Abstract
A robust literature has outlined the risks to children separated from parental care. Recently, there has been an effort to reform services to this population. However, the research driving reform has often neglected the voices of adults with care experience, especially those from the Global South. The current research explored recommendations for care reform from 542 adults who had experienced alternative care during childhood in 12 nations in the Global South. Data revealed three themes to improve care: (1) child focus and participation, (2) the need for family placements, and (3) the importance of support services. Implications are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Globally, millions of children and youth are separated from biological parental care during childhood for a variety of reasons, including poverty, parental death and maltreatment (Desmond et al., 2020; Wilke et al., 2022). During these separations, children often reside in alternative care settings, which may include residential care centres, kinship care or foster care (Martin & Zulaika, 2016). Long-term outcomes for children and youth separated from parental care are often poor (McGuire et al., 2021), particularly for children in residential care (van IJzendoorn et al., 2020). As such, researchers (Berens & Nelson, 2015; Dozier et al., 2014) and policy-makers (United Nations General Assembly, 2019) have called for care reform to improve services for this highly vulnerable population.
However, little of this work has considered the voices of adults who resided in alternative care settings during childhood in a systematic way (Dixon et al., 2019; Hartworth et al., 2021). Adults with alternative care experience can provide important and unique insight into the needs of children currently in care and how services could be improved (Dixon et al., 2019; Hartworth et al., 2021). Furthermore, it offers individuals with care experience the opportunity to influence research, practice and policy based on their knowledge and experience (Harder et al., 2020). The research that does exist has primarily been conducted in nations in the Global North (Roche & Flynn, 2020). Due to disparity in resources and differences in care systems, the results of these studies may not generalise to the Global South (van Breda et al., 2020). The current study surveyed adults who had experienced alternative care during childhood in nations in the Global South about their thoughts, beliefs and recommendations regarding care reform and services in alternative care settings.