Child-headed households

A child-headed household is defined as a household in which the oldest person is less than 18 years old. An adolescent-headed household is defined as one in which the oldest person is less than 24 years old.

A recent study by the Children's Institute found that while there are 4 million children in South Africa who have lost one or both parents, less than 0.7% of these are living in child-headed households. Contrary to popular belief, the number of child-headed households is not increasing due to the AIDS epidemic. In fact, the majority of children who live in child-headed households have one or both parents still alive. It may be that the parents are living elsewhere because of their job, or the children have moved close to a good school.

In Ingwavuma, we do have a few child-headed households, but often they only stay like that for a few months, with an adult relative moving in or the children moving to stay with other people.