They are not always a burden: Older people and child fostering in Uganda during the HIV epidemic

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the role of older people (60 years and above) in fostering decisions for orphans and non-orphans within extended families in a rural Ugandan community heavily affected by HIV. Fieldwork conducted in 2006 provided information on the influence of HIV on fostering decisions through 48 individual in-depth interviews and two group interviews with foster-children and family members to develop detailed case studies related to 13 fostered adolescents. The adolescents included five non-orphans and eight orphans (five were double orphans because they had lost both parents). Older people play a very important role in fostering decisions as potential foster-parents, advisers, mediators and gatekeepers. They have a high level of authority over the foster-children, who are regarded as important resources within the extended family. With fewer potential caregivers available because of HIV-related deaths, the responsibility for fostering orphans has often fallen to surviving older people. Fostering is used by older people and the child's extended family as a strategy to ensure the welfare of the foster-child. When the foster-parent is an older person, it is also used to ensure physical and emotional support for the older person themselves. Support from the extended family towards foster households is widely reported to have been reduced by HIV by diminishing resources that would otherwise have been made available to support foster care. New initiatives and investment are required to complement community and family resources within well-managed social protection and welfare programmes. To be effective, such programmes will require adequate investment in administrative capacity and monitoring. They must aim to strengthen families and, recognizing that resources are limited, should prioritize the community's poorest households, rather than specifically targeting households with orphans or other foster-children.

Intergenerational care for and by children: Examining reciprocity through focus group interviews with older adults in rural Uganda

“…In fact, the Baganda often live in nuclear households with each adult generation living separately, sometimes at significant distances from one another. Fostering -parental care provided by those other than biological or adoptive parents -is a common reason for children to live in extended households, as it is seen as a critical means of socializing children and passing on important cultural and social information to the next generation (Kasedde et al 2014). Fostering may also reflect a means of strengthening intergenerational ties and redistributing resources within the extended family (Isiugo-Abanihe 1985).…”

“…Children in the care of older persons may benefit from strengthened bonds with their older carers and wider family relations with maternal or paternal kin. In some cases, children staying with a grandparent to assist with their care may benefit from smaller household size and more individual attention from their carer than may be the case otherwise (Alber 2004;Kasedde et al 2014;Madhavan 2004). While food, stimulation, discipline, and child care are important inputs, children may also experience positive benefits from sustained warm, caring relationships (WHO 2004).…”

“…Living away from parents and with other relatives is not unusual; even before the HIV epidemic, using Demographic and Health Surveys from eight sub-Saharan African countries, Lloyd and Desai (1992) showed that between 6% and one-third of children aged 5-9, and 10%-40% of children aged 10-14, lived away from their mothers. In Uganda it is common to share responsibility for children's socialization across multigenerational kin networks (Kasedde et al 2014). In current times, particularly in countries like Uganda that have been strongly impacted by HIV and AIDS and where social services are lacking, relationships between the old and young often take a particular shape, working for and with each other.…”

Dealing with disclosure: Perspectives from HIV-positive children and their older carers living in rural south-western Uganda

“…An under-researched but important relationship dynamic exists in contexts where a significant proportion of carers are older people who have inherited the care of grandchildren or other younger relatives (Kasedde et al, 2014). Older carers, either with shared or complete responsibility for a child or children may play a vital role in mediating multiple aspects of their care and wellbeing.…”

Childhood Risk of Parental Absence in Tanzania

“…This relationship, however, has been complicated in sub-Saharan Africa, where Fortson (2008) found a positive relationship between HIV and education. There is a need for a better understanding of which children are at risk of orphanhood, as well as a contextualization of orphans’ experience in the broader range of living arrangements and experiences of parental absence (Beegle et al 2010a, b; Chuong and Operario 2012; Hampshire et al 2014; Kasedde et al 2014; Richter and Desmond 2008). …”