A child belongs to the whole community
_______________________________________________________________
A qualitative study about two support systems for Orphans and other Vulnerable
Children in Burundi
SQ4562/SQ1562, Scientific Work in Social Work, 15 higher education credits
Bachelor in Social work
Fall semester 2014
Authors: Lovisa Strömberg and Josefin Svensson
Supervisor: Jeanette Olsson
Abstract
Title: A child belongs to the whole community. A qualitative study about two
support systems for Orphans and Other Vulnerable children in Burundi
Authors: Lovisa Strömberg and Josefin Svensson
Key words: Institutional care, family-based care, orphans and convention of the
rights of the child.
This qualitative study has taken place in Burundi. Burundi suffers from years of
violence and diseases like HIV/AIDS. Many parents have passed away or are not
capable to take care of their children, which are leading to a lot of Orphans and
other Vulnerable Children (OVC). The study describes and compares two kinds
of support systems, which are taking care of OVC in Burundi, one institution,
named Emmanuel, with one family-based organization, named FVS-AMADE.
The aim in this study was to analyse which model that is in the best interest of the
child according to the OVC and the staff members from the studied organizations.
Our definition of the best interest of the child is based on the criteria from our 33
selected articles in The Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), The African
Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and The Guidelines for
The Alternative Care of Children. Three research questions have been created to
get an understanding about the aim. The research questions focus on; what views
the staff members, youths and children from FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel have
about the advantages and disadvantages with the two studied support systems,
what they think about the various forms of support within these systems and what
the OVC’s overall impression are about them. The questions were answered by;
analysing literature reviews, participant-observations and collecting interview
data. The data was collected through 13 semi-structured interviews and the respondents to these were found by using the network model. The collected data has
been analysed with the theory of empowerment and the theory of social support.
The result of this study show that in general, a family-based model is in the best
interest of the child compared to an institutional solution. The conclusion of the
result is also that it is important to see the context within the family and that the
OVC sometimes can receive more adequate care by living in an institution. If the
family for instance is suffering from poverty and do not have the resources to take
care of the child, an institution could be a better solution for the OVC but this
should always be seen as an exception.
Acknowledgements
First of all we want to recognize Conny Rudin who inspired us to travel to Burundi and who supported us with information and ideas for this study, thank you. We
would also like to thank Barnabé Karareo who was our guide in Burundi and who
always was there for us when we were in need of help.
Thank you to our respondents who were willing to participate in the interviews.
Without you we would never manage to conduct this study.
We would also like to say thank you to our friends and family who have listened
to our thoughts and ideas and who have supported us when we were frustrated.
Especially Johan Beigart and Mikael Zellén, you have both been wonderful.
Last but definitely not least; we would like to say thank you to our supervisor
Jeanette Olsson. You have truly encouraged us and always given great ideas in the
process of writing this study. Thank you to everyone involved making this study
possible!
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
Introduction to the problem ................................................................................................ 1
Aim ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Research questions ............................................................................................................. 2
Relation to social work ....................................................................................................... 2
Delimitation of the research area ........................................................................................ 2
Declarations for children’s rights ....................................................................................... 3
1.6.1
The Convention on the rights of the child
3
1.6.2
The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
3
1.6.3
The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children
3
2 The Burundi context ..................................................................................... 4
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
Geography and short facts .................................................................................................. 4
Socio-economic situation ................................................................................................... 4
History ................................................................................................................................ 4
Children’s situation in Burundi .......................................................................................... 5
Institutions for Children in Burundi ................................................................................... 5
Presentation about the studied support systems.................................................................. 6
2.6.1
The institution Emmanuel
6
2.6.2
FVS-AMADE Burundi
7
3 Literature review .......................................................................................... 9
3.1
3.2
Family-based care............................................................................................................... 9
Institutional care ............................................................................................................... 10
3.2.1
Physical and psychological harm caused to children in institutional care 11
3.2.2
Long-term effects of institutional care
11
3.3
Recommended models for care ........................................................................................ 12
4 Theoretical framework ............................................................................... 14
4.1
Empowerment .................................................................................................................. 14
4.1.1
Community Empowerment
14
4.1.2
Individual Empowerment
15
4.2
Social support ................................................................................................................... 15
4.2.1
An ecological approach of Social support
15
4.2.2
Different types of social support behaviours
16
5 Method ......................................................................................................... 18
5.1
5.2
5.3
Preconceptions ................................................................................................................. 18
Choice of method ............................................................................................................. 18
Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 19
5.3.1
Semi-structured interview guide
19
5.3.2
Themes of the interview guide
20
5.3.3
Sample
20
5.3.4
Respondents
21
5.3.5
Data collections
21
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
Observations ..................................................................................................................... 22
Analysing method............................................................................................................. 23
Ethical considerations ....................................................................................................... 24
Language and the use of an interpreter ............................................................................. 25
Validity, reliability and generalization ............................................................................. 25
Literature search ............................................................................................................... 26
Division of labour ........................................................................................................... 26
Discussion of method ..................................................................................................... 26
6 Result and analysis...................................................................................... 28
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 28
Best interest of the child ................................................................................................... 28
Adequate standard of living.............................................................................................. 32
Parental Care and Protection ............................................................................................ 33
Health and Health Services .............................................................................................. 36
Freedom of expressions .................................................................................................... 39
Leisure, Relax, play and Cultural Activities ..................................................................... 40
Protection of Privacy ........................................................................................................ 42
7 Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................... 44
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
Study limitations .............................................................................................................. 44
What are the respondents´ views of the advantages and disadvantages with Emmanuel
and FVS-AMADE? ..................................................................................................... 45
What do our respondents think about the various forms of support that exist within
FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel? ................................................................................... 45
What are the OVC´s overall impression about FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel? .............. 46
Suggestions for further research ....................................................................................... 47
8 References .................................................................................................... 48
9 Appendix ...................................................................................................... 53
Interview Guides ........................................................................................................................ 53
Consent Forms ........................................................................................................................... 56
Our selected articles from the declarations for the children’s rights .......................................... 59
1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction to the problem
Years of war and armed conflict continue to have a negative impact on the situation for children in Burundi (UN 2010). It is not easy for a child to live in a postwar environment with really hard living conditions (UNICEF 2014a). The United
Nation (UN 2010) expresses its concerns about a large proportion of families and
children in Burundi continue to live in extreme poverty. The fact that Burundi is
one of the poorest countries in the world has terrible consequences for the children. The huge lack of medical hygiene, infrastructure, and materials produce a
variety of diseases and viruses and this seriously affect the health of the children.
People in Burundi are also fighting a hard battle against AIDS, 1.3 percent of the
population, approximately 90,000 people, are carriers of the HIV virus. This also
affects young children; 17,000 children in Burundi between the age of 0 and 14
are estimated to be infected with HIV (ibid.; UNAIDS 2013). The committee is
also concerned about the Orphans and other Vulnerable Children (OVC) in the
country and the fact that the numbers are increasing rapidly. UNICEF (2008) defines an orphan as a child of 0-17 years old whose mother, father, or both are
dead. The definition of a vulnerable child is a child under the age of 18 years old
who currently is in high risk of lacking adequate care and protection. Of course
every child is vulnerable comparing to adults, but some children are more critically vulnerable than others. For example children who are orphans, abandoned by
parents, living in extreme poverty, HIV-positive or living with a disability (ibid.).
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF 2014a) estimates that 680,000 children
in Burundi are orphans and that the civil war, AIDS and other common diseases
such as malaria have orphaned most of them. The orphans are suffering from the
poverty and are also facing problem with access to education. Many primary
schools were destroyed in the war and many teachers have been killed. Among the
orphans only 82 percent of all the 68,0000 attended school from 2008 until 2012
(ibid.).
Different organizations in Burundi are trying to help the OVC by building more
institutions to give these OVC a home (UNICEF 2010). Institutional care is aiming on providing housing support, personal and social care to an individual. Institutional care could support different kinds of social groups, in this study institutional care refers to provision of home for OVC who's family are not alive or do
not have the resources to take care of their own children (Harris & White 2013).
The opinion of the United Nations Committees is that institutional care should be
the last solution for children (UNICEF n.d.). Instead The UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child (2010) has identified the family-based model as the most appropriate model. Family-based care refers to supporting OVC to live in a family
environment, which could be the biological family, extended family or other families in the community. In this study this model of support is aiming to organize
communities to create resources to care for OVC in the family (Greenberg & Williamson 2010). If this model fails, adoption is seen as preferable alternative before
institutional care (UNICEF n.d.).
What we wanted to examine through this study was how two support systems, one
institution and one family-based organization, for OVC work in Burundi and we
1
also wanted to compare these organizations with each other. The studied institutional organization is named Emmanuel and is located in Kiremba and the familybased organization is named FVS-AMADE and is located in Bujumbura. We got
in contact with these organizations through a friend who inspired us to create this
study. Our friend had contact with both FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel and since
both of the organizations are working to support OVC´s in Burundi were the organizations suitable for the aim of this study.
1.2 Aim
The aim of this study was to describe two support systems for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Burundi. The study compares one institution with one
family-based organization to analyse which model that is in the best interest of the
child according to the OVC and the staff members from the studied organizations.
Our definition of the best interest of the child is based on the criteria from our 33
selected articles in The Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), The African
Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and The Guidelines for
the Alternative Care of Children
1.3 Research questions
1. What are the OVC´s and staff members at FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel’s
views of the advantages and disadvantages with the organizations?
2. What do the OVC and the staff members at FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel
think about the various forms of support that exist within the organizations?
3. What are the OVC´s overall impression about FVS-AMADE and
Emmanuel?
1.4 Relation to social work
This study is highly relevant to social work since it studies the social work carried
out by two organisations to assist OVC, and how they work in relation to the best
interest of the child. This is relevant to social work because the OVC are in a vulnerable position. Vulnerable children are a major target group for social work and
the best interest of the child is often forgotten when dealing with issues related to
children.
1.5 Delimitation of the research area
What we wanted to examine through this study was how two support systems for
OVC work in Burundi and compare these with each other. We decided to evaluate
where it is best for these children to live according to the best interest of the child.
We think that the most important thing is that a child has a safe and loving environment to live in. Therefore, we decided to not focus on the fact that OVC also
are victims of violence, sexual abuse, drugs, alcohol, because if the child has a
2
safe and loving home it is more possible for the child to have a good life without
these problems.
1.6 Declarations for children’s rights
Our definition of the best interest of the child is based on the criteria from our 33
selected articles (appendix 6) in the declarations below. The best interest of the
child is to have a life with a standard that is good enough to meet the child´s mental and physical needs and to have the right to live in a supportive, protective and
caring environment. In each and every decision affecting the child the primary
concern must be what is best for the child and the child should be entitled to express his/her feelings and opinions in all matters affecting him/her. The best interest of the child also includes the child´s right to play, leisure, relax, participate in
cultural activities and the right to have privacy in his/her life.
1.6.1 The Convention on the rights of the child
UNICEF is the driving force of CRC and works to ensure that the rights of children are realized. The convention consists of 54 articles and is divided into four
categories of rights and a set of guiding principles. Each article has focus on different aims to strengthen the children’s rights. Almost every country in the world
has adopted CRC. Burundi ratified CRC in 1990 (UNICEF 2014b; UN 1989).
1.6.2 The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
ACRWC is based on CRC. These conventions strengthen each other, but the
ACRWC is adjusted to the society of Africa and was founded to more look into
the children’s of Africa’s needs and lifestyles. Burundi ratified the ACRWC in
2004 (ACRW 2014; AU 1999).
1.6.3 The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children
The Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children were formally confirmed by
the United Nations General Assembly in 2009. The guidelines were founded to
support the CRC with focus on children’s right to live with their parents. These
guidelines show how to help children to live with families and how to avoid being
placed in institutions (UN 2009; Cantwell et al. 2012).
3
2 The Burundi context
To be able to understand the context of this study a short review of Burundi’s political history, current social situation and the children’s situation will here be given, along with short facts about the country. To help the reader to further understand the result and analysis, a description of the two studied organizations will
also be given.
2.1 Geography and short facts
Burundi is a country in east-central Africa, south of the equator. The country is
landlocked and boarded by Rwanda in the north, Tanzania in the east and south,
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the west (Utrikespolitiska institutet
2013). In 2013, Burundi's population was estimated to be ten million inhabitants
and a population density with more than 300 inhabitants per square kilometre
(ibid.). The capital and the biggest city in Burundi is Bujumbura, the official languages are Kirundi and French (Globalis 2013).
2.2 Socio-economic situation
Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries; it is ranked 225 out of 228 countries in terms of per capita income 2013 (UN 2013). The country is also ranked
185 out of 187 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index, which
ranks countries according to factors including health, education, and income. The
country has suffered from warfare, corruption and poor access to education and 81
percent of the population live below the international poverty line of $US1.25 per
day (UNICEF 2014a).
2.3 History
Since the 1800s, Burundi was part of the German colony in Africa, which included Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. The colony was shattered when Germany lost
the First World War and the colony was divided between Belgium and England.
Burundi and Rwanda were merged into one country as Ruanda-Urundi and became a Belgian colony. In 1962 Rwanda and Burundi became independent countries. It took about two years for Rwanda and Burundi to form their own separate
governments. In 1966 Burundi became a republic instead of a monarchy
(Worldatlas 2014). In Burundi 85 percent of the population are Hutus and approximately 14 percent are Tutsi. From the day of independence until the present constitution was adopted in 2005 Burundi was marked by disagreements, rebellion,
coups and civil war between these ethnic groups. The Hutu leader Melchior
Ndadaye became president in the country 1993 and later that year; Tutsi soldiers
assassinated him. As a result, the country ended up in a civil war that lasted for
twelve years. During the war, hundreds of thousands of humans were killed in
Burundi and tens of thousands of children were exposed to extraordinary high
levels of violence. Although Burundi’s twelve-year civil war ended in 2005 and
the country is now returning to a peaceful state, the war is still affecting the coun4
try (Worldatlas 2014; Globalis 2013). Some social problems are very serious in
the country, including one great part of the country’s future, the children’ situation.
2.4 Children’s situation in Burundi
Many children in Burundi have seen their rights violated due to the war and different diseases but the last decade has included some improvements (UNICEF
2014a). The net enrolment rate in primary school in Burundi was 96 percent in
2010. This is an improvement since the percentage was down to 36 percent during
the war before gradually rising up again in 2009 after the peace was restored. It
has also been an improvement regarding the literacy rate among men and women
in the ages 15 to 24 years old (UN & the Government of Burundi 2012).
According to the UN and the Government of Burundi (2012) the infant and child
mortality rate in Burundi was 183 deaths per 1000 births in 1990, and in 2010 the
rate was down to 142. While the number of infant and child mortality has been
reduced the neonatal mortality, which is the statistic rate of infant death during the
first 28 days after birth, remains unchanged. The main reason for this is the low
quality of new-born and maternal care.
Access to vaccinations has also been improved in Burundi, for example measles
vaccination. This had a positive impact on infant mortality rates. Unfortunately,
this improvement was affected by the negative changes in household living conditions related to a long period of socio-political crisis. This mortality rate also remains high due to the poverty, diseases and malnutrition (ibid.).
2.5 Institutions for Children in Burundi
UNICEF (2010) has done a study regarding children in institutions in Burundi and
there are 98 institutions for children in the country. Around 50 of these 98 institutions opened during the civil war and at least 15 out of these 98 have been open
during the last five years (ibid.).
In order to measure the quality of care UNICEF adapted the Standards for the
Quality of Care: East and Central Africa, published by Save the Children in 2005.
These 85 standards were used to collect information for each institution and to
analyse the situation of the children living there. The institution has to meet at
least the standards for personal care of children or 60 percent of the standard to
pass. In cases where the institution does not pass the Technical Committee must
find an appropriate and permanent family alternative based on the best interest of
the child. The study shows that the majority of the institutions were not able to
achieve even half of the 85 standards. The situation is worrying in a lot of institutions; basic needs are not being met, such as health, education, hygiene and nutrition. The research also made it clear that the majority of the children in institutions may not need to be in institutional care at all, because they have continuous
contact with a parent or the extended family, and the family could perhaps take
care of the children by themselves (UNICEF 2010).
5
2.6 Presentation about the studied support systems
The information in this section is based on written information, oral communication and information through interviews with staff members and own observations.
2.6.1 The institution Emmanuel
We visited an institution named Emmanuel during our time in Burundi and this
institution became the support system we analysed to get an understanding of an
institutional care model. Emmanuel is located two hours north of Bujumbura in a
village called Kiremba. The institution started in 1962 by two missionaries from
Sweden, Inger-Britt Ahlström and Anne-May Eriksson (Örebro pingstförsamling
2014). The director of Emmanuel told us that in a Burundi context, the father do
not know how to take care of a new-born child by himself. Therefore, if the mother passes away during birth, the children often move to an institution. In this case
they are moving to Emmanuel where currently 71 children are living.
When Emmanuel first started to support OVC, children could sometimes live
there until they were about nine years old. Nowadays the goal is that children will
move back to their family again when they are three or four years old (Örebro
pingstförsamling 2014). The staff members at Emmanuel are trying to get the father to visit his child at the institution once a month to make the children's transition to the family less dramatic. The director told us that unfortunately this is hard
because the father often gets a new wife and children which are often more important than the child he has with his previous wife who passed away.
There are 25 caregivers who currently are employed by the institution, and twelve
of them are working at the same time. Since there are 71 children living at the
institution one caregiver is in charge of at least five children. The children that the
caregiver is in charge for are all in the same age, for example between two and
five months old. There are five different houses at the institution and the children
are divided according to age in these houses. In every house there are different
rooms where five to seven children sleeping together in separate cribs. The caregiver who is in charge of the children has a separate bed to sleep in during the
night. The tasks assigned for the caregivers are to take care of the children, provide food, take care of their hygiene, give them clean clothes, protect them and
play with them. In addition to the caregivers there are four men who are in charge
of the security of the institution, five women who take care of the garden, one
psychologist who teaches the caregivers how to take care of the children and one
director who is in charge of the institution. One of the 25 caregivers is the head
caregiver and is in charge of welcoming and registering the new children who are
coming to the institution.
The director told us that the institutions biggest finance support comes from Örebro Pentecostal church in Sweden (60 percent). Except from this income, the institution gets money from the local church (15 percent), selling their own eggs (14
percent), volunteers (ten percent), and one percent of the money comes from the
6
state. The total cost for one child per month is 300,000 Burundi francs, which are
approximately 1,500 Swedish crowns and 200 USD. This money is divided to
give the children food, milk, clothes and salary to the caregivers.
We observed that the children at the institution had difficulties with their development. When we played with the children we noticed that the oldest children
could just speak baby talk, some of them had problems with walking, and we also
noticed that most of the children were under-stimulated. Sometimes when we
walked into the children´s room one of the children could be in there all by itself,
lying on the floor and just staring into the wall. Accordingly, it was clear through
our observations that the caregivers truly loved the children at Emmanuel. They
gave them the best possible care, love and attention as they could from their conditions. Being this few caregivers to so many children is difficult, if not impossible, and we were very impressed with their efforts.
We also observed that the children had big areas to play in and the institution had,
for example, a seesaw, climbing frame and swings. The children had access to
various footballs, stuffed animals and other toys. Contrarily, we observed that the
children often argued about the toys because they did not have one toy to every
child and it was sometimes hard for the children to share toys and play together
and this lead to the fact that the caregivers had problems with stimulating all 71
children at the same time.
2.6.2 FVS-AMADE Burundi
FVS-AMADE has been working in Burundi since 1992 to support OVC. The union of two non-profit organizations; FVS, Family to Vanquish AIDS and AMADE
Burundi, the Burundian Chapter of Global Association of Friends of Children
created the organization. The organization is a non-governmental, non-profit organization and its mission is to protect OVC and promote the economic autonomy
of vulnerable households for the ultimate wellbeing of the children (FVSAMADE 2014a). FVS-AMADE´s (ibid.) vision is to build, through the integral
development of families, a united Burundian community that supports all vulnerable individuals and children. Therefore they decided to involve the communities
in caring for OVC and to work with empowerment by strengthen the community
to find permanent homes to all the OVC in the community. The organization
mainly works with three different programs within the framework of their organization to give the community capacity and strength to solve their own problems:
Solidarity groups
FVS-AMADE has 1,200 solidarity groups and these groups taking care of over
45,000 OVC (FVS-AMADE 2014a). The members, who are the foster parents to
the OVC, collect savings each week in three different boxes that each has a different purpose. One fund from which they are able to take out loans, one with savings to buy school supplies for the OVC, and the last fund is for emergency needs
within the solidarity groups. This system leads to sustainability; if the organization would close, the communities can still be able to continue with this system to
improve their quality of life (FVS-AMADE 2014b; FVS-AMADE 2014c).
Community health insurance
7
The member’s families, including the OVC in their care, have access to healthcare
and support for the battle against HIV/AIDS (FVS-AMADE 2014b).
Children's Protection Committees (CPC)
CPC is committed to protect the rights of the children. The members of these
committees are known in the community as friends of the child, the children know
who they are and feel comfortable talking to them about their problems. The CPC
members visit the OVC in their guardian households each week, talk to the children and the guardians, to make sure that everything is okay and to give them advice (FVS-AMADE 2014c).
The first thing we observed during our visit at FVS-AMADE was that the organization definitely is working with empowerment. They want to help the community to help the OVC, so they have created these different programs for the community to start taking care of themselves. Everything about their approaches and different programs sounded really good during our visit at FVS-AMADE, but it was
hard to see how all this worked in practice. We only got one opportunity to follow
the staff members to the community, and during that time we only had time to
focus on our interviews.
8
3 Literature review
In this chapter studies about family-based care and institutional care for OVC are
introduced to show the current global knowledge about these support systems.
The discussion about the impact of placing an OVC in institutional care, compared to a more family-based solution, is a major discussion around the world. We
are going to discuss this debate and we will also highlight instances where it is
better with the institutional placement for the child and discuss recommended
models for care. We have chosen to describe the literature review in three different sections; Family-based care, Institutional care and Recommended models for
care, which have focus on different aspect within the subject. We think it is important to show both sides of the debate, which is why we are discussing Familybased care and are continuing with Institutional care.
We are aware of that this chapter involves less literature about the positive effects
in institutional care compared to studies about positive effects in family-based
care. Very little was found in the literature about advantages to place OVC in institutions and the negative aspects with family-based care, but we still chose to
describe what we found about the institution, as it is relevant for the aim of this
study. We are aware that there is an uneven balance between the different sides in
the debate and that this could affect our preconceptions about what is best for the
child.
3.1 Family-based care
Sanou et al. (2008) have written an article about how to care for OVC. The article
focuses on a foster home program in Burkina Faso, Africa and analyses the children’s development when they are living in a foster home. The findings from this
article are that OVC who lived in family environments were treated in a way that
gave them stable vital needs. The article also mentions that these children developed strong ties between the members of their foster family. The conclusions
were that family-based care provided a stable family environment within the foster family, which was important for the preparation for the children’s social life.
The authors suggest that other organizations for OVC in Africa should consider
using a more family-based model, instead of caring for these children in institutional care, where the strong ties and family bonds were not possible to develop.
Killén (1994) states that it is not always in the best interest of the child to have the
child placed in a family environment. There are always going to be families where
the care for the child will not be good enough for the child’s development. For
example families without enough resources to be able to take care of the child.
Killén (ibid.) explains that in these cases can it be better of to place the child in an
institution than keeping it in the family.
Cantwell et al. (2012) state that if a child suffers from trauma in its family or if
the child has another negative family experience it may find it impossible to settle
immediately into a new family-based solution and this can lead
to that the
placement does not work and the child has to move again. In such circumstances,
9
it is not the best option to place a child in a family-based environment, because
this can lead to highly damaging serial family placements.
3.2 Institutional care
Several studies have shown that institutional care is increasing in countries where
there have been changes in families and communities because of the economic
transition (Brown 2009; Carter 2005; Tinova, Browne & Pritchard 2007). The
changes have increased migration, family breakdown, single parenthood and unemployment. The authors state that the main underlying factor for placing a child
in an institution in these countries seems to be poverty (ibid.).
If we look at the economically developed countries instead, Browne et al. (2005)
have made a study in European countries and found different reasons for young
children to live in institutions. Most of the children (69 percent) were placed in
institutional care because of abuse and neglect, 23 percent for social reasons such
as family ill health or parents in prison, 4 percent due to abandonment and 4 percent because of disability. Browne et al. (ibid.) also state that no children without
parents were placed in institutions; these children were placed by different family
solutions instead.
Children are very often placed in institutional care throughout the world. This take
place regardless of the wide recognition that institutional care is
related to negative consequences for children’s development (Carter 2005; Johnson, Browne &
Hamilton-Giachritsis 2006; Höjer 2001; Wiener 1998). Institutions often have too
few caregivers and are therefore limited in their capacity to give children the attention, personal identity, affection, and social connections that communities and
families can offer (UNAIDS, UNICEF & USAID 2004). Young children in institutional care are more likely to suffer from poor health, physical underdevelopment, emotional attachment disorders, different cognitive functions and lack of
identity formation. Consequently, these children have reduced intellectual, social
and behavioural abilities compared with those growing up in a family home
(ibid.). Children who have grown up in institutions have also developed trust issues and stress factors caused by psychological problems (Wiener 1998; Sanoue
et al. 2008). Despite this, there are several reasons that can make institutions the
best option for a small minority of children at a given point in their lives. Sanou et
al. (2008) emphasise the danger of generalizing that institutional care always is
negative for the OVC. They mean that it is important to see the context of the
country and what kind of socio-cultural history the country has. In an African
context it is the high rate of adult mortality, poverty and cultural difficulties that
lead to the challenges of the family care model in the communities. Furthermore,
some adolescents express a preference for living in a small institution with
friends, for example, if they feel it hard to cope with the expectations and intimacy of life in a family environment. One other example is children who need specialised treatment and assistance, this can usually be hard to provide in a familybased model, because of poverty (Cantwell et al. 2012). Wiener (1998) also mentions that these institutions can sometimes be a safe environment for the child due
to the fact that the children have access to adequate nurturing care and a safe environment. Wiener (ibid.) points out that sometimes it is important to explore institutions as an alternative care.
10
3.2.1 Physical and psychological harm caused to children in institutional care
Nelson et al. (2007) state that institutions are typically overcrowded around the
world. They also state that institutions are most often in clinical environments and
the caregivers are often more related to nursing and physical care than to psychological care. Maclean (2003) states that it is very common that the children spend
most of the days in their crib without any stimulation. The children often spend
very little time outside the institution; it only happens on rare occasions under
strict supervision and limited play. This complicates the children’s opportunity to
play and have contact with dirt, which challenges and helps develop a child’s immune system. Play is also a process at the root of all learning and it influences our
capacity to survive and develop. The word play describes a range of behaviours,
which are expressions of the child’s desire to know and understand the surrounding world. Without play there is little understanding (Hughes 1990). Most people
would agree that all children have a fundamental right to receive a level of health
care, education, nutrition and good housing sufficient to ensure a reasonable
quality of life and life expectancy. What about children’s right to play? CRC (UN
1989) states that the child shall have full opportunity to play and this should be
directed to the same purpose as education. CRC also states that the public authorities and the society shall endeavour to promote the aim of this right (ibid.).
Several studies state that institutions have a number of other physical and psychological harmful effects, for example weight and height below the norm, poor diet,
under-stimulation, delay of the motor skills, missed developmental milestones and
in difficult conditions stereotypical behaviours, such as head banging and body
rocking (Carter 2005; Mulheir & Browne 2007). Children are also often isolated
from staff members and other children when they are sick and this is a time when
they need comforting and sensitive care the most (ibid.).
Brown (2009) highlights that children living in institutions are reported to be slow
learners with specific difficulties in language and social development and perform
poorly on intelligence tests in comparison to children in family-based care. Other
studies are showing that children who have lived in institutions also have higher
risk of developing psychological behaviour, emotional problems (Sanou et al.
2008) and complications with building relationships with adults compared to children who have grown up in a family-based environment (Tizard 1977 1978 referred in Bilson 2009:1386).
3.2.2 Long-term effects of institutional care
Bilson (2009) states that children who live in institutions have a higher risk of
getting long-term effects on their development. The risk is lower for those children who stayed in an institution for shorter periods, compared to the children
who basically had their whole childhood in an institution. Killén (1994) emphasises the importance of searching for a suitable family while the children are staying in an institution, in order to move them to a family-based environment as
quickly as possible.
Freidus and Ferguson (2013) discuss the possible impact for children who live in
institutions. Children living in institutions may receive food, clothes and other
11
instrumental support, but the fact that they are being separated from their families
and community has a huge impact on their future. This can lead to difficulties to
gain employment since they do not have any bonds to their family or society,
which lead to difficulties to create a stable future. The potentially damaging and
long-term impact on children placed in institutions are due to many factors. For
example the lack of a primary caregiver with whom to bond, poor access to stimulation and constructive activity, an absence of basic services, violence, and isolation from the family and the world outside the institution (Cantwell et al. 2012). If
the staff members do not prepare the children for a life after leaving the institution
the children will face difficulties with the reintegration to the community. Besides
this the children will face even more problems due to the institutional care if the
staff members do not do follow-ups when the children are leaving them and if the
institution does not achieve family reintegration at all (ibid.).
3.3 Recommended models for care
UNICEF (n.d.) has identified the model when OVC are living with extended
family or other people close to the family as the most appropriate support model
for OVC according to the best interest of the child. If this model fails, adoption or
placement in foster care is a preferable alternative. Institutional care should always be the last solutions regarding to UNICEF (ibid.). The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS and UNICEF (2004) agree with this. They
state that children should be placed in institutional care only when no better
placement options are possible. They are also saying that if a child in some circumstances needs to be placed in an institution it should be preferably only on a
temporary basis until a family or community placement can be made.
Article 20 (appendix 6) in CRC (UN 1989) states that every child that cannot be
taken care of by their own family has the right for special care from the community. Since the family is the fundamental unit of the community and the natural environment for children, the last option to solve the problem should be to move a
child from his/her family. In situation when the child has to be moved, due to different reasons, efforts should primarily aim to maintain or return the child to
his/her parents or, where applicable, other members of his/her immediate family.
All children should live in a supportive environment with protection, which encourages the development of their potential (UNICEF n.d.).
UNICEF and UNAIDS (2004) also state that care provided in institutions often
fails to meet the long-term need for the children and their development often take
damage by staying there. Children do not just need good physical care; they also
need attention, security, social connections and affection that families and communities can provide. Other African countries, like for example Burundi’s neighbour Rwanda has seen children that have grown up in institutional care become
young adults with problems and difficulties to reintegrate into the community.
This has led the government in Rwanda to adopt policies of de-institutionalization
and support for family-based care (ibid.).
UNICEFs minimum standards for institutional care were developed based on the
provisions of CRC and the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. They
12
represent an adaptation to the standards for the quality of care for children in East
Africa and Central Africa, published in 2005 by Save the Children. The minimum
standards are important to keep good quality of the services for children deprived
of a family environment (UNICEF n.d.).
A lot of studies that are mentioned in this chapter make it clear that the best solution for an OVC is to stay in a family-based environment. Despite from these
studies it is also more expensive to maintain institutions than providing direct
assistance to existing family and community structures. Institutional care would
be too expensive for the vast majority of countries around the world. An example
for this is a research made by the World Bank in the United Republic of Tanzania,
showing that institutional care was about six times more expensive than foster
care (UNICEF & UNAIDS 2004).
13
4 Theoretical framework
In this chapter we are going to introduce the theoretical perspectives that we have
chosen to use when we are analysing our collected data in order to get answers to
our aim and research questions. As described earlier in the section, Presentation
about the studied support systems, FVS-AMADE is working to empower the
community to start helping themselves. To get a deeper understanding of this way
of supporting OVC and to be able to get answers to our research questions we
have chosen to adapt the theory of Empowerment. To analyse the two studied
support systems and to reach the aim of this study we also adapted Vaux’s (1990)
definition of social support. This theoretical framework gives an understanding of
various approaches of how to achieve children’s rights to a protecting and caring
environment.
4.1 Empowerment
Payne (2008) explains that empowerment as a wide concept used both as a theory
and a method aiming to free groups and individuals from oppression and to obtain
control over their lives. The method Payne (ibid.) is talking about is the same
method FVS-AMADE is working with to strengthen the community in order to
find a home to all the OVC in the community (FVS-AMADE 2014a).
Empowerment is related to the word power. The concept leans on its original
meaning of investment with legal power, which means permission to act for some
specific purpose or goal (Askheim & Starrin 2007). FVS-AMADE (2014a) wants
to give the community support so they are able to create power to act towards
their goal, which is to build a united Burundian community that supports all OVC
through the integral development of families. With this power people are managing to gain more control over their lives, either by themselves or with the help of
others (Payne 2008). Empowerment is based on an approach where the most important is that all people have the resources and capacity to define their own problems and develop action strategies for solving them (Askheim 2007). FVSAMADE (2014a) has given the community resources in forms of different programs, Solidarity groups, Community health insurance and Children's Protection
Committees to give the community capacity and strength to solve their own problems. Askheim (2007) states that the importance of empowerment is for people in
a powerless position to find this strength to create a driving force to leave a powerless position. Through this the individual is capable to work against the forces
that are keeping him/her in this powerless position and create a life where one has
more influence of one’s life (ibid.).
Empowerment is a wide theory with many different definitions and explanations.
We choose to focus on community empowerment and individual empowerment
because this was tangible in our collected data.
4.1.1 Community Empowerment
Community Empowerment focuses on changing the social and political environment by working on critical consciousness and shared control (Wallerstein 2002).
14
This change of the social and political environment and the shared control is
something that FVS-AMADE is working with when they give the community
power within the different programs. Community empowerment includes good
relationships, which lead to strength and empower the people to act together in the
community to solve the problem. This also creates strength to the individual and a
sense of pride rather than shame or powerlessness (Westerlund 2007). The individual becomes part of a collaborative learning to create a context that everyone
can participate in (Starrin 2007). Relationships create a kind of group membership, which strengthens the individual sphere but also personal and collective resources (Payne 2008). To work together like this, with others who are in the same
vulnerable social situation, or to show solidarity with the vulnerable people, is one
of several expressions of community empowerment (Starrin 2007). Groups with
people who are vulnerable and people who want to show solidarity with the vulnerable people will strive towards the same goal, that all people should feel included in the community, even the OVC (ibid.; Askheim 2007).
4.1.2 Individual Empowerment
Westerlund (2007) describes individual empowerment as the individual's ability to
use power and influence in relation to important areas in their own lives. The individual can use the support that FVS-AMADE is giving them through the different programs to create power to solve their personal problems in their lives (FVSAMADE 2014a). Another important concept regarding individual empowerment
is mastery. Askheim (2007) describes mastery as individuals having to learn to
live with their situation and overcome everyday challenges to have control over
their lives. Askheim (ibid.) and Wallerstein (2002) also state that when you are
working with empowerment the individual should be the main focus and it is
where the change will take place. The individual should be asked to take care of
herself/himself using empowerment strategies (ibid.).
4.2 Social support
Social support is a broad theory with different definitions and explanations. We
have chosen to explain our understanding of the theory, which is based on Vaux
ecological approach of the theory. We are also going to introduce different types
of the supportive behaviours.
4.2.1 An ecological approach of Social support
Social support is a complex system according to Vaux (1990). In his article; An
ecological approach to understanding and facilitating social support he adapts an
ecological understanding of social support to describe this complex system.
Vaux´s definition is that social support is best demonstrated in an ecological context, including supporting networks in a person's life, supportive behaviour and
subjective evaluations of support. This ecological context of social support contains transactions and recourses in an individual’s social network, for example
different supportive behaviours. Nordin (2010) explains that social network is the
structure of social support and that the supportive behaviours that come from the
social network are the function of social support. The structure of social support
can for example be friends, biological family, extended family and persons at
15
work (Vaux 1990; Nordin 2010). To give a subjective evaluation of the social
support Vaux ecological context also involves an understanding of how to support
someone and what kind of supportive behaviour that is suitable for an individual
(Vaux 1990).
4.2.2 Different types of social support behaviours
Different types of supportive behaviours are vital to understand the theory of social support. People can be in need of different kinds of supportive behaviours in
life and this can be given in different ways. We have therefore chosen to adapt
Langford et al. (1997) categories of different kinds of supportive behaviours in the
process of analysing since these categories are our respondents most frequently
described way of support. The chosen categories are introduced below.
Emotional support
Langford et al. (1997) are saying that emotional support is one of the most common ways of describing social support. The authors mean that emotional support
includes caring, empathy, love and trust. The emotional support is crucial to be
open to receive other types of support. The authors mean that if a person receives
care, empathy, love and trust, the person will probably feel like he/she belongs
somewhere and feel accepted, loved and needed. Ewelöf and Sverne (1999)
put emphasis on that emotional support can provide a positive development and
that love is essential for the children to be seen as individuals on their own terms.
The caregivers at Emmanuel tried to achieve this by giving the children the best
possible care, love and attention as they could from their conditions1
In addition to these aspects of emotional support, Hedin (1994) describes emotional support as a way of feeling engaged and encouraged. For example, if an
individual is feeling encouraged this kind of emotional support can lead to the
individual starting to handle his/her problems in life in a better way. Just because
the person gets a little encourage and emotional support from the social network
around him/her. This could be translated to FVS-AMADES work. They help the
community so they are able to encourage and give the OVC emotional support to
empower him/her to handle his/her own problems (FVS-AMADE 2014a).
Instrumental support
Instrumental support is referring to economic, material and practical help (Melander 2009; Nordin 2010). This kind of instrumental support is very distinct at
Emmanuel. Some of the caregivers’ main tasks are to take care of the children’s
hygiene and to provide them with food and clean clothes2. Langford et al. (1997)
also point out that instrumental support is different forms of services to help an
individual, for example providing a place in a treatment centre or giving food to
someone (Hedin 1994). This kind of instrumental support could be translated to
FVS-AMADES program Community health insurance, where the health insurance
1
2
Oral communication with the director of Emmanuel 2014-10-21.
Oral communication with the director of Emmanuel 2014-10-21.
16
gives the members families, including the OVC in their care, access to healthcare
and support the battle against HIV/AIDS (FVS-AMADE 2014b).
Informational support
The informational support is aiming at information or guidance about how to act
in different situations (Hedin 1994). Langford et al. (1997) emphasises the importance of giving an individual this kind of support since this is useful in times
during stress, when need of guidance is crucial to make appropriate decisions.
This is something that FVS-AMADE is working with in their program Children's
Protection Committees. The members of these committees should be friends of
the child and talk to them about their problems and give advice (FVS-AMADE
2014c).
17
5 Method
5.1 Preconceptions
Before our trip to Burundi we got information about the country from a friend
who had been there several times. This led to that the two of us, who had never
visited the country before, arrived with basic information about the culture and the
history of the country. Although, we still found it hard to understand the culture of
Burundi since it is very different from the one we have in Sweden. We think this
may have affected us in a positive way since we did this study with different
glasses than someone who knows the culture would have done.
According to Thurén (2007) researchers are constantly affected by their feelings,
impressions and preconception when they conduct their studies. He states that it is
important to be aware of your preconception to reduce the risk of letting your
view of the aim influence the study.
Our preconception about the two support systems for OVC in Burundi was that
we thought that the family-based model seemed to be the best solutions for the
child in line with our definition of the best interest of the child. The two of us
have grown-up in family environments and we believe that the love you get from
your family is hard to get in an institution. We also had some preconceptions from
our studies in social work, for example the value of emotional support and we
thought that this also was something that you easier get in a family-based model
then in an institution. We are aware of that these preconceptions influenced our
opinions when we analysed the collected data. Our values and feelings about placing OVC in an institution have most likely affected the interviews and the process
of analysing the collected data. Therefore, we found it important to try to be critical about our preconceptions in order to do a better study with a wider perspective.
5.2 Choice of method
The aim of this study was to describe two support systems for OVC in Burundi
and to compare one institution with one family-based organization to analyse
which model that is in the best interest of the child according to the OVC and the
staff members from the studied organizations.
According to Kvale, Brinkmann (2009) and Bryman (2011) this study was suitable for a qualitative method since the research questions were based on the respondents´ own opinions, descriptions and feelings about the subject. A quantitative method was not chosen in this study because that method is useful in studies
when you are interested about generalize an aim within a bigger population
(ibid.). The ambition of this study was to analyse what a chosen group thought
about the aim and not to generalize the conclusions to a bigger population.
18
Observations and interviews with staff members, youth and children from the
studied support systems have been performed to enable answers to the aim of this
study. A key informant interview with a staff member from UNICEF was also
conducted to receive fundamental knowledge about the situation for the OVC in
Burundi. These methods are introduced in detail below.
5.3 Interviews
This study has been conducted with qualitative interviews to collect the data.
Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) emphasise that the respondents´ practical skills and
personal opinions are in focus when you are using qualitative interviews as a
method. This method was suitable since the ambition of the study was to examine
the respondents’ individual descriptions and feelings about the aim. Kvale and
Brinkmann (ibid.) are saying that the purpose of using qualitative interviews is to
understand the world from the respondent’s point of view and then use these understandings in the process of analysing when you are explaining their words with
a theoretical view. This can be translated to the hermeneutic research tradition,
which states that it is important to create a contextual knowledge about a subject.
Through a perspective mixed with preconception, along with the respondents’
opinions and a theoretical view, you achieve a wide perspective within the aim
(Thurén 2007).
5.3.1 Semi-structured interview guide
A qualitative interview can be conducted in different ways. This study has adopted Kvale and Brinkman (2009) method of semi-structured interview guide (appendix 1 -3). By using a semi-structured interview guide the respondent get an
opportunity to differ from the interview guide and talk about subjects outside the
guide. This was important in order to let the respondent freely talk about the subject and not be affected by the interview questions (Bryman 2011).
Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) mention the importance of having a theoretical
background about the research that is being studied, in order to have an interview
guide with relevant questions. With this in mind, the first step in the process of
making a suitable interview guide was to read, get knowledge and compare the
articles in CRC, ACRWC and alternative care guidelines. The ambition of the
interview guide was to ask questions regarding different themes of the best interest of the child. The next step was to choose which articles that seemed most appropriate to use in the guide towards the aim of the study. Eventually 33 articles
were chosen from CRC, ACRWC and alternative care guidelines and these articles were used to create seven new themes with different interview questions (appendix 6).
Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) emphasise the importance of having knowledge
about the study setting and the culture of the respondents’ life. Therefore was the
interview guide in this study changed after having awareness about Burundi, the
organizations and the population. The seven different themes still remained, but
dependent on the direction of the interview, some of the themes were more in focus then others.
19
5.3.2 Themes of the interview guide
Best interest of the child
This theme focuses on that in each and every decision affecting the OVC the primary concern must be what is best for the OVC. This includes decisions regarding
their future and where the OVC should live.
Adequate standard of living
The focus of this theme is every OVC´s right to a life with a standard that is good
enough to meet their mental and physical needs. OVC have the right to live in a
supportive, protective and caring environment.
Parental care and protection
This theme highlights the importance of parental care and focuses on OVC who
are separated from their parents and how they can be protected. Additionally this
theme focuses on what a family is for an OVC.
Health and health services
The aim of this theme is to urge that every OVC has the right to an adequate
health care, in order to have a stable physical and psychological health. This also
includes OVC’s right to provision of nutritious food and safe drinking water.
Freedom of expression
This theme affirms that OVC, in accordance with the OVC’s age and majority, are
entitled to express their feelings and opinions in all matters affecting them.
Leisure, relax, play and cultural activities
The aim of this theme is to highlight the importance of OVC’s right to play, leisure, relax and participate in cultural activities.
Protection of privacy
This theme emphasises the importance of an OVC’s right to privacy in their life.
5.3.3 Sample
Since the aim of this study was dependent on the respondents’ personal opinions,
feelings and thoughts we found it important to build trust and show respect to
the respondents. With this in mind we wanted to have one separate meeting with
FVS-AMADE and one with Emmanuel, with the purpose of introducing the aim
of the study and ourselves. The staff members that were participating in the meetings asked questions about our personal background, what we thought about their
country and what kind of respondents that was needed for the aim with the study.
Additionally we informed them that we wanted to interview staff members, youth
20
and children from each organization to get a varied data material. Since we did
not know how the possibilities were to find suitable respondents we asked one of
the staff members from each organization that participated in the meeting if
he/she wanted to be our first respondent. It also seemed convenient to ask if
he/she wanted to participate since we had started to build trust with these staff
members. The first respondents from the organizations introduced the remaining
participants to the interviews. This method of choosing respondents can be translated to a network model where the researcher finds suitable participants introduced by the first respondent (Bryman 2011). One issue with this model was that
we did not have influence over which respondents that were asked to participate.
The respondents were often introduced just a few minutes before the interview
took place and this lead to situations where it was important to be flexible and to
have an interview guide to lean on. If we had more influence over which respondents that were asked to participate, the interview may have been different. Another aspect within the network model was that staff members from the organizations
chose the respondents. There is a risk that the staff members chose respondents
that were in the organizations advantage. If we had used another model of choosing respondents the empirical findings and the result of this study may have been
different.
Totally we had six respondents from FVS and six respondents from Emmanuel,
with different ages, sex and positions in the organization. We also decided that we
wanted to interview someone from UNICEF to get a larger perspective and overview towards our aim. We got in contact with a person at UNICEF in Bujumbura
by e-mail and got an appointment for a meeting.
5.3.4 Respondents
Seven different respondent groups were made to get a variety of opinions about
the aim. The respondent groups and number of participant in each group are
presented below.







Three staff members from FVS in the age of 25 – 50 years old.
Three staff members from Emmanuel in the age of 25 – 50 years old.
One staff member from UNICEF in the age of 25-50 years old.
One youth who has had support from FVS who was in the early twenties.
One youth who has been living at Emmanuel who was in the early
twenties.
Two children in the age of three years old, which are currently living at
Emmanuel.
Two children in the age of three years old, which are currently receiving
support from FVS.
5.3.5 Data collections
All of the staff members from FVS and Emmanuel chose to have the interview in
their office, because it was the most comfortable and convenient place. The
interview time varied from 45 to 90 minutes. An interpreter was used in three out
of these six interviews.
21
The interview with the staff member from UNICEF was used as a key informant
for this study. The purpose of the key informant was to collect data from a professional who had a great knowledge about the country, the situation for OVC and
how UNICEF is supporting them (Marshall 1996). The interview was held at UN
in Bujumbura where UNICEF had their office. The interview time was about 40
minutes and since the staff member from UNICEF could speak English an interpreter was not needed.
The interview with the youth who has had support from FVS-AMADE and the
youth who has been living at Emmanuel took place at the organization where they
had received support. In one of these two interviews an interpreter was needed to
translate the conversation. The staff members had contacted the youths before the
interview and had asked them if they wanted to participate in the study. The interview time was about one hour in both cases.
The interview with the children currently living at Emmanuel took place at the
institution. A staff member chose which children that seemed most appropriate to
interview. Both of the children were in the age of two-three years old. Kvale and
Brinkmann (2009) point out the value of asking questions that are adapted to the
age of the child. To make the interview more child-adapted we had prepared a
paper with three smileys; one happy, one neutral and one sad. These smileys were
going to help the child to point out the feelings about the question (appendix 3).
Kvale and Brinkmann (ibid.) write about interviewing children and point out the
importance of keeping the interview simple. The interview time ended up to last
for ten minutes, which seemed suitable for children at that low age.
The interview with the children who currently have support from FVS took place
in a small village named Kanyosh where the children lived. Staff members from
FVS had prepared the children for the interview and had informed the children
that we, with their approval, were going to interview them. The children who
participated were 15 and three years old. The interview with the 15 years old child
took about 30 minutes, compared to the interview time with the three years old
child that took about ten minutes. Since the children who participated in the
interview were introduced to us when the interview started, we did not know that
one of the children were only three years old and we did not get the chance to
prepare our child adapted interview with the smileys. We solved this by selecting
and asking the three most adequate questions from the interview guide we used
with the older boy (appendix 1 & 2). Due to the young age of the three years old
child it was considered suitable to have an interview, which only contained three
questions. An interpreter helped out with translation in both of the interviews
since the children did not speak English.
5.4 Observations
During our time at FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel we got the opportunity to get a
valuable insight of the two different models. When we visited FVS-AMADE we
got the opportunity to see how the staff members worked at their office but unfortunately we did not get the chance to be in the community more than one time and
this was when we held our interviews with the children in the community who get
support from FVS-AMADE. Of course we could observe a lot of things during
22
this visit, for example the standard of the houses, the appearance of the children
and their reactions when they met us, but it would have been good for the study to
get more opportunities to just go out in the community to observe.
During our week at Emmanuel we got the opportunity to participate in the daily
activities’; feeding the children, playing with them, and we were also participating
in lessons where a psychologist was teaching the caregivers how to take care of
the children at the institution. This became good moments for open observations
where it was possible for us to collect data towards our aim.
These moments resulted into hours of participating observations. We were what
Gold (Bryman 2011) would call a participant-as-observer. A participant-asobserver signifies an observation where the researchers contribute to the social
environment on an equal level as the people they are observing. The fact that the
people we observed knew that we were there in a position as researchers is an
important thing for these participant-observer roles. The fact that we came from a
different country, we cannot know if the staff members and OVC were acting different compared to how they usually act in their daily activities. With this in mind
we found it important to be critical about our observations in the process of analysing.
5.5 Analysing method
The data collection in this study has been analysed with text condensation. The
first step was to transcribe the collected data. Everything from the collected data
was transcribed and all the quotes remain the same. The aim of this study was not
to do a language analysis study; therefore, we wanted the quotes to be unchanged
even if they contained grammatical errors. We are aware of that the use of an interpreter could change the fundamental words from the respondent´s answers and
the quotes could therefore be different from the respondents´ own words.
The next step of the text condensation method was to sort out suitable quotes in
line with the aim of the study and connect them to an identified theme. Kvale and
Brinkmann (2009) point out that it can help the analysing process if the researcher
knows how to analyse the collected data even before the interview has started.
With this in mind and to create a common thread the analysing process was based
on the same themes as the interview guide. The quotes could be divided into the
correct theme directly after the interview since the answers already were connected to a specific theme from the interview guide.
Text condensation is focusing on asking questions to the selected quotes, based on
the aim and research questions of this study. When awareness was gained about
the chosen theories and current state of knowledge, the interviews were
read through once again. This time with the theoretical glasses in order to get answers to the research questions of this study (Bryman 2011). Afterwards the data
was discussed and analysed with help from the chapter literature review, observations and own thoughts (Kvale & Brinkmann 2009).
This study has adopted an abductive method in the process of analysing, which
states that the researchers are using a combination of an inductive and deductive
23
perspective. Our respondent's answers were vital in the process of finding suitable
theoretical concepts. In this perspective the study had an inductive approach since
this method focuses on the connection between the collected data and the chosen
theory. Additionally, this study was inspired by several studies about the support
systems for OVC. In studies like this, where the researchers are affected by theories, empowerment, and social support, and earlier studies in the on-going research, the study can also be translated to a deductive perspective (Larsson 2005).
5.6 Ethical considerations
In the interview situation the respondent was in a very exposed situation since
his/her thoughts and opinions were in focus. With this in mind Bryman’s (2011)
explanation of the ethical consideration was adopted. In the beginning of every
interview a consent form that was written in English was handed out (appendix 4).
If the respondent did not manage the English language an interpreter translated
the written information in the consent form. The consent form contained information about the aim of the study, how long the interview was going to take and
that the respondents were going to be recorded if they gave their permission. The
purpose was also to inform the respondents that their participation was voluntary
and that they could discontinue the interview at any moment. Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) also point out that a consent form is important in order to protect the
researcher and the respondent. A signed consent form is an evidence of the respondent’s approval of having participated in the study. The respondents were
informed that this study will be published and that others can read the results from
it (ibid.). This was not a problem in this study because the majority of the respondents wanted to share the children’s situation in Burundi to the rest of the
world. They did not feel any harm about the fact that what they said could be published. Another part of Bryman’s (2011) definition of the ethical considerations
focus on informing the respondent about that their participation is anonymous.
With this in mind the respondents’ names were not revealed in the section result
and analysis, where quotes from the respondents´ are presented. We also assure
the respondents anonymity by promise the respondents that the collected data has
been confidential and kept safe and that the only persons who will read the interview material are our supervisor and the two of us. The sound recordings and
transcripts were also deleted when the study was finished. Furthermore, almost
none of the respondents felt any harm about sharing their names and participation
in this study. However their names still remained anonymous if they would
change their mind later in life. We also informed the respondents about their
rights to read the study whenever they wanted both during the process and when
the study was finished. The respondents were also informed about their rights to
ask questions about the study before, during and after their participation (ibid).
Bryman (2011) also discusses the importance of assuring the respondent that the
collected data will be used for the purpose of the aim of the study.
Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) discuss the ethical considerations in situations
where the participant is below 18 years old. None of the children under 18 years
old who participated in this study had a biological parent who could give their
permission to participate in this study. Therefore staff members were counted as
guardians and were the ones who gave permission to the child’s participation. In
cases where a child had the age and maturity to agree to participate themself, we
24
also informed them about the consent form and their rights. In accordance to the
information requirement we asked the staff members to briefly describe the aim
with the study to the child and they were also asked to read the consent form so
he/she was informed about the child’s right in the study (appendix 5).
5.7 Language and the use of an interpreter
Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) mention the difficulties with doing interviews in a
foreign culture. In this study an interpreter was sometimes needed due to the fact
that the interviews were held in English. The English language was neither the
respondents’ nor the interpreters´ native language and their knowledge of the language varied. One difficulty with the use of an interpreter was when we in the
beginning of an interview tried to explain the information in the consent forms.
Due to lack of time and knowledge in Kirundi and French the consent forms were
written in English and sometimes the interpreter found it hard to do the translation. This could lead to a situation where the information in the consent forms was
not translated correctly. We solved this by speaking slowly so the interpreter
could manage to translate correctly. Additionally, Kvale and Brinkmann (ibid.)
emphasise the importance of having an interpreter that is not involved in the organization since the interpreter’s thoughts and opinions can influence the translation of the respondent’s answers. Unfortunately there was no possibility to find an
interpreter who was not involved in the organization since there are not many
people in Burundi who speak English and could manage to translate. Although,
this could in another perspective be calming for the respondents since the interpreter was somebody the respondent felt comfortable to share his/her opinions
with.
5.8 Validity, reliability and generalization
Validity investigates if a study is examining what it is supposed to examine (Lilja
2005). To be able to reach a high level of validity it was important that our
different steps during the study constantly were in line with the aim of our study.
Since one part of the aim was to examine how two support systems in Burundi are
working in line with our definition of the best interest of the child it was important
to constantly have this in mind (Kvale & Brinkmann 2009). The interview guide
was based on our selected articles in the CRC, ACRWC and the alternative care
guidelines (appendix 6), and this lead to that this study reached validity since the
questions were based on different themes in line the best interest of the child.
According to Bryman (2011) the study achieves an internal validity by constantly
having a connection with the aim, theoretical background and the collected data.
In qualitative studies the researchers are interested in conducting hypotheses that
can be transferred from one situation to another. The purpose of this study was not
to generalize the result to a bigger population and to different places. The purpose
was, as in line with the transferability, to conduct a hypothesis about where the
best place is for an OVC to live, and to transfer the result to another context
(Bryman 2011; Chmiel, Maxwell 2013)
The level of validity is affecting the reliability of a study. Reliability is referring
to if the result of the study is trustworthy and completed correctly (Kvale &
25
Brinkman 2009). In some aspects the level of reliability of this study may seem
low. As discussed earlier, in the section language and the use of an interpreter,
the use of an interpreter from the same organization could affect the respondents’
answers, and because the interpreters´ English sometimes was difficult to understand, the interview may not always be correctly translated. The reliability of a
study is also investigating if it can be reproduced at other times by different investigators (ibid). In this point of view it is difficult to do the exact same study because of the dependent of the respondents in the study. It is not possible to freeze
a social environment and the fact that human’s personality, life situation and
thoughts, constantly are changing, it is not possible to do exactly the same study
with similar conclusions (Bryman 2011).
5.9 Literature search
To enable an understanding about the aim of the study a literature review was
made to get an overview of the current global discourse on institutional and family-based care for OVC. As mentioned in the chapter literature review it was difficult to find studies about advantages to place OVC in institutions and the negative
aspects with family-based care. We used Google Scholar, GUNDA, LIBRIS,
Summon and Social Service Abstracts in the process of conducting a literature
review within the aim of this study. Since we were interested in international and
Swedish literature we used both Swedish and English keywords. By using English
keywords we expanded the search for literature. Examples of keywords are: Institutional care, family-based care, orphans, and ”convention of the rights of the
child”. To get ideas about suitable literature we were also inspired by reference
lists from studies with similar aim. For the purpose of finding information about
the chosen organizations, UN, and UNICEF we used Google and the information
on websites also inspired us for further research about the organizations.
5.10 Division of labour
All parts of this study have been conducted together. In the process of interviewing the respondents and transcribing the collected data we chose to do every other
interview and transcription. Thanks to this the division of labour became equal.
The analysing of the collected data was discussed and written together. Quotes
from the interviews, which are presented in the analysis, have been jointly selected. All the text in the study has been developed together since both of us have
written in every chapter of the thesis. We have both been active in the choice of
theoretical framework and the literature review.
5.11 Discussion of method
In this section difficulties about the methodical approach in the process of conducting this study are discussed. As mentioned earlier in the section validity, reliability and generalization, this study reached an internal validity since there was a
connection with the aim, theoretical background and the collected data. Although,
one aspect, which affected the result and level of validity and reliability, was the
fact that this study did not took place in our country of birth. We questioned the
26
level of validity since we cannot be sure if the translation between the interpreter,
respondent and us were in line with the respondent’s opinions and feelings. The
use of an interpreter could lead to that the respondent’s fundamental words are
changed.
It was difficult to create a general picture about the context in Burundi since we
only were there for three weeks. Another aspect that may have affected the result
of the study was that we came to Burundi with a stranger's perspective. Due to
that we did not have the time to explore the country and its culture as much as we
wanted we found it hard to understand the Burundi context. This can have affected how we understand and analysed the answers the respondents gave us during
the interview situations. In this perspective the level of trustworthiness and reliability was affected since our conclusions are based on a low level of knowledge
about the Burundi context. The conclusions in this study were drawn from a Swedish context and the level of reliability was affected since the conclusions partly
are based on our personal opinions with lack of adequate knowledge about the
country where the study has taken place.
As discussed earlier in the section sample the use of a network model may have
affected the result in this study since we did not have as much influence to choose
which staff members, youths and children that were going to participate. There is
a risk that the youth and children from the studied support systems were chosen to
participate since they have a good experience of FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel. In
this perspective the reliability once again was affected. If we had chosen a different model of finding respondents the collected data might have been different
compared to the ones this study shows.
Since we had problems to find studies about advantages to place OVC in institutions and the negative aspects with family-based care the result of this study may
have been affected because of the fact that the aim of this study was to compare
one family-based support system with one institution. The lack of information
about advantages and disadvantages about the studied support systems leads to an
uneven picture of the result. Further this led to that our preconceptions about institutional care was negative and this may have affected our conclusions in the study
since the literature review focused on the negative impact for OVC in institutions.
The division of labour also affected the methodical approach. In order to make the
division of labour equal in this study we chose to do every second interview and
transcription. This may have affected the interview situation since the two of us
have different personalities and in line with that we may have laid focus on different things during the interviews. We are aware of that the follow up questions
could be different because of this. This may have affected the empirical findings
in this study and the final conclusions.
27
6 Result and analysis
6.1 Introduction
To be able to receive knowledge about our aim; observations and interviews were
conducted with one institutional and one family-based organization. Despite the
interviews and observations we also had a key informant interview with UNICEF
to get an overview of these two support system for OVC in Burundi. We also
made a literature review to examine how these support systems works. We read
thesis, studies and what different organizations think about these different models
around the world. We have chosen to have our result connected with the analysis
to avoid a repetitive review of the material. The gathered information will be introduced below, divided into the same seven themes we have used in our interview guides.
6.2 Best interest of the child
The first theme being introduced in this chapter is Best interest of the child. The
interview questions in this theme were about what the respondents think is the
most important thing for the OVC and where they think an OVC should live, in
line with our definition of the best interest of the child.
The respondents said that instrumental support like clothes, food, shelter, education is very important, but they all agreed that emotional support, such as love is
the most important thing for the child.
Food, enough for the child, it must have, an important thing is to give food
for the child. Love, love, a child need love, that is the most important.
Love the child as her own mother. (Staff 4 – institution)
So beyond just these basic needs of food and clothes, children have a need
for love, they have need for actually upbringing to enable them to become
valuable members of society. (Staff 3 – family-based)
Other things are that even if Emmanuel cares the children in food, Emmanuel loves child, and that’s most important. (Youth 2 – institution)
The basic needs; food, clothes and other material things that the respondents are
talking about above can be translated to Langfords et al. (1997) explanation of
instrumental support. Instrumental support can for example help somebody in an
economic aspect or as according to the respondents above, to give an OVC practical and material help (Melander 2009; Nordin 2010). The respondents above are
saying that it is not enough to support the OVC with just instrumental support.
This is in agreement with Freidus and Ferguson (2013) statement that, even
though an OVC gets instrumental support as food and clothes, this is not the most
important factor to support an OVC to create a stable future. The respondents believe that love and emotional support is the most important things to have a stable
life and environment is love and emotional support. Ewerlöf and Sverne (1999)
28
continue this discussion and emphasise the importance of emotional support. The
authors are saying that emotional support leads to a positive development and that
love is important for the children to be seen as individuals on their own terms.
However, our opinion is that the emotional support is more difficult to obtain in
an institution then in a family-based solution. Institutions often have too few caregivers and are therefore limited in their capacity to give children the attention,
personal identity, affection, and social connections they need (UNAIDS, UNICEF
& USAID 2004). The staff members at Emmanuel told us that they truly love all
the children and we are confident that this is true. At the same time it is difficult
to have the capacity to give emotional support to so many children in the same
age, as for instance children between two and five months old, no matter how
much you love them. The time is not enough if you are responsible of five to seven children in the same age.
FVS-AMADE is working to empower everyone in the community to take care of
the OVC (FVS-AMADE 2014a). In that way more and more people learn about
the importance of emotional support, and it leads to more people having more
time for the kids and possibility to care for them. If we compare this to the children at Emmanuel, the children are more isolated; the only adults they meet continuously is the staff members, and the few visitors who come to the institution.
Our conclusion from this is that the Children at Emmanuel can not get any advantages from the emotional support from the environment in the same way as the
children who live in the community can get. The children at the institution do not
have as many adults around them.
You have to invest in love, not just material thing. You can invest in material like school things and clothes but the emotional things, that’s most
important. [...] The good is to try to combine those things. [...] Give love,
like your own children, it will protect the personality for the child. If you
just give material, the kid never see you as a mother, he just see you as a
giver. And for people who always just give and give, they never help people. But when its love between the giver and the receiver, then it’s okay, if
it’s like in a family, like a father gives something, in love, then its love.
Not just a giver. (Youth 1 – family-based)
The respondent above mentions that it does not directly matter if the child gets
instrumental support if he/she does not get love and emotional support. The respondent states that if someone just gives material things to an OVC, the child
thinks about that person as just a giver and the respondent means that this does not
help the child, it also has to be love between the giver and the receiver. We are
agreeing with this respondent. If people just give clothes, toys and food to institutions and to the OVC´s, who are living there, it is not enough for children’s development in the long run. We think both types of support are needed for the OVC
life and survival. Further, the respondents had different suggestion where an OVC
should live; extended family, neighbours, and with friends of the family, but they
are all in a family environment in the community.
A good place is to live with the parents. Because if he is here,
and we care for the child, it’s not the same to be cared in the
family. Because if your parents take care of you it is good, it’s
29
very, very good then to have a care in Emmanuel institution.
Because it’s many here so you can’t care in the same way.
(Staff 6 – institution)
The best place for a child to live is in the community. [...] A
child belongs to the whole society. Everybody feels concerned,
sympathetic. (Staff 1 – family-based)
UNICEF preferable option is for children to live with biological parents, if that is not possible, they look to the option of extended family, then foster families, temporarily care, but still
on community level and then finally the last option would be
national adoption or international adoption. (UNICEF - key informant)
As mentioned in the chapter theoretical framework the structure of social support
includes people in the social network (Nordin 2010). The person in a social network includes for instance friends, biological and extended family. The respondents above mention the importance of social network and the importance for an
OVC to live with his/her family or community. The emotional support that comes
from the family or the community makes the OVC feel cared for and loved since,
as respondent staff 1 from family-based mentions, everybody in the community
feel concerned and sympathetic for them (Langford et al. 1997).
Our key informant mentioned the danger for children living in institutions:
There are many studies comparing the development of children living in institutions with children living in a family. It is
very clear that children living in an institution could develop
some difficulties, and their brain is developed less then a child
in a family, because there is lack of stimulation and lack of
some negligence. There are definitely institutions that are able
to provide services, but the reality of Burundi is that the majority of the institutions do not reach our minimal standards.
(UNICEF – key informant)
The chapter literature review discusses the danger of not having emotional support from the social network, included family or extended family. Carter (2005)
and Johnson et al. (2006) are saying that children who are not growing up in a
family environment are more likely to develop intellectual, social and behavioural
difficulties. This was something that was very clear at the institution. During our
observation we noticed that many children had development delays, especially
with the speech; most of the three year olds were still talking baby talk.
Our personal thought about this is that this once again depends on the lack of
caregivers at Emmanuel. There are too many children in the same age for the
caregiver to have time to give the children the attention and stimulation that a
child need to get a stable development. Brown (2009) also highlights this. He
states that children living in institutions are reported to be slow learners with specific difficulties in language and social development. They perform poorly on
intelligence tests in comparison to children in family-based care.
30
The respondents from Emmanuel all agree that it could be in the best interest of
the child to live in an institution in some cases. For example if the family environment is violent, insecure or if the child’s mother has passed away and the father has a new wife.
Good life for a child is to live with their parents. If you are an
orphan it becomes difficult to get a good life. Because if the
mother die are the father going to get married to another woman. And in Burundi the second wife don’t want to take care of
the orphan. That wife cannot take care of the child in the same
way she take care of her own children. And the father don’t
know how to take care of the child so they child become lonely, and have to take care of itself. (Staff 5 – institution)
As mentioned in the section The institution Emmanuel the director of Emmanuel
told us that the father does not always know how to take care of his new-born
child in a Burundi context and the new wife often does not want to take care of
another woman’s child. With these aspects the environment cold be bad for the
child and in that situation an institution could be a preferable solution for the
child’s best interest. Our key informant also agrees that institutions could be an
option sometimes:
[…] If all these previously options are not working (biological
or extended family, foster care and adoption), of course there
is still an opportunity that a child should remain in an institution, but what we strongly advice the government is that if
they see that this specific institution is not complied with our
minimal standards, the child should be moved to an institution
that is actually complied with the standards, to have a proper
care. (UNICEF – key informant)
One youth also agreed that the best option for an OVC could be to live in an institution:
It is difficult to give answer to this question, because if I compare here at Emmanuel and my family, I can say that here at
Emmanuel is a good place for a child to grow up. [...] You
know when we come back in our family we cannot have a
good care, but if I come back here it is a holiday for me. I joy
to be here because it is my home [...] (Youth 2 – institution)
This could be translated to what Cantwell et al. (2012) mention about the danger
of placing a child in a family-based environment when the child has suffered from
trauma in their family. They mean that this can lead to difficulties for the child to
trust the family that he/she is being placed in because of the negative experiences
of living in the biological family. This could lead to that the child needs to move
to another family and constantly moving to new families could lead to even more
trauma. This could also lead to the child ending up on the street in Burundi because of the fact that the child gets tired of moving around to different families
31
and homes and our opinion is that it is better for the child to be in an institution
rather than on the streets. Killén (1994) also points out that some families are not
capable of taking care of the child because of other problems in the family. To
place a child in an institution can therefore be more preferable while the biological family is trying to build up a safer environment for the child. This also connects to our previous opinions that institutions may not be the best option for
where a child should live. We believe that it is always important to remember that
one solution does not fit all OVC. Every child is different; therefore, various solutions could be needed. In some cases institutional care could be the only options
and in some cases it could also be the best option for the best interest of the child.
When we discussed with the children where the best place is to live for an OVC,
they all agreed that the best place for them to live were in a family environment.
They had different answers to why this was the best solution. For example one
said that it makes the child feel normal to stay in a family environment. Another
said that if you do not have a family the importance is to have someone to love
and take care of the child. The respondent did not say if this someone should be in
a family or if it could be in an institution.
6.3 Adequate standard of living
The second theme being introduced in this part is Adequate standard of living.
The interview questions in this theme were about what an adequate standard of
living is for an OVC.
In the discussion about the adequate standard of living for an OVC both emotional
and instrumental support were pointed out as important measures for a good life
of the respondents. The respondents think that adequate standard of living for an
OVC is to have instrumental support but they also pointed out that the emotional
support was more important for an adequate standard of living. The answers we
got were similar to the answers we got under the theme Best interest of the child,
but we got a few answers that involved differences.
One respondent mentions the importance of freedom and good social relationships.
To have good life for me is that we have freedom. And also
that you have food, that you can sleep, love. [...] And also the
importance of social relationships, because then you can get all
the love and support that you need (Child 1 – family-based)
The importance of good social relationships can be translated to Vaux’s (1990)
explanation of social network since he states that the social network can provide
resources in an individual’s life. This social support that comes from the social
network could for example be emotional support in form of empathy, love and
trust (Langford et al. 1997), like the respondent above is saying.
When the respondent talks about freedom we think that freedom can sometimes
be hard to get in an institution. Like we mention in the chapter literature review,
Maclean (2003) describes that the children often have limited time outside of the
32
institution and we think that this can lead to social problems when you one day
are supposed to leave the institution. Compared to if you are already living in a
family environment you get more opportunities to meet people and practice on
your social skills.
6.4 Parental Care and Protection
The third theme in this part is Parental care and protection. The interview questions in this theme were about what the respondents thought was the best thing
with FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel and we also asked the children and the youth
what they thought a family was.
Child 1 – family-based mentioned that FVS-AMADE has been like parents to him/her and that they have supported him/her with guidance. This
has been important for this respondent since FVS-AMADE support has
made him/her feel like a normal child and they have prepared him/her to
future social life.
FVS have been my faithful parent. The most important is that I
have been treated as a normal child of them. Because when
you got a parent who can treat you like his own child, you feel
better. [...] We have been educated by FVS, they gave us advice, and they show us how life is, in that case we have been
well educated. Advices like, to like studies. And to know how
you should behave in social situations. [...] Because I have
been well educated by FVS I have the good behaviour. (Child
1 – family-based)
This discussion can be translated to Hedin’s (1994) explanation of informational
support. The fact that our respondent mentions that FVS-AMADE has supported
him/her with advice about life is a typical example of the function of informational support. We think that there is a bigger possibility to give advice to OVC who
has support from organizations like FVS-AMADE compared to an institution like
Emmanuel. Since FVS-AMADE is working to empower the community to care
for their own children we think that there are several adults in the child’s community who are being taught to care for the OVC, including giving them advice to
their future life. We believe that an OVC receive more informational support from
FVS-AMADE compared to Emmanuel since the caregivers do not have time to
care for all the children as much as the community members have the capacity to.
Although our personal opinion is that, since the children at Emmanuel are up to
four years old they may have more need of emotional support, compared to informational support. Our opinion is that children need to be older than four years
old to get advantage of receiving guidance and advice in their lives. When we
discussed this with the staff members at FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel they both
explained that they think FVS-AMADE can support the children and their parents
in a better way. For example, FVS-AMADE can do follow-ups in the families but
Emmanuel cannot do this because of the lack of money and since they do not have
the time to work outside the institution.
33
FVS is good. FVS follow-up the children in the family and they help the
family to take care of the child. But here, we care the child until it moves
and after we can’t follow-up the child in the family. But FVS can follow
the child and support the child, family and child together. (Staff 5 – institution)
The respondents from Emmanuel are saying that the advantage with FVS is that
they have more resources to protect and support the family and their children. If
the child does not get follow-ups or other support when the child is leaving the
institution, like the respondent quoted above, it can do more damaging to the child
compared to if the child and the family were more prepared for the reintegration
(Cantwell et al. 2012).
Staff 5 - institution discusses how they try to make the father of the child
to come and visit the institution to ease the process of reintegration to the
family.
If a parent cannot, does not come to see his child, we call the
father. Come! Come see your child! Your child needs you,
come! (Staff 5 – institution)
In this quote we see that Emmanuel is trying to work with empowerment. They
are trying to empower the father to change the social environment for the child
and they want the father to cooperate with Emmanuel to solve the problem that
the family is facing (Wallerstein 2002). If the father never comes and visit his
child the reintegration with the family can become difficult and this can lead to
that the child will not feel safe when he/she has moved back to the family environment.
Cantwell et al. (2012) discuss that the lack of primary caregivers at an institution
could cause damage to the children living there. This, as according to our respondent below, could lead to that the child does not know which caregiver to
bond with and this can be a sign of lack of psychological care (Nelson et al.
2007).
I think our model is better than institutions. The problem with institution is
that we noticed it is so many difficulties, so many problems among the orphans living in institution because they missing their own identity [...] and
because there is so much love that goes on between the children and the
people running these institutions, that when they have to leave it’s like
they are losing a parent a second time. (Staff 3 – family-based)
With this in mind our key informant mentions that the government needs to find
alternative care solutions for OVC since they should have the right to good services:
There is no clear provision in the law at the moment, about alternative care solutions. So we are in discussing with the government to develop a policy that is specifically looking at al-
34
ternative care. We need to have good services for children, all
children. (UNICEF – key informant)
Based on our respondents´ opinions and the chapter literature review, we think
that the way FVS-AMADE is working with community empowerment is a suitable alternative care for an OVC. Our key informant are saying that all OVC
should have good services, and by community empowerment people are acting
together as a group and are trying to solve problems and protect children’s right to
live with his/her parents (Westerlund 2007).
When we asked the question; “What is a family for you?” The children and the
youth at FVS and Emmanuel answered very similarly. Most of the children said
that they think that a family is a mother, a father or siblings, or all of them together.
Mummy. (Child 2 – family-based)
Family is, first family is somewhere where I child can grow up
and be loved. And that somewhere can be parents, uncle, aunt
or someone else. (Youth 2 – institution)
Our Key informant said that a family could be everyone who takes care of the
child and gives the child love, and support. This is similar to the second quote
above and we think it is clear that our respondents think that a family can be more
than just the biological father, mother and siblings.
Like we stated in the chapter method, we used smiley faces during the interviews
with the children at the institution. When we asked this question to child 3 – institution the child pointed at the sad smiley, and the child held the finger there for a
long time. This child has not neither a biological mother nor a father and we got
the expression that the child felt sad for this. Of course we can not be sure if the
child understood the question and the smiley faces correctly, but since the child
continued to point at the sad smiley several times, we became more and more sure
that the child felt sad for not having a biological mother or father.
When we asked the child to draw his/her family, the child did not draw anything
at first. When we said the child’s sibling’s name, which also is living at the institution the child started to draw a line. The child continued to say some names of
the children and the caregivers at the institution and drew one line for each name.
Again, we cannot be sure if the child understood the question, but if the child did
understand, this could mean that the child is counting the other children and the
35
caregivers at the institution as its family. Cantwell et al. (2012) mention that there
are some children who prefer to live in institutions since they have built a relationship with other children who have become their friends. The authors also
pointing out that these children could find it hard to live up to the expectations
that are in a family environment, and therefore could feel more comfortable to
live in an institution, with their friends. This strengthens our opinions about the
fact that we think that it is sometimes more convenient for the child to stay in the
institution. The child could find it hard to feel secure in a family-based environment without their friends and the caregivers who have taking care of them for so
long.
When we asked youth 1 – family-based what a family is the respondent started to
discuss how a life without a family could be like:
I don’t have any parent, so they can’t help me by their hands.
But I have my own hands, and I have the community hands,
and I have FVS hands, and I have Gods hands. When you
don’t have any parents you have to come up with new solutions. How can I live now? Of course it’s good to have parents,
but I’m okay. I don’t have any parents so now I have to deal
with this problem by myself, and how can I do that? They are
dead, is the solution for me to also die? No! I have to fight!
I’m okay. It’s hard sometimes but I have my education. I have
to focus on that. (Youth 1 – family-based)
The quote above is in line with Askheims (2007) description of individual empowerment. Since this youth emphasis that he does not have any parents who can
help him, it has been important for him to take responsibility of himself. According to the individual empowerment this means that our respondent has to learn
how to handle his life situation by himself, to overcome challenges in life and to
have control of his life. We consider that it is necessary for an OVC to have this
individual empowerment since you need to continue your life without your parents. Our conclusion is that the individual empowerment gives the OVC strength
and power to create a stable life by themselves, and as our respondent said;
“fight!” This respondent also mentions that the community acts supportive when
help is needed. During our visit in Burundi we understood that it is very common
to help the ones who are in need. In a Burundi context the collective empowerment is necessary since there are difficulties such as poverty and a post-war environment that influence people’s lives. Empowerment is needed to gather power so
everyone in the community can support each other and handle the situation in
Burundi.
6.5 Health and Health Services
The fourth theme in this chapter is Health and Health services. The interview
questions in this theme were about what kind of health care the organization had
and what our respondents thought were the most important thing for the child in a
health perspective, both physical and psychological.
36
The respondents believe that the most important thing is the overall health care;
with medicine, access to hospital and health insurance. When we asked what kind
of health services the organizations had respondents from the family-based organization answered:
We organized Community members … and we created community health insurance and the orphans also have the right to
be beneficial, of that health insurance (Staff 1 – family-based)
We trained members of the community to identify when a
child having psychological problems and give them their first
you know, talk to them, be the first point of contact and the
first point of help and also to know when to refer a child up to
a higher level, to medical centre and even to that point some
kids may need to be remove to actual hospitals and to get medicine you know, psychological therapy. (Staff 3 – familybased)
These quotes could be translated to Payne’s (2008) description of empowerment,
which focuses on helping people to have more control over their lives. As described in the quotes above FVS-AMADE has organized community members
that are working to support the communities to get health insurance and psychological support for the OVC. This support could lead to that the communities
could have control and influence over their own lives and to care for the child
with adequate health insurance. Our key informant is saying that the community
members and solidarity groups are an important aspect in a health perspective:
Of course UNICEF also providing education, health, nutrition
and water, so all these programs, all these interventions come
together at community level as well. We are working with this
in the community, with solidarity groups and other things.
(UNICEF – key informant)
During our visit in Burundi we observed that this way of supporting people in the
communities is crucial since there are so many who are affected by HIV/AIDS,
malaria and diarrhoea. In our opinion FVS-AMADE health insurance, and
UNICEF's approach is important in order to cover more children and parents in
the communities and to reduce the risk of, for example, child mortality and risk of
losing their parents to HIV/AIDS. The staff members at Emmanuel are using a
different method to care for the children’s health. As mentioned in the section The
institution Emmanuel a psychologist is working at Emmanuel with the purpose of
educating the caregivers about how to take care of the children and the importance
of giving the children psychological support when it is needed.
When we interviewed the youth who used to have support from FVS and the child
who used to live at the institution answered similar regarding the organizations
health care:
37
When we fell sick, FVS took care of everything, hospital,
medicine; everything was taken care of by them (Youth 1 –
family-based)
It is good care, when a child was sick. Because when I was
here I remember that one moment I was sick everyday I had
medicine, everyday. And everyday I have visit to ask me how I
feel about my sickness. (Youth 2 – institution)
These quotes are examples of the importance of receiving instrumental support
(Langford et al. 1997). We analysed the youth’s answer regarding their health
support as they thought it was equally good. Youth 1 – family-based appreciated
how the organization supported him/her with medicine. Youth 2 – institution also
thought the medical care the children received was supportive in times during
sickness. Even though the youth appreciated the medical care they got, Staff 4 –
institution mentioned the difficulties to support the children in Emmanuel to have
a good health.
[...] Sometimes we have those cases, which don't have a good
development, if we have that case we try to be near that child
and we try to be near the child full time. [...] And as the mother of the child the caregivers of here must do all things for the
child, to help the child, to have good health. (Staff 4 - institution)
This discussion could also be seen in the chapter literature review where we refer
to some authors that are discussing the negative impact for children who are living
in institutions. They mention the difficulties to meet the children’s psychological
needs and that the children often are under-stimulated. In a health aspect children
are often isolated from the staff members when they are sick and this could lead to
disorders in a psychological aspect since they are not receiving care when they
need it the most (Carter 2005; Mulheir & Browne 2007). Our personal opinion is,
like we have stated before, that it is harder to see all the children’s needs in an
institution since it is hard for the caregivers to take care of all the children at the
same time. We think that in an institution the children may have medical care, but
the time to care for all the children and give them emotional support when they
are sick is hard because of the lack of time and caregivers. Sanoue et al. (2008)
are also discussing this. Even though the youth from Emmanuel appreciated the
instrumental support it is even more important for him/her to receive emotional
support since children who live in institutions have a high risk to develop emotional problems and to build relationships with adults later in their life.
When we asked the question; how do you feel today? to child 3 and 4 – institution,
one of the children pointed at the happy face and the other one pointed at the neutral face. They continued pointing at the happy smiley when we asked about how
they felt about living at Emmanuel. Our opinion it that these answers are showing
that the children are feeling okay at the institution. This was also the expression
we got when we were there and observed the children. Additionally, since the
children were three years old, it is hard to know how much the children understood about the questions and if they knew what they were answering. During our
38
visit at Emmanuel we got the opportunity to play with the children and we observed that their physical health was adequate, most of the children were active
and wanted to play with us. We were more doubtful about their psychological
health and this was something the staff members at Emanuel agreed with. They
described the difficulties to the children to create a consistent and meaningful relationship to the caregivers, since one caregiver needs to take care of five to seven
OVC at the same time
6.6 Freedom of expressions
The fifth theme is Freedom of expressions. The interview questions in this theme
were about if and how the OVC has the opportunity to express him/her feelings
and opinions freely and if the OVC’s opinions are taken into consideration when
decisions are being made about them.
The staff members at FVS-AMADE explained that FVS-AMADE is working
with free talks. These are organized in the community between children themselves, between children and foster parents and between children and FVSAMADE. The aim with these talks is to make room for the children to express
themselves regarding their challenges, concerns and problems. The children and
youth at FVS-AMADE all agreed that they got the opportunity to participate in
decisions that are being made about them. They also agreed about the fact that the
staff members were listening to them and taking their feelings and opinions into
consideration.
FVS doors are always open. They are helping people in need.
They listen and they care about you. (Child 1 – family-based)
You have someone to talk to, those madams and the other. It
was very open, you could talk to them. (Youth 1 – familybased)
These free talks can be translated to informational support, which is explained in
the chapter theoretical framework. The informational support is about giving
guidance how to make appropriate decisions in difficult situations (Hedin 1994).
The children are receiving guidance from the community members within the free
talks and they also get space to express his/her feelings and concerns. This quote
could be translated to empowerment since one aspect of this theory is to support
individuals to have control over their lives with guidance from others. UNICEF
(n.d.) also states that children should live in an environment that is supportive and
encouraging to develop the OVC´s potential and this is most likely to occur in a
family environment.
When it comes to freedom and expressions for the children at Emmanuel the staff
members told us that it was impossible to take the children’s opinions into consideration because of the age of the children. Furthermore, our key informant states
that:
UNICEF thinks that everyone in this world should respect the
child. The right of the child should be heard and his/her opin39
ions should be taken into account according to his/her age and
maturity. (UNICEF – key informant)
Since all the children who lived at Emmanuel, were below four years old the age
and maturity sometimes could affect the children's possibility to express his/her
opinions. Youth 2 - institution mentioned that when he lived at Emmanuel he felt
like he did not have somebody to talk to, because the caregivers were always busy
to take care of the other children. This is another perspective that shows that the
lack of caregivers is a big problem at Emmanuel.
If we compare the OVC´s right to freedom of expression within FVS-AMADE
and Emmanuel is our opinion that FVS-AMADE are listening more to the OVC
then Emmanuel does. On the other hand is it impossible for us to know if these
free talks, even if it sounds good, actually are working in the practice and how
much time they actually devote to these talks. We also understand that it is difficult to make the children at Emmanuel to participate in decisions, but in our opinion it is possible to ask the children about small things. For example what they
want to do, if they want to play outside or inside.
6.7 Leisure, Relax, play and Cultural Activities
The sixth theme is Leisure, Relax, play and Cultural Activities. The interview
questions in this theme were about what the respondents thought about the OVC’s
right to play, leisure, relax and participate in cultural activities.
All the respondents among the staff members were very determined that it was
important for the children to have time for play, leisure, relax and participate in
cultural activities. The respondents especially mentioned the importance of children being children and enjoying their childhood and that all these activities are
important for the children’s development.
It is very important for children to play! Because if a child
play that shows that the child is having a good development.
(Staff 5 – institution)
Hughes (1990) are saying that play could be described as expressions of a child’s
exploration to understand the world, which he/she is living in. The respondent
above also mentioned that playing is very important for the child’s development. We agree with Hughes (ibid.) statement regarding the importance for a
child to play. We believe that if an OVC gets the opportunity to play, he/she will
get joy and laughter and also learn something during the play. If a child for example is playing football they also learn that he/she need to share the football to the
teammates and to show respect to his/her opponents. The staff 1 – family-based
also discussed the importance for a child to enjoy their childhood:
Because, with our community members that we are, we share
our responsibility of our caring for children, we teach them to
care for the children. [...] And also we teach them in order to
allow children to enjoy their childhood. (Staff 1 – familybased)
40
This quote could be connected to Westerlunds (2007) description of community
empowerment. The community members act together in stable relationships,
which give them strength and empower them to care for the children and their
right to enjoy their childhood. The respondent above is saying that the community
members share the responsibility for the children, and this is a big statement in
line with community empowerment. In the chapter theoretical framework Starrin
(2007) puts emphasis on the fact that community empowerment leads to an individual becoming a part of a bigger group. This could lead to a society where everyone is working together and have different responsibilities, for example, responsibility over children’s right to play.
When we interviewed the children about their rights to enjoy their childhood, all
the children explained that they like to play and that they felt happy when they
played. Some of them also explained that they liked to play because, they could
forget about difficult things and problems in their lives. Youth 2 – institution also
states that:
I like to play; if I were playing we can forget the bad things.
[...] It is very important for small kids to play, because they
help them in their development. (Youth 2 – institution)
Unfortunately the child’s right to play is not always guaranteed. Staff 1 – familybased mentioned that sometimes the family forced the child to work and earn
money to the family:
But I can not say that everything is always smooth, sometimes
some parents or foster parents want to see the children always
working, doing this or doing that, and they don't give, they
may not give them enough time of playing, but we always telling them that for mental evolution of the children they need also to enjoy their state. (Staff 1 – family-based)
Wiener (1998) is saying that institutions could sometimes be a safe environment
for the child since this is a place where the child receives instrumental (Melander
2009, Nordin 2010) support, for example nutrition. Sanoue et al. (2008) discuss
the situation for children in an African context and they mention that dilemmas
like poverty and cultural difficulties are the main difficulties. We think that these
dilemmas are not as dangerous for a child while living in an institution, as it
would be if he/she were living in a family environment, where all these difficulties are more tangible. If we analyse this, it could be a reason to why it sometimes
could be good for the child to live in an institution. Our personal opinion is that
the children at Emmanuel got their basic needs like food and clothes covered. We
observed that the children at Emmanuel got plenty of time to play and that the
caregivers did the best they could to play with the children. We are not sure if
these needs would have been taken care of in their own family. Many of the children´s biological families are suffering from poverty and sickness and cannot provide the child with enough instrumental support to meet their basic needs. In this
perspective we think that the environment at Emmanuel is safe for the children,
since they got instrumental support and got to live in an environment where they
got the opportunity to play and to be a child. Accordingly, like staff 1- family41
based mentions above, it is not always easy for the child to live in his/her family
since the childhood can be taken away if the child needs to work and earn money
to the family. The literature review of this study has shown that institutions are
bad for an OVC but the result of this study does not fully agree. It is important to
see the context of the situation in the country and remember that all children have
different needs (Sanoue et al. 2008).
6.8 Protection of Privacy
The last theme being introduced in this chapter is Protection of privacy. The interview questions in this theme were about the respondents’ opinions about OVC
right to privacy.
All of the respondents among the staff members at FVS-AMADE explained that
they thought that privacy was something that is very important for children. Especially OVC because these children often have traumas or other difficult things in
their past that they should not feel forced to talk about.
I think it’s really important and I think especially when it
comes to orphans who had lost parents to HIV/AIDS, and I
think that could be a really sensitive topic and I think that it’s
very, very important to keep all that information confidential
and private. (Staff 2 – family-based)
We are agreeing with the importance of showing OVC privacy if he/she for example has lost the father or mother. Our opinion is that we think it can do more
damage to pressure a child during hard times since this can lead to that the child
feels stressed and uncomfortable in your company.
Staff 1 – family-based also explained that the parents or the guardians of
the child in some cases need to cross the privacy line to protect the child:
She has the right to her privacy. She has the right to choose her
friends and to play with them but sometime if a parent can be
concerned if she can be abused, [...] in that case you can try to
know what is beyond, what is she hiding? Yeah. Not just to
violate her privacy, just to protect her. (Staff 1 – family-based)
This discussion could be translated to Hedin’s (1994) description of informational
support. This is aiming to give an individual support and guidance when it is
needed. For example when an OVC has lost a parent or when an OVC is making
inappropriate decisions the informational support could be needed. With this in
mind we think that the informational support is very important for the OVC in
Burundi, since many of them have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS or suffer from
other difficulties. They are in need of somebody listening to them and to give
them guidance through life in order to have a stable future. Freidus and Ferguson
(2013) continue this discussion by saying that children who are separated from
their families could have a hard time to create a stable future since they do not
have any ties to the family who could prepare them for their future life. In cases
when an OVC does not have a family who can protect them and guide them
42
through life our key informant mentions that it is important that the government
take responsibility to strengthening the child´s protection.
UNICEF here in Burundi is working to support the government, in terms of strengthening the child protection of Burundi. Every child should be protected, if the family cannot protect, the goverment need to protect that child, and we will help
them. (UNICEF – key informant)
We questioned the staff members at Emmanuel about the fact that a child at the
institution is sleeping in the same room as five to seven other children. In a Swedish context is our opinion that this would interfere with the children’s right to
privacy. It is not common to share room with a lot of people in a Swedish context.
Our view is that this is different in a Burundi context. We do not know if this is
something that bothers our respondents since this way of living is common in a
Burundi context and is therefore something they feel comfortable with. For example the staff 6 – institution below mentions that it could be good for the children to
share rooms. He/she explained that this could lead to some difficulties.
If the child sleeps in the same room but in different beds there
are some difficulties for the child. Because one child can wake
up before others and he can cry and the others can wake up
and end sleep. [...] It is not possible for the children to sleep in
different rooms here. It is good to sleep in the same room.
(Staff 6 – institution)
Our conclusion of this discussion is that the phrase children’s right to privacy has
a different meaning in a Swedish context compared with a Burundi context.
43
7 Discussion and Conclusions
The aim of this study was to describe two support systems for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Burundi. The study compares one institution with one
family-based organization to analyse which model that is in the best interest of the
child according to the OVC and the staff members from the studied organizations.
Our definition of the best interest of the child is based on the criteria from our 33
selected articles in The Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), The African
Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and The Guidelines for
the Alternative Care of Children.
Through the use of two theories; empowerment and social support, a literature
review, observations, and interviews with FVS-AMADE, Emmanuel and
UNICEF, we believe that we are able to answer our research questions. We will
first discuss the study limitations and then summarise our conclusions and have a
discussion around these.
7.1 Study limitations
As mentioned in the section discussion of method, a number of limitations have
been tangible in the process of creating this study. The study is limited by the lack
of information about the Burundi context. If we had more knowledge about the
Burundi context our conclusions may have been different; therefore, it is important to have the strangers’ perspective in mind when we make our conclusions
about the aim of this study. Another aspect that may have affected our final conclusions is the preconceptions we had before we went to Burundi. The two of us
are brought up in a family-based environment and this may have affected our personal opinions about where the best place for an OVC is to live. In addition to this
the existing literature focus to a large extent on the negative impact for OVC in
institutions and the positive impact about the family-based model, which may
have led to an uneven picture of the result. As discussed in the sections sample
and discussion of method, staff members from the organizations chose the respondents. The respondents were maybe chosen to participate since they had
a positive experience about the support within the organizations. To our defence,
all the respondents agreed that FVS-AMADEs support system was in the best
interest of the child. This would be strange if the respondents were chosen in the
organization`s advantage. Another limitation of this study was the paucity of our
knowledge in the official languages of Burundi. The language barriers led to the
need to use an interpreter. We cannot be sure that the translation is in line with the
respondent’s opinions and feelings. The use of an interpreter could lead to that the
respondent’s fundamental words are changed. As mentioned in the section language and the use of an interpreter the interpreters were staff members
from the same organizations as the respondents were connected to. This may have
led to that the interpreters own thoughts and opinions about the subjects within the
interview influenced the translation of the respondent’s answer. This could also
have affected the result of the collected data. Taken together, the fact that
this study did not take place in our country of birth is the main limitation, based of
the mentioned aspects above.
44
7.2 What are the respondents´ views of the advantages and disadvantages with Emmanuel
and FVS-AMADE?
The result of this research question indicates that all of our respondents see more
advantages with the support that FVS-AMADE gives compared to the care that an
OVC gets while living at Emmanuel. A possible explanation for this may be the
lack of adequate care and caregivers in an institution. For example a child who
gets support from FVS-AMADE to live in a family environment gets more attention compared to a child living in an institution. An explanation for this is that the
time is not enough for the caregiver to show attention to all children and this
could affect their development. In contrast with this we got the impression that in
a Burundi context the number of children in a family is considerably more compared to a Swedish context. This could lead to that the child who is living in a
family also could get too little attention since the parent need to take care of the
same amount of children like the caregiver does in an institution. Despite this selfcontradictory we believe that the children get more attention and better care in a
family-based environment. This because the caregivers at Emmanuel take care of
many young children in the same age, as for instance children between two and
five months old, compared to a family where we believe that children are more
scattered in their ages. Another important view is that, the way FVS-AMADE
empowers the community members to protect the OVC, has many advantages for
the child's future. This family-based support provides the family with resources to
care for their own children (Westerlund 2007).
The result in this study enhances our conclusion of this research question. Children who grow up in a family-based environment are surrounded with
more attention and love compared to children who live in an institution like Emmanuel. The support FVS-AMADE gives the child is more related to the best interest of the child. As our respondents have clarified several times, the institutional environment inhibits the child’s development. A stable development is very
crucial for the child’s future. Our respondent's also mentioned that a few OVC
could receive more adequate care while living in an institution like Emmanuel.
We are aware of the fact that in some cases an institution could give more advantages to an OVC but our opinion is that this is always an exception. The best
place for a child to live is in a family environment.
7.3 What do our respondents think about the various forms of support that exist within FVSAMADE and Emmanuel?
The study has confirmed the findings of Langford et al. (1997), which is that emotional and informational support could lead to an individual feeling loved and
filled with guidance. According to our respondents the emotional and informational support is crucial for the OVC to have a stable physical health and development. The empirical findings in this study provide an understanding of that the
emotional and informational support are harder to give to the OVC at Emmanuel
then to the children who gets support from Emmanuel. The respondents’ explana45
tion to this was that it is difficult for the child to create a consistent and meaningful relationship to the caregivers, since one caregiver needs to take care of five to
seven OVC at the same time. An OVC who grows up in a family-based environment gets more love and guidance since the family only needs to take care of their
own children. Our respondents also said that even though the children at Emmanuel do not receive as much emotional and informational support as they need, the
caregivers give them instrumental support. For example: food, shelter and medicines. Our respondents agreed that OVC need both instrumental and emotional
support in their lives:
You have to invest in love, not just material thing. [...] The
good is to try to combine those things. [Youth 1 – familybased)
In a Swedish context the instrumental support is often taken for granted since the
majority of the population have resources like food and shelter. We are aware of
that the Burundi context, with years of armed conflict and poverty, has led to the
majority of the population are having a hard time to obtain resources like food and
shelter. Instrumental support may therefore be even more vital for the survival of
the population in Burundi, compared to the emotional and informational support.
Despite of this, our personal opinion regarding this research question is agreeable
with the quote above. Emotional and instrumental support is just as important for
an OVC. Even if a child needs emotional and informational support to create a
stable development, the instrumental support is at least equally important. If an
OVC does not have shelter or enough food, medicines and other instrumental
things he/she cannot survive. It does not matter how much love, guidance or emotional support you get from your environment, because this cannot satisfy his/her
hunger. On the other hand, our opinion is that it does not matter if the OVC have
good instrumental support if he/she does not have love. What do things like; food,
medicines and shelter matter if he/she is not feeling loved or loving someone? Our
final conclusion on this research question is therefore that it is important for an
OVC to receive emotional, informational and instrumental support in order to
have a stable life filled with love, guidance, food and shelter. All three kinds of
support are equally important.
7.4 What are the OVC´s overall impression about
FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel?
This study has shown that OVC had a positive impression about the support they
got from FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel. Youth and children who have support
from FVS-AMADE said that the help they got from the organization has made
them feel loved and cared for. They also mentioned that the way they have been
treated have made them feel like a “normal child”. These things are showing that
the OVC are satisfied with the help they get from the organization.
FVS-AMADE is working with empowerment and by using this theory we think
that the OVC are feeling like they are the ones that are in charge of their lives.
The support FVS-AMADE is providing them with will not categorize them as
exposed since the help actually is coming within the resources of themselves and
their families. Youth 1 – family-based also mentioned that the support FVS46
AMADE gives strengthen the OVC´s potential for a positive future life.
The youth and children from Emmanuel also believe that the care the institution
provides them with is good for them. For instance youth 2 - institution mentioned
that he/she appreciated the fact that he/she received food, medical care and other
instrumental support from Emmanuel. The respondent also said that the caregivers
truly love the children at Emmanuel and that everybody in the institution is like a
family. We think that this is a very interesting discussion since the findings of this
study do not support the literature review, since there are several studies around
the world that put emphasises on that it is hard for children to feel loved and cared
for in an institution. Taken this together is our personal opinion that a family can
be more than the biological father, mother and siblings; it could be people in an
institution who are not even relatives. Our final conclusion of this research question is that the OVC from FVS-AMADE and Emanuel had a positive impression
about the two organizations. Our personal impressions about these are that the
support FVS-AMADE is providing the OVC with could be more effective in the
long run. The explanation to this is that FVS-AMADE is empowering the OVC
and their family to build a stable future and life on their own, with just a little help
from the organization.
The result of this study shows that in general, a family-based model is in the best
interest of the child compared to an institutional solution. The conclusion of the
result is also that it is important to see the context within the family and that the
OVC sometimes can receive more adequate care by living in an institution. If the
family for instance is suffering from poverty and do not have the resources to take
care of the child, an institution could be a better solution for the OVC but this
should always be seen as an exception.
7.5 Suggestions for further research
Since this is a small-scale study with focus on the situation for OVC in Burundi
and their support system, we think it is important to expand this study to a wider
context. The chapter literature review is discussing several studies about support
systems for OVC around the world and the impact of the OVC´s development.
We think it is important to continue the discussion since these children are the
future of the society. To reach a wider perspective about the support system for
OVC in Burundi we think it is crucial to examine what the biological and extended family thinks about the different kinds of support systems that they and their
children could receive. We think the families’ opinions are vital to examine how
they think different support systems are helping them and what they think could
be improved. With this in mind we think it would have been interesting to interview the biological and extended family to listen to their view of the support systems in Burundi.
47
8 References
ACRWC (2014) “The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child”
(Electronic) <http://acerwc.org/the-african-charter-on-the-rights-and-welfare-ofthe-child-acrwc/> (2014-11-03)
AU (1999) “The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child” (electronic)
< http://www.unicef.org/esaro/African_Charter_articles_in_full.pdf>
(2014-11-03)
Askheim, O. P. (2007) ”Empowerment – i olika infallsvinklar” In Bengt Starrin &
Ole Petter Askheim (red) Empowerment i teori och praktik. Malmö: Gleerup.
Askheim, O. P. & Starrin, B. (2007) “Empowerment - ett modeord” In Bengt
Starrin & Ole Petter Askheim(red) Empowerment i teori och praktik. Malmö:
Gleerup.
Bilson, A. (2009) ”Use of Residential Care in Europe for Children Aged Under
Three: Some Lessons from Neurobiology.” British Journal of Social
Work 39, 1381–1392.
Brown, K. (2009) The risk of harm to young children in residential care. Save the
Children & Better Care Network.
Browne, K. D., Hamilton-Giacritsis, C.E., Johnson, R. & Chou, S. (2005) Young
children in institutional care in Europe. Early Childhood Matters.
Bryman, A. (2011) Samhällsvetenskapliga metoder. Malmö: Liber.
Cantwell, N., Davidson, J., Elsley, S., Milligan, I & Quinn, N. (2012). Moving
Forward: Implementing the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. UK:
Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland.
Carter R. (2005) Family Matters: A study of institutional childcare in Central and
Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. London: Everychild.
Chmiel, M & Maxwell, J. A. (2013) “Generlazation in and from qualitative analysis” In Uwe Flick, (red): The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. Sage
publications.
Ewelöf, G & Sverne, T. (1999) Barnets bästa. Om föräldrars och samhällets
ansvar. 4. uppl. Stockholm: Nordstedts juridik.
Freidus, A & Ferguson, A. (2013) ”Malawi’s orphans: The role of transnational
humanitarian organizations”. In Deborah J. Johnsson, DeBrenna LaFa Agbényiga
& Robert K. Hitchcock, (red): Vulnerable Children. Global Challenges in Education, Health, Well-Being, and Child Rights. New York: Springer.
FVS-AMADE (2014a,) “Our history” (electronic)
amadeburundi-en.org/#!history/c16ny> (2014-11-06).
48
<http://www.fvs-
FVS-AMADE (2014b) “Our Approach: Solidarity Groups” (electronic)
<http://www.fvs-amadeburundi-en.org/#!approach/c17oz> (2014-11-06).
FVS-AMADE (2014c) “For the protection of the fundamental rights of Burundi's
children”. Burundi, FVS-AMADE.
Globalis (2013) “Republiken Burundi” (electronic)
http://www.globalis.se/Laender/Burundi> (2014-11-03).
Greenberg, A & Williamson, J (2010) ”Families, not orphanages” Better care
network working paper.
Harris, J & White, V (2013) " A dictionary of social work and social care" Oxford
university press.
Hedin, U-C. (1994) Socialt stöd på arbetsplatsen vid sjukdom. Diss. Göteborg
Univ.
Hughes, B. (1990) ”Children's play - a forgotten right” Environment and Urbanization 1990 2:58.
Höjer, I. (2001) Fosterfamiljens inre liv. Diss Göteborg: Universitet.
Johnson R., Browne K.D & Hamilton-Giachritsis C.E. (2006) “Young children in
institutional care at risk of harm”. Trauma Violence and Abuse, 7.
Killén, K. (1994) Svikna barn. Om bristande omsorg och vårt ansvar för de utsatta
barnen. Kommuneforlaget AS: Oslo.
Kvale, S & Brinkmann, S. (2009) Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. 2.
uppl. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Langford, C.P.H, Bowsher, J, Maloney, J.P & Lillis, P.P (1997) ”Social support: a
conceptual analysis” Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1997, 25, 95-100.
Larsson, S. (2005) “Teori, metod och empiri”. In Sam Larsson, John Lilja &
Katarina Mannheimer, (red): Forskningsmetoder i socialt arbete. Lund:
Studentlitteratur.
Lilja, J. (2005) “Videoanalyser som metodstrategi”. In Sam Larsson, John Lilja &
Katarina Mannheimer, (red): Forskningsmetoder i socialt arbete. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Maclean, K. (2003). The impact of institutionalization on child development. Development and Psychopathology, 15.
Marshall, MN. (1996) The key informant techniques. Family Practice 1996.
49
Melander, C. (2009) Inom transnationella och lokala sociala världar - om sociala
stödutbyten och försörjningsstrategier bland svensksomalier. Göteborg: Göteborgs
Universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete.
Mulheir, G. & Browne, K. (2007). De-Institutionalising And Transforming Children’s Services: A Guide To Good Practice. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press.
Nelson, C., Zeanah, C., Fox, N., Marshall, P., Smyke, A & Guthery, D., (2007)
"Cognitive recovery in socially deprived young children: The Bucharest early
intervention project". Science 318, 1937-1940.
Nordin, M. (2010) ”Det sociala stödets betydelse för utslagning och inlåsning på
arbetsmarknaden”. In Annika Härenstam & Eva Bejerot (red.) Sociala relationer i
arbetslivet: studier från föränderliga arbetsplatser. 1. uppl. Malmö: Gleerups
utbildning.
Payne, M. (2008): Modern teoribildning i socialt arbete. Stockholm: Natur och
kultur.
Sanou,D., Turgeon-O'Brien, H., Ouedraogo, S & Desrosiers, T. (2008) ”Caring
for orphans and vulnerable children in a context of poverty and cultural Transition: A case study of a group foster homes program in Burkina Faso”. Journal of
Children and Poverty,14:2, 139-155.
Starrin, B. (2007) ”Empowermet som förhållningssätt – kan vi lära oss något av
Pipp Långstrump?” In Bengt Starrin & Ole Petter Askheim (red) Empowerment i
teori och praktik. Malmö: Gleerup.
Tinova, M., Browne, K.D. & Pritchard, C. (2007) Children services in Slovakia
and their impact on the child’s right to optimal development. Geneva: Report to
UNCRC Select Committee.
Thurén, T. (2007) Vetenskapsteori för nybörjare. Stockholm: Liber.
UN (1989) "Convention on the Rights of the Child" (electronic)
<http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx> (2014-11-03)
UN (2009) "Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children" (electronic)<http://www.unicef.org/protection/alternative_care_GuidelinesEnglish%282%29.pdf> (2014-11-03)
UN (2010) "Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 44
of the Convention : Convention on the Rights of the Child : concluding observations
:
Burundi"
(electronic), refworld
<http://www.refworld.org/publisher,CRC,,BDI,4cdcf2ce2,0.html>
(2014-1103).
UN (2013) “The world factbook” (electronic), CIA <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world50
factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html?countryname=Burundi&countrycode=by&regi
onCode=afr&rank=225#by> (2014-11-10).
UN & Government of Burundi (2012) Summary BURUNDI Millennium Development Goals Report 2012.
UNAIDS (2013) ”HIV and AIDS estimates” (electronic), UNAIDS. <http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/burundi/>
(2014-11-06).
UNAIDS & UNICEF (2004) “The framework for the protection, care and support
of orphans and vulnerable children living in a world with HIV and AIDS”.
UNAIDS, UNICEF & USAID (2004) Children on the Brink 2004 A Joint Report
of New Orphan Estimates and a Framework for Action. Fourth edition. New
york.
UNICEF (2008) ”Orphans” (electronic) <http://www.unicef.org/media/media_45279.html> (2014-11-05).
UNICEF (2010) “Analysis of the situation of children in Residential Centres in
Burundi”, UNICEF, International Rescue Committee, Inistere de la solidarite Nationale, des droits de la personne humaine et du genre. Burundi, UNICEF.
UNICEF (2013) ”Statistics” (electronic)
<http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/burundi_statistics.html> (2014-11-05).
UNICEF (2014a) The state of the world´s children 2014 in numbers, every child
counts, Revealing disparities, advancing children´s rights. New York: UNICEF.
UNICEF (2014b) “Rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child” (electronic) <http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30177.html> (2014-11-03)
UNICEF (n.d.) “Minima des standards pour les enfants en institutions ou prives
d´un environment familial au Burundi”, UNICEF, Le Ministre de la Solidarité
Nationale, des Droits de la Personne Humaineet du Genre. Burundi: UNICEF.
Utrikespolitiska institutet (2013) “Landguiden Burundi” (electronic)
<http://www.landguiden.se/Lander/Afrika/Burundi?p=1>(2014-11-12).
Vaux, A. (1990) ”An Ecological Approach to Understanding and Facilitating Social Support” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 7, 507-518.
Wallerstein, N (2002) ”Empowerment to reduce health disparities” I Scand J Public Health 30. 72-77
Westerlund, H (2007) ”Det finns bruk för alla – Empowerment utanför
arbetsmarknaden? In Bengt Starrin & Ole Petter Askheim (red) Empowerment i
teori och praktik. Malmö: Gleerup.
51
Wiener, J.M. (1998). ”Orphanages: An idea whose time has come
again?” American Journal of Psychiatry 155:10, 1307-1308
Worldatlas (2014) “wordatlas” (electronic) <http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/bi.htm> (2014-11-03).
Örebro pingsförsamling (2014) “Fadderverksamhet Burundi” (electronic)
<http://www.orebro.pingst.se/forsamlingen/internationellt/fadderverksamhetburundi/> (2014-11-12).
52
9 Appendix
Interview Guides
Appendix 1: Interview Guide to FVS-AMADE and
Emanuel
Presentation and information about the interview
 Personal presentation and Presentation about the aim of the study
 Context marker – time and recording
 Information about ethical aspects
 Do you have any questions before we start?
Background
 Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
 Age?
Best Interests of the Child
 What do you think is the most important thing for a child? Why?
 In what way do you think this organization is working in relation to the
best interest of the child?
 Where is it best interest for the child to live?
Adequate standard of living
 What is your definition of adequate standard of living?
Parental Care and Protection
 What is a family?
 How does FVS-AMADE/Emmanuel work to support children to live with
their families?
 What is the best thing about FVS-AMADE/Emmanuel and their support?
Health and Health Service
 What does good health mean for you here at FVS-AMADE/Emmanuel?
 How is children supported with their psychological/physical health?
Freedom of Expression
 In what way does FVS-AMADE/Emmanuel provide children with the opportunity to express his/her feelings and opinions freely?
Leisure, Relax, play and Cultural Activities
 What do you think about a child’s right to play?
 What do you think about a child’s right to rest?
Protection of Privacy
 What is your opinion about the children’s right to privacy?
Finish


Do you have any questions?
What did you think about the interview?
53
Appendix 2: Interview guide to child 2 – familybased
Presentation and information about the interview
 Personal presentation
 Presentation about the aim with the study/interview
 Context marker – time and recording
 Information about ethical aspects
Best Interests of the Child
 What is the most important thing for you?
Parental Care and Protection
 What is a family?
Health and Health Services
 How are you feeling today?
54
Appendix 3: Interview guide child 3 and 4 - institution

How are you today?

How do you feel when you are here?

How do you feel when you are playing?

What is a family?

Can you draw a picture of a family?
55
Consent Forms
Appendix 4: Consent Form
Information
This is a consent form, which allows interview material to be used in a research
study. The study's purpose is to learn more about how the support system for
orphans and vulnerable children works in Burundi. The interview material will be
used in the study for an understanding about Emmanuel/FVS-AMADE and what
you think about this support system. Two social worker students from the
university of Gothenburg, Sweden, conduct the research.
Procedures
You have been chosen to participate in this study since you have earlier been, or
currently, are in contact with Emmanuel/FVS-AMADE. If you agree to participate in this interview, we will ask you questions regarding yourself and Emmanuel/FVS-AMADE. We want to make it clear that this interview is voluntary and
you can regret or discontinue your participation whenever you want. You can also
decide to skip any of the questions. There are no right or wrong answers. The time
of the interview will be about one hour.
Confidentiality
The interview is going to be recorded and the records will be confidential and
kept safe. The only persons who will read and listen to the interview are our supervisor and the two of us who is doing this study, and we will only use the material to explain our given research subject. All of our interview persons in the study
will be unidentified and absolutely anonymous to assure that no one is going to
know your answers and opinions in the interview.
Questions or Concerns
If you regret something that you have said or if you want to discontinue your
participation you can contact us and inform us about the situation. You are also
free to read the interview and our study whenever you want.
Do you have any questions?
Are you willing to participate in this interview?
Yes:
No:
56
Date and Place:
Name of Participant:
________________________
____________________________________
Signature of obtaining consent:
____________________________________
Date: ___/___/___
Contact information
Lovisa Strömberg, email: gusstromlo@student.gu.se
Josefin Svensson, email: gussvejobd@student.gu.se
University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
57
Appendix 5: Consent Form - guardian
To be used when the child is below 18
Information
This is a consent form, which allows the child to participate in an interview for a
research study. Assuming that the child also agrees. The study's purpose is to
learn more about how the support system for orphans and vulnerable children
works in Burundi. The interview material will be used in the study for an understanding of what the children thinks of the support systems. Two social worker
students from the university of Gothenburg, Sweden, conduct the research.
Procedures
The child has been chosen to participate in this study since he/she is supported by
the organization Emmanuel/FVS-AMADE.
Interview
The interview will take about one hour. The interview will be recorded and the
records will be anonymous and kept strictly confidential.
I, the guardian, agree to let the research team speak to the child and interview
him/her if he/she agrees
Yes:
No:
Relationship
with
the
Child:
_________________________________________________
Date and Place: ____________________ Name: ______________________
Signature of guardian obtaining consent:
_________________________________________________
Contact information
Lovisa Strömberg, email: gusstromlo@student.gu.se
Josefin Svensson, email: gussvejobd@student.gu.se
University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
58
Our selected articles from the declarations for the
children’s rights
Appendix 6: The articles behind our themes in the
interview guide
CRC = Convention of the Rights of the Child
ACRWC = The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
G= Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.
Best Interests of the Child
CRC3. The best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect them. All adults should do what is best for children. When
adults make decisions, they should think about how their decisions will affect
children. This particularly applies to budget, policy and lawmakers.
ACRWC 20. Parents or other persons responsible for the child should always act
in the best interest of the child. Parents or other persons responsible for the child
shall have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development the child
and shall have the duty to ensure that the best interests of the child are their basic
concern at all times.
G4. Every child and young person should live in a supportive, protective and caring environment that promotes his/her full potential. Children with inadequate or
no parental care are at special risk of being denied such a nurturing environment.
G7. In applying the present Guidelines, determination of the best interests of the
child shall be designed to identify courses of action for children deprived of parental care, or at risk of being so, that are best suited to satisfying their needs and
rights, taking into account the full and personal development of their rights in
their family, social and cultural environment and their status as subjects of rights,
both at the time of the determination and in the longer term. The determination
process should take account of, inter alia, the right of the child to be heard and to
have his/her views taken into account in accordance with his/her age and maturity.
G123. Facilities providing residential care should be small and be organized
around the rights and needs of the child, in a setting as close as possible to a family or small group situation. Their objective should generally be to provide temporary care and to contribute actively to the child’s family reintegration or, if this is
not possible, to secure his/her stable care in an alternative family setting, including through adoption or kafala of Islamic law, where appropriate.
Adequate standard of living
CRC27. Children have the right to a standard of living that is good enough to
meet their physical and mental needs.
59
G4. Every child and young person should live in a supportive, protective and caring environment that promotes his/her full potential. Children with inadequate or
no parental care are at special risk of being denied such a nurturing environment.
G12. Decisions regarding children in alternative care, including those in informal
care, should have due regard for the importance of ensuring children a stable
home and of meeting their basic need for safe and continuous attachment to their
caregivers, with permanency generally being a key goal.
Parental Care and Protection
CRC9. Children have the right to live with their parent(s), unless it is bad for
them. Children whose parents do not live together have the right to stay in contact
with both parents, unless this might hurt the child.
CRC20 1. A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family
environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in that
environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the
State.
2. States Parties shall in accordance with their national laws ensure alternative
care for such a child.
3. Such care could include, inter alia, foster placement, kafalah of Islamic law,
adoption or if necessary placement in suitable institutions for the care of children.
When considering solutions, due regard shall be paid to the desirability of continuity in a child's upbringing and to the child's ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.
ACRWC 25. Children who are separated from their parents should get special
protection and should be provided with alternative family care. States should also
take all possible steps to trace and re-unite children with parents.
(a) shall ensure that a child who is parentless, or who is temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or who in his or her best interest
cannot be brought up or allowed to remain in that environment shall be provided
with alternative family care, which could include, among others, foster placement,
or placement in suitable institutions for the care of children;
(b) shall take all necessary measures to trace and re-unite children with parents or
relatives where separation is caused by internal and external displacement arising
from armed conflicts or natural disasters. When considering alternative family
care of the child and the best interests of the child, due regard shall be paid to the
desirability of continuity in a child’s up-bringing and to the child’s ethnic, religious or linguistic background.
G3. The family being the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth, well-being and protection of children, efforts should primarily be directed to enabling the child to remain in or return to the care of his/her
parents, or when appropriate, other close family members. The State should ensure that families have access to forms of support in the caregiving role.
60
G11. All decisions concerning alternative care should take full account of the desirability, in principle, of maintaining the child as close as possible to his/her habitual place of residence, in order to facilitate contact and potential reintegration
with his/her family and to minimize disruption of his/her educational, cultural and
social life.
G14. Removal of a child from the care of the family should be seen as a measure
of last resort and should, whenever possible, be temporary and for the shortest
possible duration. Removal decisions should be regularly reviewed and the child’s
return to parental care, once the original causes of removal have been resolved or
have disappeared, should be in the best interests of the child, in keeping with the
assessment foreseen in paragraph 49 below.
G22. In accordance with the predominant opinion of experts, alternative care for
young children, especially those under the age of 3 years, should be provided in
family-based settings. Exceptions to this principle may be warranted in order to
prevent the separation of siblings and in cases where the placement is of an emergency nature or is for a predetermined and very limited duration, with planned
family reintegration or other appropriate long-term care solution as its outcome.
G32. States should pursue policies that ensure support for families in meeting
their responsibilities towards the child and promote the right of the child to have a
relationship with both parents. These policies should address the root causes of
child abandonment, relinquishment and separation of the child from his/her family
by ensuring, inter alia, the right to birth registration, and access to adequate housing and to basic health, education and social welfare services, as well as by promoting measures to combat poverty, discrimination, marginalization, stigmatization, violence, child maltreatment and sexual abuse, and substance abuse.
G34. States should implement effective measures to prevent child abandonment,
relinquishment and separation of the child from his/her family. Social policies and
programmes should, inter alia, empower families with attitudes, skills, capacities
and tools to enable them to provide adequately for the protection, care and development of their children. The complementary capacities of the State and civil society, including non-governmental and community-based organizations, religious
leaders and the media should be engaged to this end. These social protection
measures should include.
G45. When a public or private agency or facility is approached by a parent or
caregiver wishing to place a child in care for a short or indefinite period, the State
should ensure the availability of counselling and social support to encourage and
enable him or her to continue to care for the child. A child should be admitted to
alternative care only when such efforts have been exhausted and acceptable and
justified reasons for entry into care exist.
G49. In order to prepare and support the child and the family for his/her possible
return to the family, his/her situation should be assessed by a duly designated individual or team with access to multidisciplinary advice, in consultation with the
different actors involved (the child, the family, the alternative caregiver), so as to
61
decide whether the reintegration of the child in the family is possible and in the
best
Interests of the child, which steps this would involve and under whose supervision.
G51. Regular and appropriate contact between the child and his/her family specifically for the purpose of reintegration should be developed, supported and monitored by the competent body.
G155. Organizations and authorities should make every effort to prevent the separation of children from their parents or primary caregivers, unless the best interests of the child so require, and ensure that their actions do not inadvertently encourage family separation by providing services and benefits to children alone
rather than to families
Health and Health Services
CRC24. Children have the right to good quality health care – the best health care
possible – to safe drinking water, nutritious food, a clean and safe environment,
and information to help them stay healthy. Rich countries should help poorer
countries achieve this.
ACRWC 14. Every child shall has the right to enjoy the best attainable state of
physical, mental and spiritual health. This includes the provision of nutritious
food and safe drinking water, as well as adequate health care.
G16. Attention must be paid to promoting and safeguarding all other rights of
special pertinence to the situation of children without parental care, including, but
not limited to, access to education, health and other basic services, the right to
identity, freedom of religion or belief, language and protection of property and
inheritance rights.
Freedom of Expression
CRC12. Children have the right to say what they think should happen and have
their opinions taken into account.
ACRWC 4. If children can voice their opinions, then those opinions should be
heard and taken into consideration during legal and administrative proceedings.
ACRWC 7. Every child who is capable of communicating his or her own views
should be allowed to express his or her opinions freely.
G7. In applying the present Guidelines, determination of the best interests of the
child shall be designed to identify courses of action for children deprived of parental care, or at risk of being so, that are best suited to satisfying their needs and
rights, taking into account the full and personal development of their rights in
their family, social and cultural environment and their status as subjects of rights,
both at the time of the determination and in the longer term. The determination
process should take account of, inter alia, the right of the child to be heard and to
have his/her views taken into account in accordance with his/her age and maturity.
62
Leisure, Relax, play and Cultural Activities
CRC31. Children have the right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of
cultural, artistic and other recreational activities.
ACRWC 12. Children have a right to play and to participate fully in cultural and
artistic life.
1. State Parties shall recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage
in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
2. State Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to fully participate
in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and
equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.
Protection of Privacy
CRC16. Children have a right to privacy
ACRWC 10. Children have a right to privacy. No child shall be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family home or correspondence, or
to the attacks upon his honour or reputation, provided that parents or legal guardians shall have the right to exercise reasonable supervision over the conduct of
their children. The child has the right to the protection of the law against such
interference or attacks.
63