Home truths: The phenomenon of residential care for children in a time of AIDS
June 2007
Helen Meintjes, Sue Moses, Lizette Berry & Ruth Mampane
The report is the culmination of a year long research project that aims to advance understanding of the complex patterning of residential care for children in South Africa, as well as how it relates to national policy and law and to international child welfare policy on the issue.
The report includes description and analysis of:
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how the international child welfare sector and the South African government define and conceptualise the role of residential care in the context of the HIV epidemic;
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basic characteristics of children found to be resident in the range of settings identified;
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different aspects of residential care settings, including the legal status of homes, models of care, staffing, programme provision, relationships to "community", and funding, among others;
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the interface between children's homes and government social services; and
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knowledge and practice regarding HIV/AIDS in the homes.
Conclusions highlight the complexity of the phenomenon of institutional care in practice, and raise questions both about the dominant policy discourses and about the relationship between the State and the residential care sector.
The study was conducted in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria, and was funded by the Rockerfeller Brothers Fund. For more information about the project, contact Helen Meintjes at and/or Sue Moses at
The report is also available electronically at www.ci.org.za
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