published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

LD2668 .T4 1954 H35 / Master of Science

The number of orphans in South Africa is reaching crisis levels. This is a cause for concern. Most of the deaths seem to be due to the HIV/AIDs pandemic. Children left orphaned have to develop coping strategies. The focus of this study is on the perceptions the orphaned children have of their lives, the attributions they make for events, and the ways they cope. Most importantly, the study is interested in how they cope with loss and then recreate meaning and purpose. To assist these children, it is important to understand their feelings and thoughts after loss, and how they manage to adapt to new environments. This is only possible by giving the children voice and to see life through their eyes. A sample of ten orphans was randomly selected from a list of schools and learners provided by the Department of Education. Adolescents were chosen because they are generally more articulate than younger children, about their emotions and experiences. Five orphans from an informal settlement orphanage in Inanda, and five from a secondary school in the same area were interviewed. A semi-structured interview schedule and diaries were used to collect data from the children. Discourse Analysis was the method used to construct meaning of the material generated. Because the interviews were conducted in the first language of the children, translation into English was necessary. The Appendices provide sample transcripts. Some of the findings of the study were surprising. For example, it was evident that several of the children preferred living in an orphanage to being with relatives, who had, in some instances, offered to foster them. Abuse, alcohol misuse and marginalisation were cited as reasons. The assumption of the researcher had been that family would always be the better option. It was also found that the informal fostering of orphaned children from extended families meant that government grants were not forthcoming. Financial stresses and strains frequently resulted in the maltreatment of fostered children. Poverty and crime in the informal settlement studied seem to bring added burden to children already traumatised by death and the forced moving of home. Another feature that was significant, is the number of fathers who were "absent" when fostering became necessary for the children. Either through force of circumstances or choice, fathers who were still living frequently did not play a part in their children's lives. The recommendations of the study focus on rectifying the anomalies just outlined. Schools, in particular, need to recognise their role in alleviating the daily plight of orphaned children. Academic achievement often redeems a life that is tenuous and painful because it creates the possibility of something better in the future. Through effort the children can take greater charge of their lives. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand, describe, and make meaning of the experiences of early childhood educators of young foster care students. The researcher examined the experiences of teachers regarding the attachment behaviors of their foster care students. This study also sought to explore how early childhood teachers implement their curriculum and how they design their classroom environment to meet the needs of young foster care children. Data collection and analysis included 20 questionnaires and 20 face-to-face semistructured interviews. Data analysis consisted of a three step process. The first step began by reading interviews through a holistic approach. During this step, the researcher read the entire transcript as a whole before digging deeper. The second step in coding was a selective reading. In this step, the researcher read through each transcript by finding key words and/or phrases. The third step in the coding process was a detailed reading. The researcher read the text word-by-word. This step aided the researcher in finding those words that captured the phenomenon of the teachers. The researcher found three major overarching themes: social and emotional behaviors, triad relationship, and classroom accommodations. This study revealed three main themes: attachment-related behaviors of social and emotional development, teacher relationship strategies with student and caregiver, and classroom curricular and environmental adjustments. Within all three of these themes was an underlying theme of a teacher-as-mother perceived attachment from the teachers. The teacher-as-mother perceived attachment was embedded in the experiences of the teachers. It is recommended that this main theme be explored in future research. The experiences of the teachers were completely based on their experiences in this study. The way they intervened on behalf of their foster care students did not appear to relate to any professional development or training; it was entirely based on their experiences. It is recommended that the arena of early childhood would benefit immensely with a course, training, or professional development in learning about the foster care system and dealing with young children in foster care. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis is primarily a review of specific aspects of a residential treatment centre for emotionally disturbed children recently established by the Winnipeg Children's Home. The review covers only the first three years of operation of this centre and is not intended as a technical evaluation of the service offered by this new social agency. Rather, an attempt has been made to compare the facilities of the Winnipeg Children's Home with those of similar residential treatment centres in the United States. The specific aspects chosen for closer scrutiny are: (1) The Age and Sex Groups served, (2) Housing, (3) Personnel, (4) Diagnostic Study and Intake Procedure and (5) Treatment Programme. As a basis of comparison a descriptive study of twelve residential treatment centres in the United States has been used. Five of these have been selected for closer study because they more closely resemble the agency being reviewed. Case studies, annual reports and other pertinent material from the files of the Winnipeg Children's Home has been used, coupled with the writer's first-hand experience as a member of the staff of this agency. Because residential treatment centres for emotionally disturbed children are a new tool in child welfare, an historical background of foster care for children has been included. The question of qualified personnel to serve in a residential treatment centre has been of paramount importance in each centre studied. This pertains not only to social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists but also to house-parents who are key people in each project. To date, insufficient attention has been given to the training of house-parents; that is a matter which might well come within the scope of schools of social work. Further, in relation to the question of personnel, this thesis attempts to highlight the fact that in all communities, the best qualified social workers should be used in the area of family and child welfare. The study of twelve centres used as criteria in this thesis makes evident the shortage of psychiatric time so necessary to the successful operation of a residential treatment centre. This is true of the Winnipeg community. The administration of the Winnipeg Children's Home demonstrated early in the life of this new project that financial costs of this service are, of necessity, high. This fact was confirmed by the study of twelve centres used as criteria. If a project such as that undertaken by the Winnipeg Children's Home is to be successful, the need has to be accepted by and made the responsibility of the total community. Finally, but of considerable importance to all communities is the tendency to invest funds in lavish buildings which can be useless without adequate staff. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study is part of a survey of the wards of the Children's Aid Society of Vancouver, B. C. who were not in foster homes on October 31, 1954. Fourteen wards, ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen years, were resident in commercial boarding homes. Agency policy recommends the limiting of the use of commercial boarding homes to the occasional placement of a boy or girl over the age of eighteen years who is self-supporting and sufficiently mature to meet the responsibilities of such a setting. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine why the commercial boarding homes were being used for these particular wards and to what extent the needs of these wards were being met. Information gathered from the records of the children and their parents was summarized and tabulated for the purpose of study and description. This material was examined to determine whether there was any correlation between the children's pre-admission care and their subsequent adjustment in foster and group homes and their later placement in commercial boarding homes. Case illustrations of three of the wards were used In order to elaborate on their developmental experiences and adjustment in various settings. These cases were typical in illustrating the unsettled early lives experienced by most of this group and the effect of these experiences in preventing them from adjusting to the demands of a foster home and, in some cases, of group homes. Further emphasis was given to the harmful effect of continued foster home replacement. In summary, the study of this group of wards pointed out the great need for a receiving home for all children on admission to care for the purposes of familiarization, diagnosis and planning. In order to avoid the use of commercial boarding homes arid to meet the needs of those children who are unable to adjust in foster homes, a variety of group-living residences should be developed. A treatment home is an urgent necessity to assist disturbed children while they are still young enough to be helped. In general, greater resources are required for preventive work with children while still in their own homes as well as for the improvement of the services to the children after their admission into care. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Text in Afrikaans / A significant percentage of adolescents in children's homes are depressive in consequence of multiple experiences of loss. There is a possibility that experiences of depression are maintained in a systems context. Group therapy using an ecosystemic approach was embarked upon in order to study and to alter within a systems context the phenomenon of depression, the accompanying negative experiential and meaning-assignment worlds of the depressive adolescent girl in a children's home and the interactional behavioural patterns. It was hypothesised that behavioural change brought about in the group therapy context would extend to systems beyond the therapy system. A group of five adolescent girls in a children's home, of whom two were severely depressive, were taken for eight group therapy sessions. The principles of ecosystemic epistemology as a paradigm for family therapy were applied in the sessions. These principles stress inter alia the use of metaphor. Circular questioning was employed in order to explore the relationships within the group. Moments of depression were observed and recorded directly and indirectly according to both linear and circular approaches, and the therapeutic process was described. The manner in which the therapeutic group changed metaphorically by the group itself. A decrease in girls' level of depression was observed during therapy. Their cognitive, affective and normative functioning also changed, and alterations affecting relationships, self-concept and self-realisation could be perceived in the therapeutic process. These changes in relationships and the decrease in the level of depression were confirmed quantitatively. The transfer of these attitudes and relationships to the children's home system was confirmed by interviewing the children's home "parents" of the adolescents involved. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)