Abstract
The increasing number of AIDS orphans has led to an increase in child and youth headed households. Adjusting to the parenting role with no support from their extended family is a source of distress for orphans heading households. This study explored the parenting experiences of orphaned youth heading households in resource constraints environments. Methods: The participants were purposely selected from Youth-Headed Households (YHHs) located in informal settlements in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. The data analysis was inductive and followed the thematic approach. Results: Thirteen females and five males aged between 15-24 years were interviewed. The phenomenon of YHHs occured in impoverished informal settlements partly due to orphans being forcefully removed from their parents’ homes after the death of their mothers. The household heads felt morally obliged to care for their siblings, experienced parenting as burdensome, and the role adjustment from being a child to a parent difficult and demanding. The inability to provide adequate food to feed their siblings was a source of emotional stress. In an attempt to fulfil their parenting roles, they dropped out of school to find employment. Conclusion: Although the child support and foster grant are widely recognised for improving children's access to food, education, and basic services in South Africa, the lack thereof contributed to the economic hardships and vulnerability to food insecurity and hunger among orphans in YHHs. There is a need for multi-sectoral interventions to address food insecurity and, in so doing, improve the psychosocial wellbeing of orphans in YHHs.
Highlights
The incidence and prevalence of HIV are declining, AIDS is still a major cause of orphaning and orphanhood continues to be a significant problem for national governments and international AIDS organizations [1, 2]
The increasing number of AIDS orphans has led to an increase in Child-Headed Households (CHH) where the person identified as the head is under 18 years of age and youth-headed households (YHHs) where the household head is above 18 years but under 25 years of age [3, 4]
The current study found that the economic hardships of orphans in YHHs are compounded by the lack of child and foster grants
Summary
The incidence and prevalence of HIV are declining, AIDS is still a major cause of orphaning and orphanhood continues to be a significant problem for national governments and international AIDS organizations [1, 2]. The increasing number of AIDS orphans has led to an increase in Child-Headed Households (CHH) where the person identified as the head is under 18 years of age and youth-headed households (YHHs) where the household head is above 18 years but under 25 years of age [3, 4]. Ciganda et al [6] argued that, many households that start as child-headed change their status when the head turns 18 years old, without qualitatively changing their situation.
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