family, childhood, and care that are often taken for granted. Methodology/methods: The study's innovative approach utilises critical realism as an underlabourer, and Sayer's (2011) work on reasoning in particular. By using a dialogical participative approach, different methods such as child-led tours, photo-elicitation, and visual methods were used to capture the children's valuations of their lives. Utilising a range of theories provided empirical certainty with an interpretivist awareness of subjectivities. Results: In their family lives, children in kinship care navigate the in-between of the purported binary positions often ascribed to care, kinship, permanence, autonomy, and recognition. Through thematic analysis and retroduction, it was found that the children manage the This piece of work is not only about family but has also been borne out of the love and support of family. Like the children in this study, I recognise that my family is constantly evolving and does not just restrict itself to genetic ties. So, thank you to my mother, Marcia Randell, my sister, Jo Shuttleworth, Jack, James, my nieces Lila and Isis, and all my other relatives. You have all managed to keep me focused whilst still providing me with the joys of family life. I must also thank my friends, who I also consider part of my family.
Child & Family Social Work, 2020
Traditionally, the involvement of the extended family in nurturing children is seen as an essential cultural practice in most communities in Ghana. Though not formally regulated, often in the absence of birth parents, kin and kith continue to be involved in the care of children to promote family relations and culture. Yet there is little empirical evidence on how to improve the well-being and safety of children in informal kinship care in Ghana. Thus, this study reports findings from in-depth interviews with 15 young people, 18 to 23 years, from Banda-an ethnic group where informal kinship care is an accepted cultural practice. Data from the interviews were subjected to the constructivist grounded theory analysis. Adequate income for provision of basic needs, education and training, and supervision emerged as useful measures to promote the safety and well-being of children in kinship care. It was recommended that informal kinship caregivers must be registered with the Department of Social Welfare to enable them access support and training. Further, social workers should create awareness among kinship caregivers in Ghana about their availability to provide counselling services for caregivers facing challenges. K E Y W O R D S child safety, child well-being, Ghana, informal kinship care, kinship care 1 | INTRODUCTION Research suggests that one of the better places to keep children, when their biological parents are unable to provide them with adequate care, is within their family environment (Esposito et al., 2014; Montserrat, 2014). Article 20 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that vulnerable children in need of care and protection are entitled to adequate substitute care such as care provided by family members and close friends (kinship or family-based care), residential or institutional care and foster care (Ansah-Koi,-2006). Kinship and institutional care are the most commonly used out-of-home care options in Ghana for children in need of alternative care (Abdullah, Cudjoe & Manful, 2018; Bettmann, Mortensen, & Akuoko, 2015). Kinship care within the context of this study refers to care support provided by external family members and close friends. In the Ghanaian context, institutional care normally refers to Orphanages and Children's Homes. Institutional care is usually used as a last resort when members from the extended family are unable to provide the required care for the child (Frimpong-Manso & Bugyei, 2018). However, evidence suggests that these institutions lack the needed human and material resources to meet the emotional and physical needs of children in care (Bettmann et al., 2015; Castillo, Sarver, Bettmann, Mortensen, & Akuoko, 2012). Research has also revealed that the environment in care institutions does not represent that of a family. As a result of this, children do not receive sufficient care from their caregivers, and caregivers are often unable to meet the diverse needs of children due to unfavourable caregiver-child ratio (Castillo et al., 2012). Moreover, a 2009 report from UN regarding Alternative Care for Children recommended the phasing out of institutions as a care option (Newton, 2017). Yet in Ghana, alternative care
Is kinship failing? Views on informal support by families in contact with social services in Ghana
Child & Family Social Work, 2018
Traditionally, Ghanaian families facing difficulties address their problems by engaging kin, with the State being the last point of call. However, in recent times, more families facing difficulties are contacting social services to seek redress. So what contribution are kin and other informal social support networks providing to the care and safety of children of such families? This paper presents findings from 15 families receiving services from the Department of Social Welfare in Sekondi, Ghana. Through semistructured in-depth interviews, the families shared their views on the roles played by their kin and informal social networks in contributing to the care of their children. The study findings suggest that kin still plays a vital role in the support of parenting through imbibing of norms and values; whereas the provision of casual support is provided by nonkin in one's social support network on the basis of reciprocity. Therefore, it was concluded that in developing social welfare policies to ensure better outcomes for children in Ghana attention also has to be placed on the supportive role of the community for families in danger of disruption as there is likely to be limited familial safety net for support in child care. KEYWORDS child care, kinship care, parenting/parenthood, social services departments, social support 1 | INTRODUCTION The best place to nurture children is within their family environment, with birth parents or kin. State intervention is resorted to as a last resort when kin fails (Esposito, Trocmé, Chabot, Collin-Vézina, Shlonsky, Sinha, 2014). Yet many families are failing thus the need for State intervention through legal frameworks, organizations, and guidelines. These State interventions have gained more credence with international frameworks such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Rights, and the African Charter on the Rights of the Child. Although the State has good intentions, it has limitations in reaching every child that needs care and protection. Therefore, kinship still remains an important social support for better outcomes for the child. However, with modernisation, it appears kinship ties are waning (Nukunya, 2016), resulting in a different form of informal support system evident especially in urban areas. This informal support, generally referred to us informal networks (Taylor, Chatters, Woodward, & Brown, 2013), include family members, neighbours, friends, or religious group members. Various studies have shown that children prefer to be nurtured by family members than placed in out of home care (Àngels et al., 2015; Kuyini, Alhassan, Tollerud, Weld, & Haruna, 2009). Nonetheless, some children placed with kin experience physical and emotional abuse (Kuyini et al., 2009). The implication of this is that experiences of children in kinship and nonkinship care can either be negative or positive. Yet there is sufficient evidence to support the idea that most children in kinship care have positive experiences (Burgess, Rossvoll, Wallace,
Critical needs in family and institutional fosterage of orphans in the era of Hiv and Aids in Kenya
2014
There are currently over one million (update figures)orphans in Kenya (Waldehanna et al 2005) and these numbers continue to sore especially today and in the recent yester years as a result of deaths arising from HIV/AIDS. Despite this position, there is little information on the plight of the orphan in Kenya in general and in the North Rift and the Western regions of Kenya in particular (Kareithi et al 2008, Kodero, 2008). Much that concerns these orphans in terms of critical needs as regards their care has been speculative and nuanced. It is unclear how the orphans cope with the loss of parents, the channels that exist to assist them, how the traditional extended family has coped with the challenge, and the responses at the community and family level on what appears to be a humanitarian crisis. It has also remained unclear about the family and institutional needs required to foster the orphan and the challenges faced by the family and foster institutions while doing this. This pape...
African Sociological Review / Revue Africaine de Sociologie, 2004
This paper discusses change and continuity in the kin-based support for widows and orphans among the Luo in western Kenya. It shows how the involvement of external actors such as church and donor-sponsored institutions have transformed some traditional systems and created new opportunities for widows and orphans. For instance, an indigenous institution such as duol (originally a communal eating arrangement, which has now evolved into a prayer house), now addresses the needs of widows and orphans through church and donor assistance. Widows and orphans can now choose when and for what purpose they should utilise domestic ties, and when to turn to relations outside the extended kin group. It is noted that many widows and orphans prefer to deal with relations outside the kinship system in their everyday life. This has resulted in conflict between the traditional and the modern systems, with the traditional one feeling undermined. It suggested that to understand change and continuity in the kin-based support for widows and orphans, we need to understand the new social processes that have influenced changes in corporate kin group responsibility. It is argued that donor assistance to vulnerable groups, at the local level, should take into consideration the prevailing kinship structure and other relationships if conflictsof interest are to be minimised.
2015
Parental Care: Care and protection provided for the child within the confines of a family environment established or regulated by a biological (or legal) parent. Vulnerability: This includes the physical weakness of children, including weakness in power relations with adults, as well as their lack of certain social and other skills with which to protect themselves from manipulation and other forms of harm and abuse generally.
Experiences of Children in Kinship Care (CKC) in Ghana
Journal of Family Issues, 2020
The provision of care by extended family members and close friends is a common cultural practice in Ghanaian traditional communities. With a recent interest by stakeholders in Ghana to consider kinship care as an alternative care option in child welfare policy, this study explores current kinship care challenges to help identify and address potential setbacks for policy and practice recommendations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 young adults with experience as Children in Kinship Care (CKC). The participants with CKC experience reported inadequate basic needs,
Children Without Parents: The social impact of children being raised by non-kin members
The increase in the use of non-kin child “care as an out-of-home care placement, [has become] an international phenomena” (Paxman, Outcomes for children and young people in kinship care, 2006), where The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data has shown that “the number of children in out-of-home care has increased each year since the mid 1990s” (Paxman, Outcomes for children and young people in kinship care, 2006), where the majority (54%) of children are placed in foster care. From this, a research problem centred to if these children raised in these circumstances are able to function within society. The proposed research will investigate this problem by mainly focusing on the social impact and the effects of children being raised by non-kin members. However, it has come to the attention that this range of non-kin members is vast, since it involves adopted children, children in foster care, step families, governmental institutions, and also loosely includes the use of caregivers and au pairs when parents are still present. Although the range of non-kin members is large, the importance of the proposed research is highly relevant and important to society as a whole, since it will analyse how these children, raised by non-kin members, are affected, if affected at all, by means of being established into the cohesion, stability, prosperity and sustainability of the community, and how a family unit can survive the introduction of raising non-kin children. It has been noted, that the central problem of the proposed research is if it possible for a child raised by someone not of kin to function effectively, adequately, and properly under the various regulations of society. Thus, the research will prove highly valuable in terms of the particular child welfare goals of well-being, permanency and safety, to inform future directions in research, policy and practice in out-of-home care, and to establish the various behavioural outcomes of these children when adulthood is reached. The research regarding the certain factors that lead to the growth in non-kin care, the outcomes for children in non-kin care in comparison to kinship care, the social factors that may influence these outcomes, and directions for future research in non-kin care, will be conducted by means of participant observation, surveys, interviews and questionnaires within the households of these unique families, and the adults and the children involved.
Battle for the Family’s Soul: Anatomy of the Orphanage Phenomenon in Kenya
2020
Orphanages, alternatively referred to as children’s homes or charitable children’s institutions as per the Children Act 2001, have been in the headlines in the recent past for a myriad of allegations ranging from abuse and neglect of children, recruitment of children from poor families and involvement in a cartel of traffickers in the guise of adoption that has involved adoption societies, lawyers, children’s officers and judicial officers. The dramatic case of Matt and Daisy Mazzoncini is the latest in a series of explosive exposés on orphanages and adoption in Kenya.