Leaving Care in Africa

Abstract

Many children in sub-Saharan Africa find themselves without adequate parental care, resulting from growing levels of poverty, disease (e.g., Aids and Ebola), harmful cultural norms, conflict, and trafficking, among others. In Africa, most orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) are taken care by the relatives and other community members, but this traditional system is under stress, and many OVC end up on their own on the streets or in child-headed households (Leinaweaver, 2014). Others enter the formal alternative care system (also known as foster or out-of-home care) provided through residential care facilities known by different names, such as orphanages, child and youth care centers, or children’s homes. Recent estimates suggest that about 2.7 million children are in formal care globally, of which about 11% live in sub-Saharan Africa (Petrowski, Cappa, & Gross, 2017). However, many more children are unaccounted for in unregistered facilities run by nongovernmental organizations dotted across the continent