Children Affected by Poverty and Social Exclusion

Around the world, poverty and social exclusion are driving factors behind the placement of children into alternative care. Families give up their children because they are too poor to care for them, or they feel that it is the best way to help them to access basic services such as education and health care. Discrimination and cultural taboos mean that girls, children with disabilities, ethnic minorities, children with HIV/AIDS and children born out of wedlock, make up a disproportionate number of children abandoned into alternative care.

Poor-quality alternative care leads to a vicious cycle of poverty and inequality. With limited family-based alternative care options in many countries, children often end up in institutional care. Already marginalized by poverty or stigmatization, they risk becoming further excluded from society, as they grow up separated from their families and communities. In the worst cases, inadequate or unsafe care standards expose them to neglect, violence and abuse. When they eventually leave institutional care, young adults may then struggle to reintegrate into their communities and face high rates of homelessness, unemployment, chronic poverty, depression and even suicide.

Greater political and financial commitment is needed to tackle the poverty and social exclusion that drives families to give up their children. This includes wide-ranging measures to combat poverty, discrimination and stigmatization, to change attitudes towards single parenthood and disability, and to adopt social policies promoting family empowerment and parenting skills. Greater priority must also be given to developing good-quality family-based care options, such as foster care and adoption, for the girls and boys who need alternative families.

The documents in this section examine the relationship between poverty, social exclusion and placement of children in alternative care.

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Challenges Faced By Households in Caring for Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Kerry Vermaak, Nqobile Mavimbela, Jane Chege, and Eka Esu-Williams, 2004

Outlines key findings of survey conducted to investigate the challenges faced by households caring for OVC in South Africa. Conclusion delineates six potential responses to community needs.

Linking Safety Nets, Social Protection, and Poverty Reduction: Directions for Africa

Michelle Adato, Akhter Ahmed, and Francie Lund, 2004

A short discussion of various safety net program options and considerations for effective program design. Focus on reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

How Poverty Separates Parents and Children: A Challenge to Human Rights

International Movement ATD Fourth World, 2004

An executive summary of lessons learned on preventing family separation in poverty stricken communities. Brief case studies from Guatemala, Haiti, Philippines, United States and Burkina Faso.

Reaching Out to Africa's Orphans: A Framework for Public Action

Kalanidhi Subbarao and Diane Coury, 2004

A detailed book providing evidence-based guidelines for approaches and interventions to best mitigate the various risks confronted by OVC.

Children in Institutions: Prevention and Alternative Care

Bragi Gudbrandsson, 2004

This report contains an overview of alternative care in Europe, the effects of institutions on children, statistical information and the different approaches of child protection systems within Europe. It includes reforming institutional care, foster care, post-care support, and the role of the social worker.

National Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Policy of Uganda

Uganda Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, 31 Dec 2003

This document is the official policy governing National Orphans and OVC of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) of the Republic of Uganda. The policy interprets a vision of a society where all orphans and other vulnerable children live to their full potential, where their rights and aspirations are fulfilled.

Orphans in Africa: Parental Death, Poverty and School Enrollment

Anne Case, Christina Paxson, and Joseph Ableidinger, 31 Dec 2003

Research on the incidence, living arrangements, and causes of lower school enrollment of orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Welfare Reform, Work, and Child Care: The Role of Informal Care in the Lives of Low-Income Women and Children

The Next Generation MDRC Policy Brief, 01 Oct 2003

Analyzing rich data from in-depth ethnographic interviews conducted in Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia, Next Generation researchers documented the challenges that low-income families face as they patch together a variety of arrangements to meet their child care needs.

The Reach of the South African Child Support Grant: Evidence from KwaZulu-Natal

Anne Case, Victoria Hosegood, and Frances Lund , 2003

This research paper evaluates the impact of the Child Support Grant in South Africa. It finds that while there exists a strong commitment to implementation, the presence of a child’s mother is an important factor in program participation.

Foster Care and Schooling in West Africa: The State of Knowledge

Marc Pilon, 2003

Explores the relationship between fostering and education in West Africa. Identifies special need to focus on protecting and educating young girls.