Abstract
A “social market” for children care is growing in developing world, in a context of philanthropic support and strong demand for international adoption. Moreover, impoverishment of many urban families results in a high demand for social aid that governments have trouble to provide. We have explored the circumstances leading to the placement of 764 children using a survey conducted among 40 residential care institutions in Antananarivo, capital city of Madagascar. One third of these children have been abandoned or orphaned. Stigmatizations against some children (born to unmarried mothers) and the refusal to care for step-children in newly reconstituted families seem to be key factors for abandonment. Some two-thirds of children are not abandoned and have at least one parent alive. Families place these children for economic reasons. If residential placement is the best solution for some children, it is important to question the relevance of child placement as a response to deep poverty, which makes up the majority of cases (the two-thirds). How are responses influenced by adoption demand? What responses should be promoted? How is residential placement embedded within the national policy for child protection? Our findings highlight the need for a more in-depth understanding of the dynamics of child abandonment in view of prevention actions. This paper has also raised the need for coordinated actions based on a real dialogue and consultation among all the stakeholders.
Notes
“Family-based care” is defined as « a form of care arranged for a child that involves living with a family other than his/her birth parents. The term encompasses fostering, kinship care, supported child headed households and adoption » (Tolfree 2007: 7).
Institutional care, often perceived by the opinion as a generous act, might be viewed as an easy way out in the short-term. Supporting families and communities or organizing a home social work might seem more complicated in the short-term (but in the long-term would pay enormous dividends). Last, institutional care is a means of profit for unscrupulous institutions (Save the Children 2009).
A household is defined here as a group of people, related or not, living together under the authority of a same person called “Head of household”, sharing the same meal and with common resources and expenses.
Marriage or informal union
In this period, Madagascar concludes global agreements with Médecins sans Frontière and the Association Française des Volontaires du Progrès.
Decree n° 98-711 September 2, 1998, on enforcement of law n° 96-030, of August 14, 1997 on the NGOs system.
Licensing is regulated by law 2005-014 of September7, 2005, on adoption and by decree 2006-596 of August 10, 2006. According to these laws, the Central Authority for Adoption, a body within the Ministry of Population, is competent for granting licensing to a residential care facility, which has already a license for social purposes. These changes are brought about in the framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention on International Cooperation on Adoption, which was ratified by Madagascar on September 1, 2004.
The statute of the Malagasy association/NGO does not mean that t is not available.
When a contact is maintained with a family member, it concerns more the mother (49 %) than the father (19 %).
In Madagascar, the procedure to get a birth certificate is very demanding. The time limit is 12 days, which is very short. After this deadline, the father or mother has to request a supplementary judgment and be able to present an identity card, which is often lacking.
According to the admission criterion in the SOS Children’s Village of Madagascar, children are all motherless.
This seclusion may be explained for many reasons: some centers are based on a charismatic personality, with no long-term plans; other centers were based on an ambiguity between charity and search for profit—possible before the 2005 law; finally, many centers do not trust authorities and do not expect any support from them.
City area
A draft circular for implementation of decree 2006-885 dated December 05, 2006, on foster families has been adopted by an expert group from various Ministries and the civil society in October 2010. This circular will be tested in four pilot regions before official adoption. It aims at compensating for the current lack of selection, training and follow up of foster families.
The center should first benefit a license for social purpose.
Law 2005-014 of September7, 2005, on adoption and decree 2006-596 of August, 10, 2006.
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Acknowledgment
We would like to thank UNICEF for providing financial support for the survey on residential care institutions in Antananarivo. Our thanks also go to the Syndicat Professionnel des Diplômés du Travail Social (SPDTS) for their support in organizing data collection and entry. We extend a warm thank to C. Benge, M. Razafindratsima, P. Vatinel, E. Harang, J. Ballet and S. Delcroix for their very useful comments on this paper.
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Delaunay, V., Germain, L.G. Institutional Care and Child Abandonment Dynamics: A Case Study in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Child Ind Res 5, 659–683 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-012-9141-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-012-9141-y