Children at Home: Their Experiences and Wellbeing

Most children worldwide grow up with their biological parents. However, there are also many children growing up without parental care. In Africa, around 35 million children grow up without parental care meaning they lack overnight supervision from at least one parent due to various reasons and circumstances (African Union, 2023). Because of the lack of parental care there are also millions of children worldwide growing up in institutions (Desmond et al., 2020). Children grow up in alternative care without their parents because of several reasons: e.g., armed conflict, natural disaster and migration or discrimination (disability, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation) (UNICEF, 2021). As a childcare institution we define care settings with a minimum of five orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) from at least two different families that permanently (for the time being) live in this care setting (Gray et al., 2015). OVC are defined as children who have lost a parent through death or desertion (Skinner et al., 2006). Especially in the African context there are high numbers of OVC (UNICEF, 2016). Also, in Tanzania numbers are high as half of Tanzania's population is under 18 (29 million) and around 7% of children have lost one parent and 1% have lost both parents because of death (Mbwambo et al., 2023; UNICEF, 2023). In total there are around 3.000.000 orphans and vulnerable children living in Tanzania with at least 24.000 children living in registered institutions (SOS Children’s Villages International, 2014; The Cititzen, 2021). Growing up in an institution is related to various adverse outcomes, like lower cognitive functioning and both lower mental and physical health compared to children in family settings (for an overview see van IJzendoorn et al., 2020). Nevertheless, the quality of institutions varies a lot (van IJzendoorn et al., 2020). Ninety percent of OVC in the global south are living under the care of the extended family (Biemba et al., 2010). Children in kinship care live with a relative and are unable to live with their biological parents due to death of one or both parents or other risk factors such as: physical or mental illness, including chronic illness of a parent, substance abuse, neglect, abandonment, poverty, maltreatment, incarceration (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus, 2024; Cox, 2016). Although there is first evidence from various African countries that orphans in family settings have not a higher chance to experience sexual and/or physical abuse compared to non-orphans (Nichols et al., 2014), the care quality (including maltreatment) in informal care settings in Africa is still understudied (Hecker et al., 2017). Furthermore, there is a lack of studies comparing the care experiences for children across various care settings (kinship care vs. institutional care vs. traditional families). We define care experiences as positive and negative interactions between the caregiver and the child. The high prevalence of violence in child-rearing in Tanzania (Masath et al., 2022) underscores the importance of preventive efforts. However, to adequately tailor preventive programs a precise description of the care experiences by young OVC in different care settings is needed. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies that systematically operationalize and assess the social emotional development and interaction quality of OVC and their caregivers using observational methods. Our study also aims to assess possible outcomes of the lack of good care. Therefore, we will include the assessment of the emotional, behavioural, cognitive, social and physical outcomes of children in different care settings. To encounter the challenges of capturing the behavior and wellbeing of younger children under 10 we aim for a multiple method and multi-informant approach. Thus, the care experiences and the social, emotional, behavioral, cognitive and physical outcomes of young OVCs in different alternative care settings (institutional and kinship care) will be assessed and compared to children in traditional families. Given the particular importance of care quality in earlier phases of development, we are looking at younger children aged 6-9. We will not only ask the caregivers to report on their children, but we will especially focus on the perspective of the children when capturing the received care and the emotional, behavioural, cognitive, social and physical outcomes, as the children’s perspective is crucial. Not only do children in alternative care experience difficulties, also their caregivers struggle with certain challenges (Vashchenko et al., 2010). However, little is known about the well-being and functioning of caregivers of OVC in different care settings in low-income countries (Hermenau, et al. 2015). In summary, the study aims to compare positive and negative interactions with caregivers and peers (risk and protective factors) of children aged 6-9 in different care settings (institutional care, kinship care and traditional family care) and their emotional, behavioural, cognitive, social and physical outcomes, as well as to compare the perceived caregiving stress and the social-emotional functioning of their caregivers.