Children orphaned by HIV and AIDS in middle childhood in Potchefstroom, Northwest: The role of a social worker

The roles of social workers and community volunteers in providing services to foster care children living with HIV in South Africa

“…On the other hand, Williams et al (2016) showed that unemployed foster parents were faced with extreme lack, such that sometimes they lacked basic food to give a child so that they could be able to adhere to the ART. The foster children who were interviewed by Nkomo et al (2018), confirmed the financial challenges that their foster parents were facing. They indicated that they needed more clothes and food because what they had was not enough.…”

“…Stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS has a long history in the South African context. In this review, majority of the studies identified stigma and discrimination as some of the challenges in fostering children living with HIV (Bejane et al, 2013;McCleary-Sills, 2013;Phetlhu and Watson, 2014;Singo et al, 2014;Sikwari, 2015;Wiliams et al, 2016;Muchanyenyeei and Bila, 2017;Nkomo et al, 2018). showed that the children were stigmatised and discriminated against by the community which then impacted on the issue of disclosure.…”

“…Seven studies identified financial challenges when foster care involves children living with HIV (Bejane et al, 2013;Phetlhu and Watson, 2014;Singo et al, 2014;Sikwari, 2015;Wiliams, et al 2016;Nkomo, et al 2018). This is despite the South African government providing a foster care grant of R1 070 (USD 120) to a child foster parent to cover housing expenses and groceries, as well as legal fees until the child turns 18.…”

“…The foster parents were concerned that social workers never asked about the experiences of foster parents. Despite, lack of communication between social workers and foster parents, the study by Nkomo et al (2018) found that there was lack of effective communication between children and their foster parents which had a profound impact on all parties involved.…”

“…Firstly, results in one of the studies indicated that it is challenging for social workers to educate foster parents about caring for a child living with HIV as they do not have background knowledge on HIV . Nkomo et al (2018) highlighted that foster care parents and their children's knowledge of HIV is limited. Therefore, it is worth noting that social workers need to be equipped with HIV knowledge.…”