Abstract
Ph.D. (Education)
Caregiving is a hugely important role. At any one time, a caregiver is responsible for
the care of children who cannot live at home because of abuse, neglect or behavioural
difficulties. Furthermore, caregiving aims to provide an appropriate family-like setting
in which to care for children and young people who, for various reasons, cannot live
with their own families. In this study, the focus is on caregiving in the foster care
settings. The foster care social-service settings provide temporary out-of-home
placement for children living in families which are unable to provide adequate safety
and nurturance.
This study explores caregivers’ experiences in supporting children with intellectual
disabilities (ID) in foster care settings. Children with ID may experience violence and
abuse in their lives at home, in school, on a bus, in a group home or residential facility.
The majority of these children are looked after by caregivers who provide care on a
round-the-clock basis. However, they are placed with their caregivers who do not have
the knowledge and skills to support and respond adequately to the individual needs of
the children with ID. No proper induction was facilitated with caregivers during the
placement of these children in foster care. Furthermore, crucial background
information of these children was not shared with the caregivers.
Phenomenology was used to explore lived experiences and understanding the roles
of caregivers in supporting children with ID in foster care settings. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted with seven caregivers who were purposefully selected to
participate in this study. Attachment and resilience were explored as the theories
underpinning this study. The findings of the study revealed that caregivers are
providing expected support to children with ID. However, there are some areas of
support where caregivers are experiencing challenges and need assistance from
various role players to improve the support. Therefore, improving caregiver support
holistically calls for multidisciplinary approach – as the African proverb says: “it takes
a village to raise a child”. This means that society is responsible for the moral character
it creates, and everyone in a community should be responsible for helping to train a
child irrespective of who the parents are; offering correction where it is needed. This
simply means caregivers cannot carry out their task on their own; they need input and
support from other stakeholders involved in the life of the child.