Constructing the Meaning of “Family” in the Context of Out-of-Home Care: An Exploratory Study on Residential Care Leavers in Harare, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Care leavers’ family lives are not well-documented in Global South literature. The West has seen an increase in studies focusing on the family concept. This article focuses on the concept of “family” and family membership from the perspective of care leavers. Data from semistructured interviews and “family lists” with 30 care leavers (aged 18–25) from Zimbabwe are presented. The findings suggest that although there is evidence of heteronormative definitions of “family” and ideas of “family” as biological, new definitions are coming up in the developing world. Some participants acknowledge nonbiological definitions of family based on connectivity, co-residence, affective practices, family contact, and other forms of family display in the context of out-of-home care. The Zimbabwean cultural influence is highlighted as a factor in care leavers’ constructions of “family” especially during the emerging adulthood stage. Practical implications for social policy, those working with care leavers, and wider society are discussed.

Raising African Voices in the Global Dialogue on Care-Leaving and Emerging Adulthood

“…Indeed, it may be regarded as barely a change at all because the implicit assumption about childcare in traditional Africa is that "children are to be raised by the clan." Gwenzi (2020), for example, reports that most of the Zimbabwean care-leavers in her study ascribed to this traditional construction of "family," despite being raised in residential care. She also notes, however, that many of her participants emphasized functional definitions of family based on "doing family," which included many nonrelatives and sometimes excluded family members.…”

Leaving Care in Africa

“…qualitative data (Bond, 2020;Frimpong-Manso, 2020;Gwenzi, 2020;Moodley, Raniga, & Sewpaul, 2020;Takele & Kotecho, 2020), quantitative data (Dickens & Marx, 2020), and mixed methods data (Bukuluki, Kamya, Kasirye, & Nabulya, 2020;Dziro, 2020). Most of the evidence comes from residential care, but there is also a focus on nonformal kinship care, an area on which very little is written, despite being the major form of alternative care for OVC on the continent.…”

Female Care-Leavers’ Experiences of Aftercare in Ethiopia

“…This finding is in line with what Frimpong-Manso (2015) says about the impact of preventing care-leavers from interacting with significant others. Moreover, as research by Gwenzi (2020) shows, tracing their family of origin becomes the major task of care-leavers on leaving care and leaves them vulnerable to an identity crisis and the loss of their social networks during emerging adulthood. Establishing ties with family members would be a potential source of support for care-leavers in navigating the adult world in the presence of a caring adult.…”

“…Coyle and Pinkerton (2012) found a positive role in connecting youth who are leaving care with a caring adult to assist in successful transitions from care. And what is most important for care-leavers after leaving care is to trace their family of origin to have people to lean on in times of difficulty and to recover from their sense of lost identity (Gwenzi, 2020).…”