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South Africa’s youngest parents

The legal age of consent in South Africa for sex is 16, yet there are many children below this age, with their innocence still in tact, drowning in the deep end of parenthood.

The phenomenon of child-headed house holds in South Africa is a disturbing trend, with the 2006 General Household Survey showing that 0.67% of children live in child-headed households. This is equivalent to roughly 122 000 children out of 18.2 million children in South Africa.

The good news is though, 20 nationally representative surveys from 2000-2007 indicate no increase in the proportion of children living in child-headed households.

The government of South Africa has shown its serious commitment to providing for the young and vulnerable of the country by increasing the child support grant. Furthermore, government projects that the social security budget will grow from R132 billion in the next year to R146.9 billion the following year and up to R171 billion by 2014.

Below is a detailed and graphical look at the stats of child-headed households, and the reality some of our nations’ young grapple with on a daily basis.

If you would like to get in touch with your local Social Development Department regarding child-headed households in your community and how they can be helped, please see “Contacts”.

Most children living in child-headed households have a living parent

Many people assume that child-headed households are the result of an increase in orphaning. But figure 2 shows that most children living in child-headed households have two living parents (61%) and 80% have a living mother. Only 8% are double orphans.

Most double orphans live in households with adults, suggesting that kinship networks continue to provide care for these children. Only 1.5% of children who are double orphans live in child-headed households.

Definitions>>>

Children in child-headed households are mostly teenagers

Children who live in child-headed households tend to be older than children in mixed-generation households. Most child-headed households (88%) have at least one child older than 15.

Figure 3 compares the age distribution of children living in child-headed households with those living in mixed-generation households. The figure shows thatthe distribution is skewed towards older children in child-headed households, while children in mixed-generation households are far more evenly distributed across the age range. Whereas 40% of children in mixed-generation households are under seven years, only 8% of children in child-headedhouseholds are in this young age group.

Child-headed households in South Africa>>>

What else do the surveys tell us about child-headed households?

Living environment
Children in child-headed households live in conditions that are on average worse than those in mixed-generation households. Child-headed households are less likely to live in formal dwellings, or to have access to adequate sanitation and water on site. This is partly because they are disproportionately located outside of cities, where better services are available.

Work
Very few children in child-headed households are working to earn income (6% of child headed households have an employed household member over 15 years).

Grants
Social grants are an important source of income for millions of people in South Africa. As children in child-headed households are older, on average, than in mixed-generation households, fewer children fall within the eligible age threshold for child support grants (up to 14 years). In addition, there are no pensioners living in these households. This means that child-headed households will have less access to income support through social grants.

Income
Remittances – money sent by family members or other adults living elsewhere – are the main source of income for child-headed households (77%). This suggests that the majority of children living in these circumstances are not forced into self-sufficiency and do have some kind of support. However, the reliance on remittances in the absence of earnings and grants means income may be unreliable.

School
The vast majority of children in child-headed households attend school (95%). This is the same attendance rate as reported for children in mixed-generation households.

Technical notes>>>

What could this evidence mean for policy responses?

The number of children living in child-headed households is cause for concern

Approximately 122 000 children live in child-headed households. While this is a very small proportion of children in South Africa, the number is not insignificant.
Child-headed households are at risk of having to cope not only without adults, but also with poorer living conditions than other children. They lack regular income from earnings and social grants, and are disproportionately located in non-urban areas, where service delivery is poor.

Interventions based on wrong assumptions may be inappropriate

While it is possible that the burden of HIV on families and communities might lead to a growth in child-headed households in the future, the evidence to date shows no increase in the proportion of children living in such circumstances. This is despite the increases in both HIV prevalence and orphaning over the same period.
A solitary focus on HIV and its related orphaning as the cause of child-headed households masks other important issues and risks the development of inappropriate policies, programmes and interventions. The vast majority of children in child-headed households have at least one living parent.
A disproportionate focus on child-headed households may be at the expense of children whose lives are compromised in other ways. Income poverty, poor service delivery and access to social infrastructure are not specific to child headed households.

More research is needed to understand child-headed households better

The possibilities for analysis are limited by the small number of child-headed households captured in national surveys, as well as the "snapshot in time" nature of these surveys, and the narrow definition of "household".
To ensure policy and programming are appropriately focused and formulated, it will be important to track child-headed households over time. More research is needed to shed light on the events that lead to the formation of child-headed households, as well as their duration and circumstances. Longitudinal panel surveys and good qualitative research will best achieve this.

* Source: Department of Social Development