Abstract
Childcare is essential for children’s physical, social and cognitive development, but a looming childcare crisis around the world has adverse effects on children of immigrants in host countries. Most immigrants find it difficult to provide adequate and appropriate childcare arrangements because the group and its members are excluded from the host countries and communities. This study aimed to explore the childcare arrangements made by Zimbabwean immigrant families living in Soweto (Southwest Township), South Africa. Through a qualitative approach and a hybrid of the exploratory-constructive, narrative-biographical and transformative design, this study explored the childcare arrangements adopted by the group, their childcare-related challenges and amplified the voices of this minority group. The study found that immigrant families utilised centres/crèches, care by the father, care by an acquaintance, care by a helper/nanny, and sibling care. Through the frame of the social exclusion theory and the intersectionality perspective, the study revealed that unaffordable childcare expenses, lack of capital and xenophobia are some challenges that the Zimbabwean immigrants contend with. The recommendations for immigrant-inclusive childcare arrangements included an overturn of the social exclusion indicators and the provision of proximal, subsidised and equipped multicultural care.