Experiences of children under the care of persons with disabilities working on the streets of Harare Central business district
- Author
- Chinyama, Mercyline
- Title
- Experiences of children under the care of persons with disabilities working on the streets of Harare Central business district
- Abstract
- The issue of child labour is one of the most pressing problems facing the global community particularly among children under the care of persons with disabilities (Tshuma and Ncube,2022).The study employed the qualitative approach and the interpretive phenomenology design. The target population included children under the care of persons with disabilities, their caregivers and social workers from DSD. The researcher used in-depth interviews for children under the care of persons with disabilities and their parents and key informant interviews for key informants. The researcher used a sample size of fifteen participants including eight children, four parents, one community care workers and two social workers. The study's of children objectives were to analyse the nature of care given to children of persons with disabilities working on the streets, to examine the care-related challenges faced by children of persons with disabilities working on the streets and to proffer intervention strategies to enhance proper care for children with parents working on the streets. The study findings showed that the nature of care given to children the parents with disabilities is filled with complexities however parents with disabilities come up with adaptive strategies to ensure that they meet their children’s needs. However some adopt detrimental methods such as using the children as begging guides which is not proper for the children as it violates their rights. Findings also showed that children in this households face care-related challenges such as stigmatization, safety and exploitation risks, financial strain, lack of access to healthcare and lack of access to education. To enhance proper care for children under the care of PWDs the findings showed there is need for economic and educational empowerment and support networks to ensure effective and sustainable solutions to the challenges they encounter. The conclusions that were drawn from the study are that the nature of care given to children under PWDs is compromised by lack of support networks and it shows systemic neglect. The study also provided some recommendations to the Ministry Of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the community, social workers and CSOs to address the unique experiences and challenges of these vulnerable groups which include enforcing laws that safeguard children’s rights, working together to end discrimination, having disability sensitive policies and increase funding on program.
- Date
- June 2025
- Publisher
- BUSE
- Keywords
- Disabilities
- Harare Central Business District
- Supervisor
- Mr. L. Nyamaka
- Item sets
- Department of Social Work
- Media
-
Chinyama, Mercyline.pdf