Child-headed families are one of the consequences of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Many children who have lost parents to the illness have been left to bring up younger siblings.
We aim to intervene in the following areas:
1. Identification of orphans
2. Identification of child-headed households
3. Home-based care and support services for these people
Early identification of orphans (especially those with no grants, as well as street children) with the purpose of helping them to attend school, is a vital part of Mida Care’s work.
There are currently 66 child-headed families being supported by MidaCare in a number of ways.
These include: counselling; food parcels and clothing; assisting them in doing applications for government grants; visiting their homes; and arranging schooling for them.
As an example Reach South Africa is receiving sponsorship for a child-headed family of 10 children age 5 to 16. This sponsorship of £35 per month pays for food and cooking fuel, enabling government grants to be spent in other ways and allowing these children to attend school. Many more child-headed families could be helped through this type of sponsorship.
