After the death of their parents many youth resume full parental responsibility in taking care of their orphaned siblings. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and challenges of youth fostering their siblings and heading households in Port Shepstone. This study was guided by the ecological systems theory and used a qualitative research approach to undertake the study. A sample of ten participants was used with whom face to face interviews were conducted. The study revealed that the youth heading households resumed parental responsibilities at a young age. They shoulder new responsibilities such as domestic chores and child care duties. In addition, the youth heading households experience financial challenges due to lack of employment. As a result, the foster care grant was the only source of income which was not enough to meet all the needs of their siblings. The participants further indicated that they and their siblings are still dealing with the death of their parent(s). Both the participants and their siblings had never received counseling after the deaths of their parents. In addition, the participants revealed that they were experiencing challenges regarding disciplining their siblings who were presenting with behavioral problems. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the social workers spend more time on foster care placement (statutory work) rather than focusing on early prevention programmes. Lastly, the youth heading households wanted more social work support, as social workers rarely visited the youth headed households to check on the progress of the placements. To overcome all these challenges, I support the recommendation made by the Department of Social Development as it recently announced an intention to create a kinship grant (Jamieson et al., 2012). This will decrease the workload of social workers so that they can attend to other therapeutic services. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This dissertation is an exploration of the experiences and challenges faced by children who are heads of households, and are obliged to head families, which entails caring for their siblings, assuming adult roles and taking care of the general running of the households. A review of the literature revealed that research based on the experiences of children who are heads of households is a neglected field of study and there is limited information on the topic. This study aimed to explore, describe and interpret the experiences of children who are heads of households. The study attempted to highlight relevant issues that may provide guidance to different stakeholders in their efforts to deal with orphaned children, child-headed households and children who are affected by HIV and AIDS. Qualitative research processes were used in this study. Data collection took the form of face-to-face interviews, using an interview guide in making the interviews more flexible and at the same time covering all the aspects the researcher wanted to cover. Findings of the study revealed that orphaned children who are heading households experience various problems in addition to material needs. The study revealed that the main problem is poverty, lack of support structures, for example, support from family members, friends and the community at large and secondly, the unavailability and inaccessibility of service providers. The study also revealed that social discrimination experienced by orphans in child-headed households impacts negatively on their social functioning and education. Based on these findings, recommendations are made with regard to the roles of the Departments of Social Welfare, Health, Education and Home Affairs in ensuring satisfactory services to orphaned children who are heads of households. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.