Childheaded households chhs have become a common and integral part of south african society. The childheaded household chh is a rapidly growing phenomenon in contemporary africa in general and zimbabwe, in particular, mainly due to increased deaths of. Because world vision is a faith based organisation, special. The study identified the challenges of the childheaded household and explored how they influence the academic performance of primary school students from such households in zvishavane. Why single parenthood affects children hen greater risks are found, we are beginning to develop a better under. Effects of single parenthood on educational aspiration and student disengagement in korea hyunjoon park1 abstract the recent rapid increase in divorce, along with its distinctive cultural and welfare environments for singleparent families, makes korea an interesting case for examining effects of single parenthood on childrens education. Femaleheaded families with children are more than 5 times as likely to be poor as marriedcouple families with children44.
The negative effects of instability on child development heather sandstrom and sandra huerta can include job earnings, public income support, such as temporary cash assistance, and private income support, such as child support. The growth in the number of singleparent families implies that many children are confronted with the negative effects of singleparenthood every year, such as economic deprivation, a decrease in the quality and quantity of parental contact, and a decline in parental support and effective control amato, 2000. By 1984, one fourth of american families and nearly 60% of black families were headed by single parents see table 1. The study recommends that the government of kenya should provide free preschool education, provide learning resources, child friendly environment and relief food to people with hivaids. Child headed households chh are a reality that cannot be ignored. Family structure and childrens behavioral and cognitive. People used to assume that there was no such a thing as chhs because it was generally. Amato 1993 outlined a range of ways in which the economic position of a family might exert effects on child wellbeing. If stress is the driving force that affects child wellbeing, and all family change strains family roles and relationships, then the effect of family change on child wellbeing could be uniform and negative. Promoting strengths and resiliency in single mother families. Brody, and zolinda stoneman, the effects of divorce and maternal employment on the home environments of preschool children, child development 53 1982. A situational analysis of childheaded households and community foster care in tamil nadu and andhra pradesh states, india a study conducted by india hivaids alliance and tata institute of social science. Hers is just one of the many touching stories of childheaded families in zimbabwe due to deaths of parents caused mainly by.
Child, learning, orphan, household, child headed household. Nearly 40% of the participating families had one hivpositive parent and one hivnegative parent, while in 37. The present research contributes to the burgeoning body of knowledge on childheaded families and poverty. Then he provides an understanding of problematising as conceptualised in the theories postulated by freire and foucault. Child headed households have been noted in the late 1980s in the rakai district of uganda, child headed households c1ih is a phenomenon that is attributed to the breakdown of the extended family structure. It was also established that childheaded households face a number of socioeconomic problems. There is a significant difference in problems faced by children in single parent families when compared to children in dual parent families. Child, learning, orphan, household, childheaded household. The impact of hivaids on families and children a study. View childheaded households research papers on academia. The economic circumstances of families decline after divorce, especially among motherheaded families.
This study explores and describes the schooling experiences of secondary school learners from childheaded households. A childheaded household is defined for the purposes of this research project as a household wherein the head child is younger than 18 years old i. They are most common in developing countries and areas of war, where the childrens parents have been killed by conflict or disease. European journal of research in social sciences vol. Michael kyomya dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement. Other causes attributed to the emergence of the phenomenon include the hivaids scourge, children being orphaned through oilier. Effect of child and family poverty on child health in the. Mellon center for curricular and faculty development, the office of the provost and the office of the president. Pdf a situational analysis of childheaded households in. As such, it is imperative to uncover realities theof children in this situation. The scholarly evidence suggests that at the heart of the explosion of crime in america is the loss of the capacity of fathers and mothers to be responsible in caring for the children they bring into the world. Millions of children have lost their parents andor primary caregivers due to a variety of reasons of which the hivaids pandemic can be singled out as a. The impact of family structure and family change on child. Its negative effects on the wellbeing of a family are discussed below.
In cases where parents have become ill and incapacitated, the child may take over many of the household duties. Childheaded family simple english wikipedia, the free. The building strong families program serves romantically involved but unmarried parents. This loss of love and guidance at the intimate levels of marriage and family has broad social consequences for children and for the wider community. Research synthesis the effects of divorce on children. Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology, 31, 419430.
The role of a parent to a child at any given time cannot be over emphasized. Introduction and background the rise of families being headed by children is being witnessed very much both internationally and nationally phillips, 2011. Millions of other children live in two parent but reconstituted families, separated from at least one biological parent, in fact. Members of homeless families currently comprise approximately a third of the u. The legal and ethical implications when children are the primary caregivers in a therapeutic relationship chapter pdf available january 20 with. The home is very germane and crucial to a childs well being and development in later life. A childheaded family or childheaded household is a family in which a minor child or adolescent has become the head of the household. The impact of homelessness and shelter life on family. Experiences of learners from childheaded households in a.
These policies assume that the relationship between family change and child development is as strongor strongerin poor or nearpoor families as in families with higher incomes. Roughly, one of two families headed by a single mother. Eitc, which provides cash assistance to lowincome families and individuals who have earnings from work. The study identified the challenges of the child headed household and explored how they influence the academic performance of primary school students from such households in zvishavane.
From single parents to childheaded households page 2 of 30. The loss of the wageearning power of the absent parent, usually the father, compounded by the frequent failure of fathers to comply with child support judgments drive the majority of singleparent, femaleheaded families into poverty, regardless of whether the mother works. This study focused on the performance of children from child headed families in zimbabwe. Early problem behavior among children from lowincome, mother headed families.
Thus, it was recommended that childheaded families should be supported by government and other parapublic institutions. The negative effects of instability on child development. Family characteristics have more influence on child development than does experience in child care a compendium of findings from a study funded by the national institutes of health reveals that a childs family life has more influence on a childs development through age four and a half than does a childs experience in child care. This study has attempted to establish the effect of ngo intervention both on the coping strategies in chhs and also on other community support systems. Families and communities are not always equipped to cope with the situation which has led to the phenomenon of chh. Problems such as substance abuse or mental illness also work to drive families into poverty and worsen the deprivation experienced by children. In addition, it provides new information on the impact of family involvement on these skills specifically for. A situational analysis of childheaded households in south africa article pdf available in curationis 333. The paper indicated that childheaded households face a myriad of psychosocial and economic challenges such as hunger, starvation, high school dropouts, trauma and stress, exploitation, and.
Challenges of a childheaded family newsday zimbabwe. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of vulnerable learners from childheaded households through an ecological systems model. However, it should be noted that childheaded households are not only a phenomenon produced when children are orphaned. Economic instability is largely affected by involuntary job loss and by divorce or separation. Since these statistics represent only one point in time, they tend to. Families and parents are critical to childrens attainment.
Family is the primary cell of society where the childs upbringing must begin since his birth, still in cradle. Thus, the number of married couple families with children in wisconsin declined by 4 percent from 1960 to 1990, while the number of femaleheaded families rose by 298 percent in that same period. Effect of single parenting on children academic performance. Family characteristics have more influence on child. George and mansah 2011 state that one of the biggest challenge schools face today is the increasing number of learners coming from chh. Effects of single parenthood on educational aspiration and. The schooling experiences of secondary school learners. Poverty is the most profound and pervasive factor underlying developmental problems of the young. In addition, while family networks previously mediated the negative effects of large families, resource constraints and economic decline. Parental involvement in their childs literacy practices positively affects childrens academic performance and is a more powerful force for academic success than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education.
Child headed households, the emerging phenomenon in urban. Unemployment is a very serious concern because it not only affects the breadwinner, but also the entire family. In the 2001 census there were 248 427 registered child headed households. Performance in schools by students from child headed. The effects of family, social and background factors on. Childheaded households chh are a reality that cannot be ignored. A situational analysis of childheaded households and. Childheaded household is a phenomenon that is growing in south africa. A chh is defined as a family unit of which the oldest person residing in the household is under the age of eighteen unicef, 1998this is the same definition. As child headed households occur within the social environment, i wanted to understand the suffering of these children, more especially in south africa where the situation is grim.
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