"When the bond is chipped": Owambo women's memories of child fosterage

Child fosterage is one of the major manifestations of lack of capacity to cater for young family members in several societies of sub-Saharan Africa, which is reputed for prolific and sustained childbearing in the context of poverty. In Nigeria, the practice remains rife, with attendant negative consequences for foster children and communities in some cases. This paper, therefore, examined the challenges and coping strategies adopted by foster children in Bayelsa State, which was identified as one of the areas with high rates of child fosterage in Nigeria. Ethnomethodology and the rational choice theory were adopted as the theoretical framework. A total of 408 copies of a questionnaire were administered on respondents through a multistage sampling technique. Six in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions were conducted with foster children. The challenges reported by these children included physical abuse and maltreatment, lack of love and care, and lack of freedom of speech and boldness. Among the coping strategies identified by the foster children were endurance and silence, obedience and humility, and the uptake of paid jobs. There is, therefore, an urgent need for sustained fertility decline in order to discourage unnecessary child fosterage in Bayelsa and other states in Nigeria.

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“Raising Another’s Child”

10.1093/oso/9780190265076.003.0014 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jill Brown

Keyword(s):

Parenting Practices ◽

Foster Children ◽

Field Work ◽

Social Welfare System ◽

Social Motivations ◽

African Context ◽

Child Fosterage ◽

Natal Home ◽

Kinship Ties ◽

Ethnographic Field Work

African childrearing has been documented as primarily social in nature and driven by responsibility and respect for elders. Socially distributed care is common and reflects strong kinship ties that serve as a social welfare system in times of need. This chapter describes the practice of child fosterage in a southern African context among the Owambo of northern Namibia and explores parenting practices and communication between families and children. Relying heavily on ethnographic field work, the chapter paints a portrait of child fosterage and attempts to capture the complexities of how economic, moral, and social motivations to foster children in and out of the natal home play out in the organization and texture of family life. Ultimately, the chapter explores how parents “parent from afar” within the culturally normative system of child fosterage.

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