Experiences of Children in Kinship Care (CKC) in Ghana: Challenges for Cultural Practices

Abstract

The provision of care by extended family members and close friends is a common cultural practice in Ghanaian traditional communities. With a recent interest by stakeholders in Ghana to consider kinship care as an alternative care option in child welfare policy, this study explores current kinship care challenges to help identify and address potential setbacks for policy and practice recommendations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 young adults with experience as Children in Kinship Care (CKC). The participants with CKC experience reported inadequate basic needs, educational neglect, and lack of adequate emotional attachment as the major difficulties experienced by children in kinship care. The study revealed that challenges faced by CKC in Ghana mostly come from the limited financial and emotional resources of caregivers. For policy recommendations, common cultural practices like CKC should be adequately examined with clear guidelines on how to promote the welfare of children and young people.