Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Child Care Health Dev. 2021 May;47(3):329-335. doi: 10.1111/cch.12845. Epub 2021 Jan 4.
Kinship care has become a favourable alternative care option for orphans and vulnerable children without adequate parental care in Ghana. However, kinship care practices in Ghana are considered informal cultural practices without formal regulations. The absence of formal regulations could have consequences on the health and development of children due to the lack of proper supervision and empirical assessment of children's needs. In line with recent policy discussions on mechanisms to regulate informal kinship care practices, this study aimed to identify how the State could be involved in improving kinship care experience for children.
Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 young persons (aged 18-23) who had been received into kinship care to share their experiences on how the State could be involved in improving kinship care experience for children. Narratives from the young people were analysed following the constructivist grounded theory approach.
Introduction of a welfare scheme for kinship caregivers, policy on child care, provision of start-up capital and training for caregivers, were measures suggested by the young people to improve kinship care practice. Providing start-up capital to kinship caregivers was identified to mitigate caregivers' unemployment challenges, which could have ripple effects on the well-being of children by escalating caregiver stress.
The study's findings suggest that the State has a significant role to ensure that caregivers are equipped with the needed resources to provide adequate care for children. Regulating kinship care practices should embrace a strength-based empowerment model that builds on the capacity of the caregivers to ensure better outcomes for children. Studies that explore the views of policy makers and caregivers in a larger sample may yield promising results to complement the current findings.
在加纳，亲属照顾已成为孤儿和弱势儿童获得充分父母照顾的一种有利替代选择。然而，加纳的亲属照顾做法被认为是没有正式规定的非正式文化习俗。由于缺乏适当的监督和对儿童需求的实证评估，缺乏正式规定可能会对儿童的健康和发展产生影响。为了配合最近关于规范非正式亲属照顾做法的机制的政策讨论，本研究旨在确定国家如何参与改善儿童的亲属照顾体验。
对 22 名（年龄在 18-23 岁之间）已被纳入亲属照顾的年轻人进行了深入的定性访谈，以分享他们的经验，即国家如何参与改善儿童的亲属照顾体验。年轻人的叙述按照建构主义扎根理论方法进行分析。
年轻人建议引入亲属照顾者福利计划、儿童保育政策、为照顾者提供启动资金和培训，以改善亲属照顾实践。为亲属照顾者提供启动资金被认为可以缓解照顾者的失业挑战，这可能会通过增加照顾者的压力对儿童的福祉产生连锁反应。
研究结果表明，国家在确保照顾者具备为儿童提供充分照顾所需的资源方面发挥着重要作用。规范亲属照顾做法应该采用一种基于权力的赋权模式，利用照顾者的能力，确保儿童的更好结果。在更大的样本中探索政策制定者和照顾者的观点的研究可能会产生有希望的结果，以补充当前的发现。
