The meaning of family for young people with out-of-care history

What is it about?

This paper presents a study in Zimbabwe focusing on how care leavers construct the meaning of family in the context of living outside of family care. The study explores what is family and who is family for a group of care leavers who had left Zimbabwean child welfare institutions. The paper discusses family meanings in the​ context of having multiple caregivers, both blood related and non-blood related and explores how the concept of family is constructed. Care leavers define family according to blood relations, co-residence and the support and affection shared with individuals in their lives. Blood relations are significant in Zimbabwean culture where the biological family plays an important role during adulthood. But there is also room for new definitions of family that are more inclusive of residential caregivers, friends and community members.

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Why is it important?

"Family" has been studied in a variety of contexts and structures. However, few studies have explored what family means for those who grow up in non-normative family settings, such as out-of-home care. This is important because family is being practiced in children's homes and child welfare institutions as well. Understanding these family​ configurations may assist in planning for interventions for children in care as well as leveraging important relationships to support care leavers into adulthood.

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