Book title lives and times: children in south african families

Book proposal

BOOK TITLE - LIVES AND TIMES: CHILDREN IN SOUTH AFRICAN FAMILIES
Edited by

Monde Makiwane¹, Mzikazi Nduna², Munyane Mophosho², Ernest Khalema¹

¹ HSRC, ² University of the Witwatersrand

Contact and address:

Mzikazi Nduna

Private Bag X 3

WITS

2050

Tel: [phone]

Cell: 083 631 2537

Email: [e-mail]

INTRODUCTION
Twenty years since political emancipation, children in South African families have experienced true transformation at many levels. Those born in 1994 were born free; free to be who they want to be, unchained by the restraints of the past. Demographically, there are almost 18 million children in South Africa’s present population of approximately 40 million. Data indicate that there are approximately seven million girls and seven million boys aged less than 14 years, which means children of this age make up 29.2% of the total population. The majority of these children live in varying degrees of disadvantage and privilege. For some they struggle with lack of shelter, food, clothing, proper education, support, neglect, poverty, crime, abuse, their lives are in constant state of uncertainty; and little time for fun and enjoyment. For some these are the days of enjoyment, fun, fulfilment, of positive growth.
The average South African young person goes to school for 13 years, which means he/she doesn’t receive further education after high school. 96% of children of the age between 0 and 17 attend an education facility. What are the other 4% of them doing? It should be 100%. Three in every five of children younger than 17 years old are living in poor households with a total income less than R1, 200, mostly in rural areas. Every fifth child in SA suffers from hunger and under-nutrition. Additionally, four out of ten children have to travel more than 30 minutes to the nearest available clinic, which can jeopardize their life in a cruel situation. Furthermore, one in twenty infants dies before their first birthday. Half of our children younger than 17 years old don’t have access to clean, reliable water supply in their house or yard. One in every three children younger than 17 lives in informal housing. Everyday three children get killed, mostly by perpetrators closer to them. As a signatory of Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), South Africa has an obligation to guarantee all children the right to protection from physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse. Article 19 obliges states to provide legislative, administrative, social and educational interventions to protect the children from all forms of undignified treatment including sexual abuse by those who provide care to children. The Article further specifies the elements of the protective systems that States must establish for purposes of monitoring progress towards achieving the rights and wellbeing of children: different forms of prevention measures, measures for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and continuous provision of services for children affected by abuse and neglect, and support for those who care for children, and when appropriate the measures should include judicial involvement.
This book will focus on the everyday socialization of black children within families.There is currently a knowledge gap in understanding children’s lives and their positions within families in South Africa. Further research is needed to examine processes in both family and society that promote child competence and resilience. Why a book on children in families?
The family represent a key social unit where children are born. South African families are diverse constituting of nuclear families, extended families and re-constituted families. The historical overview of families in the South African reveals that significant changes over the years brought about Colonisation and Apartheid on the traditional family, and modernisation and globalisation. Unlike earlier prediction, intimate-couple families have only emerged in a small section of society. The majority of families are multigenerational, extended and single parent in nature.

This book examines the nature of the contemporary South African family where majority of children are born, supported, socialised and protected. More impotently the book examines whether the South African family is in crises, unable to perform its obligations on children, or has it adjusted to the changes and has found novel ways to perform its duties.

The book will be written in simple language that is devoid of disciplinary embellishment. It will be accessible to the general public and undergraduate students. The book will explore the diverse range of issues which include, but are not limited to the following broad themes:
Background to Families Systems/Units in South Africa

Numerous studies conducted in South Africa have pointed to the complexity and diversity of family systems and units in South Africa, which include extended, nuclear, child-free couples, single-parent and re-constituted families that include step-parents and step-children (South African Institute of Race Relations (2011), Amoateng et. al. 2004). There are numerous factors that brought about changes in South African families, which include forces of transition, modernisation, industrialisation, globalization and urbanisation (Amoateng & Richter, 2003). Labour migration that became a force throughout the colonial and apartheid periods, and still widely spread post-apartheid, has also influenced family structures in South Africa (Amoateng and Richter, 2003). Recently, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has impacted the functioning of family systems and has resulted in increase of mortality of young adults, has been associated with the increase in child-headed and skipped-generational household (Makiwane et al. 2004). The post-modern era has problematized the family formations, where diverse types of family units such as child-free, same-sex, polygamous families have resulted (Amoateng, Richter, Makiwane, & Rama, 2004). While it would be difficult to neatly delineate the impact of each of the above factors, it is the compound impact of all them that has left family structures that are complex and their functioning not well understood.

The Complexity and Diversity of South African Families
This book does not dwell into perennial debates on what constitutes a family, but recognises and affirms the complexities and diversity of South African family systems. This ranges from a nuclear family includes two adults (recently legally extended beyond heterosexual or homosexual partnerships) who maintain a legally recognised partnership, with or without minor children, who are either their biological or adopted children. In most South African cultures, as is on other parts of the continent, the family is extended to aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and other relatives. In such complex family forms, obligations to wider kin might not be static, complicating the family structure even more.
Extended families can be of many types. These may include compound families with more that one married couples. Multi-generational families are common in South Africa. Teenage and non-marital childbearing, separation and divorce and non-mature age mortality is associated with the rise in single parent families. As stated above, the South African family is complex. One of the complexities is reflected in the high number of young children who do not co-reside with their biological parents. Thus, the most immediate family might be distributed over large geographical spaces. Table 1 below, shows the level of co-residence of children between ages 0-9 with their biological parents.
Table 1: The Level of Co-residence of Children between ages 0-9 with their parents in South Africa

Family type	No.	(%)
Both parents	583341	(37.64)
Father only	40674	(2.27)
Mother only	584963	(32.73)
Both parents absent	577893	(32.34)

Source: Calculations by Makiwane from the data sourced from Statistics South Africa (2011)
The table above shows that approximately 60% of children younger than 10 years of age are not living with their biological father. While the relationship between poverty and family structure is not well understood, it is noteworthy that the reduction of child poverty is one of the Millennium Development Goals that the country is struggling to achieve.
Childbearing

Until recently, a segmented approach in studying childbearing was considered a priority issue in so far as it was used to demonstrate points against rapid population growth. Today in South Africa, the demographic and policy contexts are somewhat different. As childbearing continues its downward cause, the perceived dangers of rapid population growth which motivated and determined issues of interest in the past three decades in Africa, appear more accommodative of other important issues in the interactions of population growth and social development in South Africa. Researchers have only just begun to pay serious attention to a number of other important dimensions of demography. Thus, the book will discuss the impact of the changing fertility trends. These changing trends include the impact of various age at first birth, spacing mechanism of child births and practises of breastfeeding and postpartum abstinence.

Children in alternative family structures

Majority of children in South Africa grow in families other than a two parent family. Such a family might include child-headed family, single parent, skipped generational families, polygamous families and other alternative family structures. The most common alternative family structure is that of children who are in families that are without their biological fathers. Thus, the book will examine adaptations, adjustments and survival mechanism of children in these family structures.

Children and Intergenerationality

A critical reflection and analysis of issues related to the nature and prevalence of parent or caregiver and child communication on a number of issues, and most notably around sexuality issues, aspects and factors that promote or impede sexuality communication; exploring who and what kinds of benefits can be drawn from this communication between parents and their children, as well as how interventions could be adapted for young people and parents living in South Africa.

Transition to adulthood

This section will examine different rites of passage, both traditional and modern. In addition, the book will examine how children negotiate different transitions that children undergo while they journey to adulthood.

Policy options and interventions

This section will look at the South African government policy initiatives that are aimed at ameliorating the condition of poverty stricken children in South Africa. In addition, this section will also look at prevailing community interventions that are based on the African culture that include the value of collectivism and social parenting.

Intended Audience

This proposed book is intended for use by academics in the fields of Humanities, Social Science and Public Health. The book will be used as a reference text by post graduate students and will be a useful text for academics for teaching and as a research reference. As the book presented cutting-edge and most up to date research it will also be useful for civil society organisation and government officials involved in research, policy and implementation of interventions targeting families.

ABSTRACTS

The complex relationships that result in the birth of South African

Monde Makiwane, Ntombizonke Gumede & Stanley Molefi

Since 1980s the myriad of disciplines from psychology, sociology to population studies continue to mass declining marriage statistics in the literature. It is the foiling factors such as the impact of apartheid which manufactured forced migration of men from their homestead to the cities, institutionalized poverty and unemployment, as well as calculated a coerced system of urbanization on the African populace that wrenched the formation of marriages. As family formation drifted beyond the reach of marriage establishment, and reproductive life which was constituted within this institution broke into new paradigms. Hence, the bedrock of the enquiry of this study it is contingent on the relationship between declining marriage rates, low rates of cohabiting and a number of children that are born outside stable relationships.

The family’s role in use of psychological support services by young people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Nduna Mzikazi

There is limited qualitative research evidence that contributes to understanding the mental health of young people in South Africa. The aim of this chapter is to provide an in-depth exploration of young people’s help health seeking behaviours. Access to psychosocial services remains a challenge for many Black young people. Psychological services are almost non-existent in the majority of the settings, paid services are scarce and social worker’s roles are seen as mainly administrative. The specific research questions answered in this chapter are

• 
  What is the cultural context that foregrounds access, , to help for psychological distress among young people in South Africa, including informal sources of help such as parents and the greater extended family.
  
• 
  What are the structural barriers that affect access to psychosocial services for young people in South Africa?
  
• 
  What are perceptions of the role of social workers, and in the absence of access to psychological help how and where do young people seek help?
  

Awareness of sources of help, confidence to get help and what seeking help outside the family meant are discussed. Friends, cousins and being at school were commonly used as informal sources of support protective of the adversarial home environment. Barriers to accessing psychosocial support were included not having the relevant information and documents that will be asked for, not knowing about the social work and counselling roles. Absence of help seeking was both as a result of pride and fear.

Why mothers won’t tell: kids who don’t know their fathers Why mothers won’t tell: kids who don’t know their fathers

Livhu Manyatse

Children with absent and fathers unknown to them have distinctly been identified as an interest group due to their increased risk to adverse psychological effects that are specifically associated with not knowing one’s biological father. It is taken for granted that these children have the practical platform of asking their mothers and female caregivers who their fathers are. This assumption does not take into consideration that often there is a tacit rule within these homes whereby the biological father is never discussed.

The aim of this exploratory study was to use narratives of mothers and guardians who have children under their care who do not know their true fathers’ identities, in order to explore probable reasons that contribute to maternal caregivers not disclosing to those children their biological fathers’ identities.

To this end, an interpretive phenomenological research approach was used and eight face-to-face, semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with female participants from varying cultural and socio-economic backgrounds within the Johannesburg area. Transcribed text was analysed using thematic analysis and a gendered analysis was applied to review the findings against current societal arrangements.

Although findings indicated some of the factors that contributed to mothers’ non-disclosure such as father’s inconsistent commitment to the paternal role or denial of paternity, there also seemed to be a broader need to provide mothers who may be considering disclosure with strategies on how to disclose.

Keywords: maternal non-disclosure, undisclosed paternal identity.

Strategies for negotiating absent fathers among young people in Soweto, South Africa

Thandeka Mdletshe

The dominant ideology that mothers are primary caregivers has implicitly led to the assumption that the father-child relationship has little impact on children’s development (Cabrera, Tamis-Lemonda, Bradley, Hofferth, & Lamb, 2000). Research conducted on young people and their experiences or views on absent fathers overly exaggerate the success of children with absent fathers versus children who live with both parents . This paper explored how young people with absent fathers cope with their everyday lives, and also proved the importance of fathers in the lives of their daughters.

Killing our children in the name of culture: A critical reflection on Human Rights

Mthetho Tshemese

South Africans have become accustomed to reading about “botched circumcisions” and the related health complications associated with them. Most of what is reported in the media focuses in the Eastern Cape Province where, year in and year out, there is a crisis related to Traditional Circumcision injuries, and deaths. That the media reports on such is bold and commendable. However, the reporting has tended to focus more on the statistics and not much has been done to reflect on the implications of Traditional Male Circumcision, and Initiation; and how these injuries impact psychologically on the boy children affected. Furthermore, not much has been covered on the impact of these injuries and deaths on the boys’ and young men’s families.

This chapter will examine the media reports on the injuries and deaths of young boys within a Human Rights framework. In addition, the chapter will focus on how a single mother from the Eastern Cape Province lost her son, and how being a woman limited her participation in her son’s initiation process and how she feels about those who were responsible for the loss of her son’s life. Last, but not least the chapter will propose how we could empower children to ensure that they make informed and healthier choices as they undergo Traditional Male Circumcision and Initiation.

Communication between parents & children (daughters on sexuality)

Nwabisa Jama & Sanele Mdanda

Earlier contributions in this book have set the ground for an understanding of the factors that promote or impinge on children’s’ positions within their families, the role of family and respect, child bearing and single motherhood in the South African and African culture and context. This chapter will focus on exploring the nature and practice of sexuality communication between parents & children, particularly adolescent girls, and the factors which promote or impede sexuality communication between a parent and a child.

The Process of Writing the White Paper on families in South Africa

Lizette Berry and Monde Makiwane

South African social policy – how far have we come in providing social protection for children in the context of families?

Post-apartheid South Africa has seen the development of an array of social policy and has particularly promoted a shift toward developmental social welfare. Recent policy developments, such as the National Development Plan 2030, deserve interrogation in relation to its intention to ameliorate poverty amongst the South African population and its potential impact on children. Similarly, a draft White Paper on Families was developed in 2012 and consultation with stakeholders revealed divergent opinions about the role of a national family policy. Our social protection programmes, including targeted social grants for a range of vulnerable groups, is perceived as comprehensive and revolutionary. While social grants have certainly improved conditions for children experiencing a range of vulnerabilities¹, careful consideration should be given to the interaction of child grants with diverse family structures and care arrangements and their role in promoting family cohesion and family well-being. This chapter will explore the potential impact of recent policy developments and critically reflect on anti-poverty policy initiatives and their influence on South African families.

Who looks after our children

Lucy Holborn

This chapter presents the most up-to-date data showing the family and living arrangements of children in South Africa. Of the 18.5 million children in the country, only approximately one third live in the same household as both of their biological parents. The other two-thirds of children live in single parent households, with extended family members, in child-headed households, in foster care, and in child and youth care centres. These various arrangements have implications for the welfare and future life prospects of children. The family circumstances and living arrangements of children affect their levels of vulnerability, poverty, behaviour, educational outcomes, and career prospects. It is therefore essential to understand the reality of these family circumstances for children in South Africa, and to understand how they are changing. Where possible, the chapter therefore shows longer-term trends, to see which living arrangements are becoming more prevalent, and what implications this might have for the welfare of children.

Overall the chapter argues that while children who grow up with both of their biological parents are likely to fare best in their long-term opportunities and life outcomes, this is not the reality for many children. Understanding the alternatives, and how those alternative family structures can be supported and strengthened will therefore be vital for ensuring generations of children can grow up with the opportunities to become productive and constructive members of society.

Lives and Times of Children in Child-Headed Families

Jace Pillay

University of Johannesburg, Department of Educational Psychology
As a result of HIV/AIDS child-headed families are increasingly becoming a reality in South Africa (Garson, 2003; Hlatswayo, 2004; Kapp, 2000; Sloth-Nielsen, 2003). This scenario is most likely to profoundly affect family life and structure in the country. The lack of parental guidance and support is going to leave an indelible mark on the economic, social, psychological and moral well-being of children from child-headed households. Children are dependent upon parents for socialization, provision of affection and education, and parents are still the primary caregivers responsible for their children’s social education and self-actualization (Pillay & Nesengani, 2006). As such, one may argue that the absence of parents is likely to raise questions on the acquisition of values, beliefs and practices of children. This argument is supported by research which has indicated that children who head families struggle with issues such as self-confidence, self-esteem, emotional stability, poverty, health, group sociability and morality (Desmond, Richter, Makiwane & Amoateng, 2003;Le Roux, 1994; Louw, 1998).
Taking the above into consideration, this chapter integrates studies completed as part of a three year SANPAD funded project on child-headed families. The numerous mixed method studies conducted through questionnaires, individual and focus group interviews, projective tests and collages provide a vivid picture of the lives and times of children from child-headed families within their homes, schools and communities. The findings indicate the struggles of the children in terms of their living conditions, changing roles, community fears and school experiences which inevitably affect their psychological well-being. However, the outstanding feature of the multiple studies conducted in this research project is the resilience of some of these children. Hence, this chapter will examine adaptations, adjustments and survival mechanisms of children from child-headed families within an African socio-cultural context of child rearing practices.

Father-adolescent daughter relationships

Elmien Lesch

A substantial body of research confirm that the presence or involvement of fathers in the lives of their children can have a beneficial influence on the children. Fathers are viewed as largely under-utilised resources that may benefit children in especially low-income or otherwise considered ‘fragile’ communities where resources are often few. However, only a few fatherhood studies have included low income communities and these tended to focus on the absence or presence of fathers. Internationally and locally, little research has been conducted on how fathers define and give meaning to their experience of being fathers. South African research on fatherhood is generally limited, and research on fathers-daughter relationships markedly so. Our literature searches also indicate that few fatherhood studies have been conducted in South African low-income, Coloured communities. To address this gap, we focussed in our research on exploring constructions and experiences of fatherhood in such a community. In our proposed chapter, we plan to (1) present a review of extant international and local literature on father-adolescent daughter relationships; and (2) present and discuss our research process and findings regarding father-adolescent daughter relationships in a low-income Coloured, semi-rural Western Cape community. We will incorporate the findings of three completed qualitative studies: In study one, twelve adolescent daughter-parent/s units were interviewed together about their closeness experiences and practices in their relationships. In study two, multiple interviews were conducted with five fathers on being a father to an adolescent daughter. In study three, 10 fathers and their adolescent daughters were interviewed separately to explore fathers’ experiences of fatherhood and daughters’ experiences of their fathers. Our analysis indicated the following general themes: Fathers’ experience of their own fathers informed their constructions and practices of fatherhood; the presence of mainstream notions of fatherhood and masculinity in constructions of fatherhood; limited emotional and affectionate father-daughter interactions which suggests limited opportunities to get to know each other and develop closer bonds.

Childhood studies – A theoretical perspective that respects children

Maren Bak

The new sociology of childhood or the social study of childhood as it is also named or the study of childhood as a social phenomenon reflects an important change in the way of understanding and researching children and childhood. This chapter will present the main ideas of the sociology of childhood and give some selected examples of research methods as well as results of research inspired by this paradigm. The childhood sociology was first formulated by researchers in the rich world and is less well known in other parts of the world but as a general way of thinking about childhood it has relevance irrespective of nation or setting. In the outline presented here of the important characteristics of the new childhood paradigm inspiration has been found in the introductory chapter and several other chapters in the Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies (Qvortrup, Corsaro & Honig eds. 2011)

Chapter 12: parenting

Marlize Rabe

When looking at South African families in 2014, there are indeed reasons for celebration. Highlights in this regard include legislature that gives recognition to a wide range of couple unions (including polygyny and same sex unions) and available grants to poor citizens. However, South Africa also has much to bemoan since many families are at risk as can be seen in the horrific reports on all forms of domestic violence and general poverty experienced by a wide range of families. Although family diversity is widely acknowledged by researchers and policy makers alike, in practice this diversity is not always welcomed and often described as not ideal. In this paper I will focus on the diverse practices of parenting and explore ways in which such diversity can be supported on a research and policy level. The discourses on fatherhood and motherhood will be considered separately but with the aim of reaching a more inclusive view of parenting.

Chapter 13: children in migrant families in South Africa

Ernest Khalema

This proposed chapter will trace and document the pre-migration trajectories of migrant children from the African continent who have migrated to South Africa; highlighting how displacement/war coupled with poverty affects their development and how in turn this shapes their identity, navigational capacities, and resiliency in post-migration contexts. Children, particularly those who have experienced conflict, face unique challenges as they navigate the dual roles of developmental transitions to adulthood whilst adapting to new family formations with its socio-cultural and economic aftermaths in the resettlement process. The experience of displacement from one’s home country, village, and town is often signifies loss and at times trauma. Uprooted from their support systems (families and extended families) and often unaccompanied; these children leave behind all they have ever known, including friends, communities, schools, and homes. Many of these children also suffer from on-going distress due to war-related trauma and the pressures associated with forced migration. Furthermore, disruptions in schooling, exposure to violence, and extensive deprivation have also impacted their cognitive, emotional, and behavioural development. Often the adaptation of migrant children to South Africa gives rise to identity-related issues including belonging, cultural continuity and acculturation. These factors have been well established as critical contributors to the success or challenges of psychosocial wellbeing for this population. This chapter will utilize the theoretical hardware from resilience, hope, multicultural counselling, and positive child development to expose how migrant children who come from refugee backgrounds cope and experience their lives in South Africa. The chapter will provide the opportunity to explore cases related to resilience factors of migrant children, highlighting who they are, what their needs are, and who supports them. In doing so, a multi-layered and multi-positioned approach to their lives will be discussed; foregrounding contextual specificities of their transitions and capabilities, and affirming their lived experiences as young people who are growing up in contexts that are often hostile at worst and accommodating at best.

Progress made on writing book chapters

AUTHOR	TITLE –	Whether the abstract has been submitted	Whether the draft Chapter has been submitted	FEEDBACK	2^ND DRAFT	FINAL DRAFTS DUE: END APRIL 2015
Editors	Introductory Chapter
Monde Makiwane & Ntombizonke Gumede, & Stanley Molefe	The complex relationships that result in the birth of South African children.
Lucy Holborn	Who looks after/raising our children?
Marlize Rabe	Parenting
Mzikazi Nduna	The family’s role in use of psychological support services by young people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Livhu Manyatshe	Why women won’t tell: kids who don’t know their fathers
Thandeka Mdletshe	Strategies for negotiating absent fathers among young people in Soweto, South Africa
Mthetho Tshemese	Killing our children in the name of culture: A critical reflection on Human Rights
Nwabisa Jama-Shai & Sanele Mdanda	Review of parent-child sexuality communication in the Southern African context.
Jace Pillay	Lives and times of children in child-headed families
Elmien Lesch	Fathers-adolescent daughter relationships
Maren Bak	Childhood studies – a theoretical perspective that respects children.
Ernest Khalema	Children in Migrant Families in South Africa.
Sue Philpott	Family and Children living with disability
Wiedaad Slemming	Family and Children living with disability
Judy Mckenzie	Family and Children living with disability
Carrien Lubbe	Children in gay-couple families
Lizette Berry and Monde Makiwane	The process of writing the white paper on families in SA

The call
The Human Sciences Research Council and the University of the Witwatersrand are putting together a book to further advance our understanding of children’s positions within families. We would like to invite you to contribute a chapter to this book. While the book will have academic rigour, it will be written in an accessible language so that it can have a wide readership. The target audience for the book is post graduate students in social sciences, humanities and health; NGOs, government officials working with policies and interventions for children and families, and researchers alike. We are hoping that the book chapters will demonstrate insider knowledge of the African family, including positive African traditional practices.
Guidelines
The required length of abstracts is about 250-300 words

Draft Chapters should be about 4000-7000 words

References
Amoateng, A. Richter L., Makiwane, M., & Rama, S. (2004) Describing the structure and needs if families in South Africa: towards the developments of a national policy framework for families. HSRC.
Amoateng, A.Y., & Richter L. (2003). The State of families in South Africa. In State of the Nation: South Africa.
Makiwane M., Schneider M and Gopane M. (2004) “Experiences and needs of older Persons” A report written on behalf of Mpumalanga Provincial Government.
South African Institute of Race Relations (2011). First Steps to Healing the South African Family. SAIRR, Johannesburg: Holborn, L. & Eddy, G (eds.)

1 Department of Social Development and UNICEF (2012) South Africa’s Child Support Grant. Summary findings

from an integrated qualitative‐quantitative evaluation. www.dsd.gov.za

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