Abstract
The perceptions and motivations that workers have in their work and work environment are important determinants of the quality of work they do. For people who work in residential institutions where children who have lost the care of their parents receive care, these perceptions and motivations become a crucial part in determining the quality of services or care the children are given. This study set out to explore the perceptions and motivations of caregivers in the institutional context in Ghana. Adopting a qualitative, phenomenological approach, data were collected from 35 caregivers in two children's homes in Ghana through participant observations, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. It emerged that caregivers perceived the children in their care first as children of God and then as children of white men and were predominantly motivated by their religious convictions to keep doing ‘the work of God’. Other motivations included personal life situations and economic aspects of the job. Implications for the workers and children in this environment are discussed.
Highlights
The care and protection of children without parental care (CWPC) is a matter of important concern to governments and the international aid community
The findings present how caregivers who work as parents for CWPC in children's homes in Ghana perceive the children in their care, the jobs they do and the motivations they have for doing what they do
Participants held a general impression that the children in their care were “children of God” and taking good care of them brings God's blessing to the caregiver and not taking good care of them would amount to disappointing God: “...you see, this job is God's work that we are doing
Summary
The care and protection of children without parental care (CWPC) is a matter of important concern to governments and the international aid community. The United Nations Guidelines on the Alternative Care for Children (2010) defines CWPC as: “all children not in the overnight care of at least one of their biological parents” (UNGA, 2010, p.6). By this definition, children who fall into this category include those who have lost one or both parents through HIV/AIDs, conflict, illness etc., children living in residential care, with extended families, foster families, on the streets, in juvenile detention and those abandoned by or separated from their biological parents for whatever reasons (EveryChild, 2009; O'Kane, Moedlagl, Verweijen-Slamnescu & Winkler, 2006). Organizing resources to provide care and protection for such children has taken increasing importance in the agenda of the Government of Ghana in recent years
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