Charlotte Phillips gained her PhD from Leiden University in September 2011; her dissertation is entitled 'Child-headed households: a feasible way forward, or an infringement of children's right to alternative care?. The dissertation is available online on Charlotte's website: www.charlottephillips.org. A summary of her research:
Africa is home to millions of children without adequate parental care or access to suitable alternative care. The primary factors leading to this situation are HIV/AIDS, poverty, conflict and the disintegration of the traditional extended family network. In recent years the international community has started to view child-headed households – in which a child has taken over the majority of responsibilities of the main caregiver – as a form of alternative care.
In the face of growing international support for recognition of child–headed households, the author poses the following principal questions:
- What does the internationally recognised right to alternative care for children entail?
- Is the recognition of child-headed households as a form of alternative care in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international standards which have been adopted as a measure to protect the inherent rights of children to protection, development, survival and participation?
An overview is presented of the situation of children in need of alternative care in nine focus countries in the sub-Sahara, as well as an analysis of national legislation on alternative care in general and child-headed households in particular in these countries.
In addition to providing an answer to the principal questions, the author concludes with a number of recommendations, including the adoption of a universal definition of child-headed households and a legal framework for alternative care.