Browsing by Author "Collins, Litiesha Fredlien"

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    Challenges experienced by kinship foster caregivers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03 ) Collins, Litiesha Fredlien; Strydom, M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child underscores the importance of a family environment for every child by stating that every child has "the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents". This is a matter of concern, as the quality of the child's upbringing is a determining factor in their well-being and overall emotional and behavioural development. If children are deprived of a stable upbringing in their early years, it could definitely influence their transition into adulthood. The practice of extended family (kin) raising family children who are deprived of their own biological parental care is ancient. However, kinship foster caregivers take on this role or responsibility under different and sometimes difficult circumstances. These circumstances may include neglect by biological parents, parental misuse of alcohol and drugs, incarceration of one or both biological parents, the death of one or both biological parents, HIV Aids, or a family crises situation. The motivation for the study was to investigate the challenges that kinship foster caregivers experience during or after the placement of the family child into their care. This information could be utilised by social workers who are responsible for rendering services to kinship foster carers according to South African policy and legislation. The strengths perspective was utilised as a lens through which the researcher tried to understand the resilience that kinship foster caregivers displayed when taking care of family children. The research document contains three literature chapters, the first of which serves as a methodological framework regarding the execution of the study. In the second chapter, the relevant international, regional, and national policies and legislation relating to foster care are presented. This is followed by the third chapter which outlines the challenges experienced by kinship foster caregivers when taking care of the children of family and the social work services they receive and need. The literature review serves as a framework regarding the conceptualisation of the challenges that kinship foster caregivers typically experience. Relevant international, regional, and national policies and legislation pertaining to foster care as well as challenges experienced in social work service delivery in South Africa are presented. For this research, a qualitative approach was utilised to capture the rich accounts of kinship foster caregivers about the challenges they experience with the placement of a child into their care. Descriptive and exploratory research designs were used to substantiate the capturing of various narratives from the participants. Participants were approached by applying the purposive sampling method and 17 participants were then interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The data gathered was analysed using a thematic content analysis approach. The study highlighted that kinship foster caregivers have many challenges, whether child- or family-related and personal challenges, to deal with. Furthermore, kinship foster caregivers also experience various financial and emotional challenges. It is recommended that social services should be delivered, not only to the children being cared for, but also to the kinship foster caregivers, especially as this form of kinship care is the most widely practised form of substitute care for children in need of care and protection in South Africa. It is also recommended that kinship foster caregivers must have access to professional services.