The Poverty of Policy: Examining Care Leaving Policy in Ethiopia

International research consistently shows that young care leavers’ journey from care to emerging adulthood is characterised by adversities such as unemployment, poor academic performance, homelessness, involvement in criminal activities, mental illness and early parenthood. As research evidence points out, such negative outcomes are closely linked with the existence of multiple placements, lack of mentoring, limited connections with significant others, the absence of early preparation to leave care, and a dearth of or inadequate policy frameworks that entitle care leavers to use aftercare support schemes. In order to support care leavers’ transition from care to emerging adulthood, Global North countries have implemented an independent care leaving policy framework that serves as a scaffolding for challenges that would arise from care leavers’ exploration of the adult world upon leaving care. However, such experience in formulation of policy to empower care leavers to be an independent adult is not well developed in countries in Global South due to the infant nature of research on care leaving and a preference for addressing the issues of care leavers in the existing child policy frameworks rather than formulating a special policy that deals with care leaving. The status of Ethiopia in this regard is not different. Existing policy frameworks concerning children have failed to address the needs of Ethiopian care leavers despite the existence of over five million orphan and vulnerable children in the country most of whom are placed in institutional childcare centres. This article presents the case for an independent care leaving policy in Ethiopia to address the multifaceted needs of children in care and improve the care leaving service in the country. Thus, the study will shed light on the state of care leaving policy in the world and lessons for Ethiopia to support Ethiopia’s attempt to serve the most vulnerable children in care by developing its own care leaving policy.

Perceptions of Parents/Guardians About the Effectiveness of Future Families Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme in Olievenhoutbosch, South Africa

The people with the greatest stake in Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) interventions are the children and their parents/guardians. Unfortunately, most OVC programmes are predesigned and implemented without considering beneficiaries’ perceptions when developing solutions (ALI 2007:15). The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of orphans and vulnerable children’s parents/guardians about the effectiveness of Future Families’ children programme in Olievenhoutbosch as a way to explore how much they are involved in the process of designing the programme activities and if they perceive the programme as effective in responding to their family needs.. This study used a qualitative, explorative and descriptive design. Thirteen (13) parents/guardians of children registered with the Future Families were interviewed on the effectiveness of the Future Families programme using a semi-structure interview guide. The study results suggested that parents/guardians were happy with Future Families’ services and believed the programme is effective in responding to their families’ needs. However, the researcher questioned the meaning of that happiness and established that beneficiaries were not involved in the program key planning activities including programme resource management and could not appreciate the value of the service that is provided to them against the funding value. The researcher also established that beneficiaries perceived the programme interventions as if it was a favour from the implementing organisation. That perception conditioned beneficiaries’ attitude to be thankful to the programme instead of having open criticism toward the program.

Mental Health Care Service and Mental Problems among Orphan and Vulnerable Children in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

A lot of children in the world suffer from untreated mental health problems. The global burdens of childhood mental disorders are increasing but mental health care services are neglected in most countries. The objective of this critical analysis was to realize the access to mental health service and mental problems among orphan and vulnerable children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To achieve the purpose of the analysis, the method was based on the critical analysis of the recent research literature from Pub-Med, Global Health, Google Scholar, Ethiopian Universities, Psych-Info, and WHO data sources. Thirty-six journals published after 2001 were identified and critically analyzed based on scientific inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as analyzed in a systematic manner. The orphan and vulnerable children face a prospect of a persistent effort for physically continued existence, for fundamental needs, education, love and affection, and protection against exploitation violence and bias. The problem of meeting these desires of the children corresponds to a major new challenge that requires an in-depth research, future interventions, and policy plans in tackling the problem. In light of the problem in Ethiopia, researches regarding the mental health care services of the orphan and vulnerable children in Addis Ababa are extremely inadequate.

Conceptualizing the African child as orphan and vulnerable: A label in need of redefinition?

Despite the decline in AIDS-related deaths worldwide, the consequence of the disease continues to be felt. This is exemplified in the unprecedented numbers of adult deaths and inability of the extended family to cope. These factors have impacted the welfare of children negatively. Focusing specifically on sub-Saharan Africa, a region severely struck by the pandemic, we examine the effects of the label ‘Orphan and Vulnerable Children’ (OVC), which has been utilized to identify children affected by HIV/AIDS, on the welfare of the affected children. Implications for policy, practice, and scholarship are suggested.