Richter (2004:9) suggests that child-headed households (CHHs) are much more vulnerable economically than adult-headed households. “Income in orphan households has been found to be 20-30% lower than in non-orphan households” (Richter, 2004:9). This is confirmed by Donald and Clacherty (2005). Children in child-headed households survive on about one-third of the resources (money as well as contributions in kind, such as gifts or food, etc.) available to adult-headed households. This is because these children lack the presence of parents, they have limited means of generating an income and they are unable to effectively sustain their households (Donald & Clacherty, 2005:24).
Prevention is said to be better than cure and while no one could disagree with this sentiment in theory, there seems to be some difficulty in implementing it in practice. Western society embraces the romantic vision that children should simply be “children”. A child‟s obligation, it seems, is to be...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
| Published: |
Stellenbosch University
2011-06-01
|
| Series: | Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk |
| Online Access: | https://socialwork.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/133 |