Legal dilemma of child-headed households

Dealing with orphans and child-headed households is one of the dilemmas facing Parliament’€™s Social Development portfolio committee as it discusses the Children’€™s Bill over the next few weeks.

During public hearings two weeks ago (August 10-13), children’€™s rights organisations including the Children’€™s Institute at the University of Cape Town objected to the fact that the latest version of the Bill has done away with mentors for child-headed households.

Mentors were envisaged as individuals who could access and manage child support grants on behalf of these children.

The mentors were included in the first draft of the Bill, developed by the South African Law Commission and handed to the Social Development department in January 2003 after a lengthy consultations that started in 1997.

 ‘€œBecause of the AIDS epidemic, parents are dying at a rapid rate, and more and more children are not being absorbed into communities and extended families,’€ says Solange Rosa, Children’€™s Institute’€™s senior researcher.

‘€œSome children are choosing to remain alone as they are afraid of losing their property. In some cases, it might be in the best interests of the child if child-headed households get recognised as a legal family form,’€ adds Rosa.

Currently, around 3 out of 100 South African households are estimated to be child-headed, but the number is growing.

The child heads of 45 households told Thandanani researchers that their biggest worries were hunger, followed by having a secure place to live. Their third biggest problems were eviction and having their possessions removed.

Legal recognition for child-headed households is one way of protecting the children’€™s property, but it would not enable the children to get state assistance, as child support grants can only be given to people over the age of 16.

The mentor proposal was supposed to bridge this gap, but the current version of the Bill ‘€“ addressing national government’€™s responsibilities to children and expected to be passed this year – has done away with the option of mentorship.

Instead, it is envisaged that child support grants for child-headed households would be managed by social workers or non-governmental organisations.

‘€œBut,’€ says Rosa, ‘€œmentoring should not just be about managing money. It could involve identifying individuals that live near the children who can give them care and support.’€

E-mail Kerry Cullinan

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