Challenges and coping strategies of orphaned children in Tanzania who are not adequately cared for by adults

Abstract

Orphaned children in poor rural communities sometimes have no adult who is able to care for them or else the adult caregiver is not able to provide adequate care. Tanzania remains one of the poorest countries in the world, and poverty frequently constrains foster care. Although HIV prevalence is declining, AIDS is still a major cause of orphaning. This article explores the challenges and coping strategies accompanying two possible life trajectories for orphaned children without adequate adult care: 1) that they remain in rural areas in child-headed households, or 2) that they are trafficked to an urban area. Antonovsky's salutogenic model is used as the theoretical framework. The data come from two separate phenomenological studies with vulnerable children. In the first study, in-depth interviews were held with 12 orphaned children in a poor rural area; data concerning three child heads of households are included here. In the second study, 15 girls who were trafficked from rural areas to Dar es Salaam gave extended life-history narrations; data are included for nine of the girls who were orphaned. Loss of parents, a lack of cash, and the need to balance school attendance with food production were chronic stressors for the children heading households, while resources included income-generation strategies and the ability to negotiate with teachers for time to cultivate. For the trafficked girls chronic stressors included exploitation, long working hours, little or no pay, isolation and rape. Resources for them, although limited, included faith networks and neighbours; escape from the exploitative situation frequently involved external help. We conclude that given physical and social assets the child-headed households were able to cope with the challenges of caring for themselves and a younger child, but isolation and dependency on employers made it difficult for the trafficked girls to cope with this exploitation. The salutogenic model proved a useful tool in analysing the coping strategies of children living without adequate adult care.

Potentially traumatic experiences and sexual health among orphaned and separated adolescents in five low- and middle-income countries

“…In general, the growing OSC population is resulting in additional economic constraints and increasing caregiver burden felt by families in LMIC (Heymann, Earle, Rajaraman, Miller, & Bogen, 2007 ; Kidman & Thurman, 2014 ; Miller, Gruskin, Subramanian, Rajaraman, & Heymann, 2006 ). Studies have reported that economically constrained or inadequate orphan care in resource-poor areas can contribute to child- or sibling-headed households, increased child labor, reduced school attendance, and reduced educational attainment, all of which are associated with increased sexual health risk (Birdthistle et al, 2009 ; Case, Paxson, & Abledinger 2004 ; Cluver, Orkin, Boyes, Gardner, & Meinck, 2011 ; Dalen, Nakitende, & Musisi, 2009 ; Daniel & Mathias, 2012 ).…”

The association between psychosocial well‐being and living environments: a case of orphans in Rwanda

“…This could be because of the fact that as these households had to struggle with the double burden of taking care of themselves and their siblings and with the trauma of losing their parents. Daniel & Mathias () have reported that living without adult support and care has led to children in these households facing abuse and exploitation. In this regard, Thurman et al () found that poverty, stigma and marginalization are also among the risks that child‐headed households in Rwanda struggle with on a daily basis, which could explain the high level of mental distress.…”

“…While the policies and programmes of governmental and non‐governmental aid organizations have focused mainly on community and family‐based care (Foster, ; UNICEF, ; Wakhweya et al ., ), they are often too resource‐constrained to provide adequate care for the growing number of orphans (Zimmerman, ). There are also many orphans falling outside the traditional methods of caring that received little attention from researchers (Daniel & Mathias, ).…”

The Buffering Role of Social Support on the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Orphans in Rwanda

“…Foster families primarily include the extended family, neighbors or other volunteers. There are also millions of orphans who live outside traditional community and family networks (Daniel & Mathias, ; Wakhweya, Dirks, & Yeboah, ). As a result, in the last decade, various types of living environments have evolved in Africa.…”