This project, conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Actuarial Research at the University of Cape Town, drew on a combination of primary research and demographic projections, as well as a costing exercise, to consider the application of the foster care system to provide poverty alleviation for households caring for orphans.
In 2001 the Children's Institute was commissioned by the Department of Health to conduct research to inform an appropriate and co-ordinated national response to children experiencing orphanhood.
This project explored the forms that the 'last resort' – residential care for children – is taking in the face of the AIDS pandemic in South Africa, and considered these forms in relation to South African policy and legislation. In particular, the project focused on residential care set-ups that have emerged out of, and in response to the needs of, community-based initiatives.
This project used ethnographic methods to explore in-depth the experiences of HIV-positive mothers and their infants, providing a full and careful description of the political, social, economic, cultural and moral context that affects the quality of their lives. The project aimed to inform policy and interventions made on behalf of such HIV-positive mothers and their infants.