Children in West Africa are Often Sent to Live with Other Families to Help them get Ahead – but Fostering may be Doing the Opposite
Source:https://theconversation.com/
In West Africa, informal child fostering is a common practice that helps ease parental burdens and provides opportunities for children from poorer families. Between 20% and 40% of mothers have sent a child to live with another family, which often serves as a “social parent.” Education is a primary motivation for fostering, as children may access better resources and schools. The benefits of this practice largely depend on how supportive and invested the host families are in the fostered children’s welfare. Unlike formal foster care systems elsewhere, these arrangements are unregulated, raising concerns about the commitment of host families to the children’s education and overall well-being.
The research analyzed data from five West African countries—The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Togo—over two time periods (2005/06 and 2017/18). The sample included 86,803 children aged 6 to 12 with living biological parents, comparing school enrollment between fostered and non-fostered children. The proportion of fostered children increased from 16.7% in 2005/06 to 19.4% in 2017/18.
Initially, I anticipated that fostered children would be less likely to attend school due to mismatched expectations between biological and host families. I also expected that improved free primary education policies would lessen the attendance gap over time. However, findings showed that by 2017/18, fostered children were significantly less likely to have attended school compared to their non-fostered peers, with a likelihood of 0.49 times. In contrast, in 2005/06, there was no difference in attendance rates.
Furthermore, contrary to my expectation that wealthier households would better support foster children, the data revealed that only children in the poorest host families had higher attendance rates compared to non-fostered children. In wealthier households, fostered children faced greater disadvantages regarding school attendance as the household wealth increased.
The findings raise concerns that wealthier families may foster children not to enhance their well-being but to use them for household chores, potentially leading to irregular school attendance. Poor parents may lack the ability to intervene if their children’s education is disrupted by these arrangements.
While there has been an increase in the overall proportion of children attending school, over 10% of the sample still have never attended, indicating challenges with free education policies. Key issues include the demand for child labor and the inability to afford transportation, books, and uniforms.
The disparity in school attendance, particularly among foster children in wealthier households, underscores educational inequality, which threatens the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 on equitable education. The African Union’s declaration of 2024 as the Year of Education emphasizes the need for all children in Africa to access education.
Image Source: https://theconversation.com/
