Overview
- Provides a sub-Saharan African context and voice for children and young people in vulnerable contexts
- Explores the understudied area of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs)'s understanding of family
- Compares definitions of family amongst OVCs living in residential care, children's homes, and those who have left care
Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life (PSFL)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book examines the lives of children and young adults living in residential care systems in Zimbabwe and their unique conceptualization of family. While the importance of family for the development and wellbeing of children can't be overemphasized, the questions of what and who counts as family to orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) are under-researched. Gwenzi brings a social constructionist approach to study OVCs in institutional care as well as living with their families in Zimbabwe, finding that they do not have a single definition of family and that they use diverse characteristics to describe what family means to them. With the data suggesting a need for belonging, continuity of relationships, protection, and trust, this study makes recommendations for policy and practice with youth in alternative care in sub-Saharan Africa.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Rethinking the Meaning of Family for Adolescents and Youth in Zimbabwe’s Child Welfare Institutions
Authors: Getrude Dadirai Gwenzi
Series Title: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23375-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-23374-6Published: 15 February 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-23377-7Published: 16 February 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-23375-3Published: 13 February 2023
Series ISSN: 2731-6440
Series E-ISSN: 2731-6459
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 163
Topics: Sociology of Family, Youth and Aging, Education, general, Social Care, Comparative Social Policy, Children, Youth and Family Policy