RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO CHILDREN AS FAMILY HEADS. AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY OF CHILDREN IN KAMPALA, UGANDA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v8i6.1486Palabras clave:
children as family heads, child-headed households, needs, resources, coping, adversitiesResumo
Child-headed households are a new family modality that has emerged due to HIV/AIDS, parental neglect and abandonment and migration among other factors. Children have taken up parenting and care roles for themselves, their siblings and sometimes other kinsmen. As they take on such roles, they encounter several adversities and experience difficulty acquiring basic needs such as food, housing, education, medical care and clothing. These children, as family heads, interact with physical, social, and cultural environments that bring about adversities but also offer the necessary resources for meeting needs and coping with adversities. Our study sought to explore the specific resources available to children as family heads and how those resources enable child-headed households to meet their needs and cope with the adversities they encounter. We utilised a qualitative methodology with an exploratory case study design to unravel the opinions of six purposively selected children who head families in Kampala, Uganda. We gathered children’s narratives through interviews, which were later transcribed and analysed thematically. Study findings indicated that children tapped into a range of resources such as social networks, including relatives, neighbours, friends, state and civil society departments and organisations. Children as family heads also relied on family land, religiosity and participation in income-generating activities to cope with their adversities and acquire basic needs.
Article visualizations:
Citas
Brennan, M.A. (2008). Conceptualising resiliency: An interactional perspective for community and youth development. Child Care in Practice, 14(1), 55-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/13575270701733732
Bryman, A., (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Cooper, E. (2011). Challenges and opportunities in inheritance rights in Uganda. Chronic Poverty Research Centre Inheritance Series Policy Note. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1775798
DeCarlo, M. (2018). Scientific inquiry in social work. Open Social Work Education.
Esping-Andersen, G. (2016). Families in the 21st Century (p. 113). Stockholm: SNS förlag
Evans, R. (2012). Safeguarding inheritance and enhancing the resilience of orphaned young people living in child- and youth-headed households in Tanzania and Uganda. African Journal of AIDS Research: AJAR, 11(3), 177-189. https://doi.org/10.2989/16085906.2012.734977
Fergus, S. & Zimmerman, M.A. (2005). Adolescent resilience. A framework for understanding healthy development in the face of risk. Annual Review of Public Health, 26, 399-419. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144357
Gitterman, A., & Germain, C. B. (2008). The life model of social work practice: Advances in theory and practice. New York: Columbia University Press.
Healy, K. (1998). Participation and Child Protection: The Importance of Context. The British Journal of Social Work, 28 (6), 897-914.
Healy, K. (2014). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. Macmillan International Higher Education
Heimer, M., Näsman, E., & Palme, J. (2018). Vulnerable children's rights to participation, protection, and provision: The process of defining the problem in Swedish child and family welfare. Child & Family Social Work, 23 (2), 316-323. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12424
International Association of Schools of Social Work. (IASSW 2018). Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles. Available at: https://www.iassw-aiets.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Global-Social-Work-Statement-of-Ethical-Principles-IASSW-27-April-2018-1.pdf.
International Federation of Social Workers. (IFSW, 2018). Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles, https://www.ifsw.org/global-social-work-statement-of-ethical-principles/
Kakuru, D. M. (2018). Reconstructing child caregiving: Perspectives on child-headed households in Uganda. In H. B. Ebrahim, A. Okwany & O. Barry, (Eds.). Early Childhood Care and Education at the Margins (pp. 46-61). Routledge.
Kipp, W. E., Satzinger, F., Alibhai, A., & Rubaale, T. (2010). Needs and support for Ugandan child-headed households: results from a qualitative study. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 5(4), 297-309. Doi 10.1080/17450128.2010.507805
Kondrat, M. E. (2013). Person-in-environment. In Encyclopaedia of social work.
Kurebwa, J., & Kurebwa, N. Y. G. (2014). Coping strategies of child-headed households in Bindura urban of Zimbabwe. International journal of innovative research & development 3(11), 236-249. ISSN 2278 – 0211 (Online)
Kyomya, D. M. (2002). Survival in child-headed households: a study on the impact of world vision support on coping strategies in child-headed households in Kakuuto county, Rakai district, Uganda (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds, United Kingdom).
Mturi, A. J. (2012). Child-headed households in South Africa: What we know and what we don't. Development Southern Africa, 29(3), 506-516. https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2012.706043
Namazzi, E., & Kendrick, M. E. (2014). Multilingual cultural resources in child-headed families in Uganda. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 35(7), 724-737. Doi 10.1080/01434632.2014.908893
Pardeck, J. T. (1988). An ecological approach for social work practice. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 15(2), 133-142. Mon Jan 23 09:07:06 2023 Content Downloaded from https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jrlsasw15&collection=journals&id=261&startid=&endid=270HeinOnline
Pardeck, J. T. (1996). Social work practice: An ecological approach. abc-clio. ISBN 0-86569-236-X
Phillips-Veeze, C. (2011). Child-headed households: a feasible way forward, or an infringement of children's right to alternative care? Leiden University.
Rutter, M. (2006). Implication of resilience concepts for scientific understanding. In B.M. Lester, A.S. Masten, & B. McEwen (Eds.), Resilience in children (pp. 1–12). Boston, MA: Blackwell.
Saleebey, D. (2006). The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice, Boston: Pearson Education
Skovdal, M., Ogutu, V. O., Aoro, C., & Campbell, C. (2009). Young carers as social actors: Coping strategies of children caring for ailing or ageing guardians in Western Kenya. Social science & medicine, 69(4), 587-595.doi 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.06.016
Thwala, S. K. (2018). Experiences and Coping Strategies of Children from Child-Headed Households in Swaziland. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 6(7), 150-158. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v6i7.3393
Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), 2021. Uganda National Household Survey 2019/2020. Kampala, Uganda; UBOS
Ungar, M. (2008). Resilience across Cultures. British Journal of Social Work, 38(2), 218-235. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcl343
United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF]. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text
Van Breda, A. D. (2010). The phenomenon and concerns of childheaded households in Africa. In M. Liebel & R. Lutz (Eds.), Sozialarbeit des Südens, Band III: Kindheiten und Kinderrechte (pp.259-280).
van Dijk, D. A. (2008). Beyond their age. Coping of children and young people in child-headed households in South Africa. Leiden: African Studies Centre.
van Dijk, D., & van Driel, F. (2009). Supporting child-headed households in South Africa: Whose best interests? Journal of Southern African Studies, 35(4), 915-927. doi:10.1080/03057070903313251
Ward, L. M., & Eyber, C. (2009). Resiliency of children in child-headed households in Rwanda: Implications for community based psychosocial interventions. Intervention, 7(1), 17-33. doi 10.1097/wtf.0b013e32832ad3ac
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (Vol. 5). Sage.
