Studies on community engagement (CE) focus on its benefits but not enough on termination and difficulties experienced at the personal level with exiting projects. A study on CE with service-learning students and volunteers at a South African university identified issues and themes pertaining to termination as systematic process, emotional responses to termination, and the need to find closure. This paper argues that termination should be more integral to CE processes, and considering that CE experiences can influence further involvement, it is important to end engagement processes more conscientiously than currently happens.

Caring for children with disabilities (CWD) is a challenging task for families and service providers alike. Even though previous research has explored experiences and perceptions of families who care for CWD, research focusing on service providers' perceptions of such families is limited. Through the lens of a care framework, the present study aims to explore service providers' perceptions of families caring for CWD in resource-poor settings in South Africa. Key informant interviews were conducted with managers of 10 organizations supported by the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. An inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that family structure, poverty, service inaccessibility, negative beliefs, and stigma by community members, in addition to parental substance abuse, influenced how families care for CWD in resource-poor settings in South Africa. These findings have implications for policy amendments regarding the care dependency grant (CDG) to ensure that it benefits all CWD and not only those who need full-time care and services. K E Y W O R D S care framework, children with disabilities, familial care, service providers, South Africa 1 | INTRODUCTION Families caring for children with disabilities (CWD) encounter distinguishable challenges compared with those of families caring for children without disabilities. More than 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability, of which approximately 150 million are children aged 18 years and younger (World Health Organization, 2011). In South Africa, the 2011 Census indicated that 10.8% (447,843) of children between 5 and 9 years and 6.7% (270,566) of adolescents aged 10 to 19 years were living with disabilities (Statistics South Africa, 2014). A number of positive familial responses and experiences of caring for CWD have been reported in literature (Beighton & Wills, 2017; Lodewyks, 2009; McNally & Mannan, 2013). Positive aspects of caring for CWD include a sense of fulfilment stemming from the child's accomplishments, source of happiness, personal strength, a greater appreciation for life, increased spirituality, and family closeness

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The study's qualitative design is geared towards unearthing rich, Background. Very young adolescents receive little research and pragmatic attention regarding their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs. As a result, their experiences are often overlooked. Furthermore, when this age group is included in SRH education, the dominant public health lens tends to focus on health risks associated with sex, with less emphasis on a holistic approach that considers the sociocultural and relational contexts in which adolescents' decision-making about sex and dating occurs. Objectives. To explore the beliefs, perceptions and decision-making pathways of adolescents about heterosexual sex, dating and relationships. Methods. The sample included 33 girls and 30 boys aged 10-14 years attending schools in rural Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Data collection entailed participatory methodologies of group-based activities and individual interviews. Data were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were coded and analysed using thematic analysis. Results. The findings focused on three themes: timing of dating, relationships and sex; gendered depictions of first sex; and agency in sexual decision-making. These themes shed light on the relational context in which adolescents' decision-making takes place and highlight the pervasive influence of wider gendered norms. Conclusion. Very young adolescents are not sexually naive and instead are faced with complex decisions regarding sex and dating. This age group is not, however, fully supported in developing a healthy, positive sexuality when emphasis is on the negative outcomes of sex. The paper concludes with recommendations for adolescent SRH programmes to provide a supportive environment for younger adolescents to make informed choices and develop positive, healthy sexualities.