Children in Informal Care Arrangements with Extended Family: messages for best practice in Namibia

This Child Fosterage project provides personal and professional insights into the ways in which informal care arrangements impact upon children’s health and welfare. Five stakeholder workshops took place in the capital city of Windhoek in the Khomas region of Namibia in June 2019. Khomas is a region in central Namibia characterised by diverse racial and ethnic representations. Participants included: children’s practitioners, children’s rights’ network members, social workers, parents and carers, and children. Despite the formalisation of kinship care under the Child Care and Protection Act 2015, informal childcare arrangements remain widespread across Namibia’s diverse communities.
This briefing makes recommendations for policy and best practice approaches for those involved in promoting the wellbeing of children who are in informal care arrangements with extended family. Findings from the study acknowledge the impact of children’s unique contexts and family relationships, offering important messages for policy and practice in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa where fosterage is prevalent.