Peer-reviewed article
Socio-ecological drivers of vulnerabilities of children living within orphan homes and the implications for their nurturance care
Olayinka Modupe Onayemi, Given Hapunda ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines the social and ecological factors that make children in orphanages vulnerable and prevent them from receiving adequate nurturing care. Researchers interviewed orphanage managers, caregivers, and social workers in Nigeria and Zambia to understand threats to child development across different levels of a child's environment. The study identified vulnerabilities at multiple system levels—from immediate caregiving relationships to broader social and political conditions—that undermine children's wellbeing. The findings suggest the need for targeted interventions and policies to improve conditions for institutionalized children and to support the transition away from orphanage care.
Key points
- Vulnerabilities affecting children in orphan homes exist across multiple ecological levels: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem
- Identified factors undermine caregivers' ability to deliver nurturing care and increase children's risk of missing out on effective development support
- Study calls for specialized interventions and policy directives tailored to each identified threat
- Stronger political will is needed to improve conditions for children in orphan homes
- The study recommends actions towards deinstitutionalization of children
Limitations
This is an exploratory qualitative study based on interviews with staff rather than direct assessment of children's outcomes or well-being. The document does not provide information on how many sites or individuals were interviewed, the specific vulnerabilities identified, or measurable impacts on children's health and development.
Abstract
At the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is the vision to "leave no one behind, and to see that all children survive, thrive and transform. However, some categories of children may remain left behind owing to their disproportionate exposure to the risk of threats and deficit of attention to the social and ecological climate that characterizes the various systems in which they are found. This study is concerned with one major question: Despite diverse local and international instruments that favor full nurturance and development of children, what social forces play as threat to full nurturance care in the context of children living in Orphan homes? Nurturing care framework and Brofenbrener's ecological system theory were adopted as the analytical frameworks. Research design was exploratory. Data were collected through sessions of in-depth-interview with orphanage managers, caregivers, and social workers on the socio-ecology drivers of threat to children living within the orphan home space and its implications for nurturance care across the various complex systems of the child's environment. The study found various factors across the complex systems of child development - microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, microsysm and lastly, chronosystem- which undermine caregivers' delivery and increases children's vulnerability and risk of missing out on effective nurturance care. These vulnerabilities are endemic realities of social, and bio-ecologcal space in which child development occurs. This study recommends specialized interventions and policy directives relevant for each identified threat. It also calls for a stronger political will in improving the conditions of this category of the children while within the orphan home space and ultimately, actions towards deinstitutionalization of children.