A child belongs to the whole community.

Abstract

This qualitative study has taken place in Burundi. Burundi suffers from years of violence and diseases like HIV/AIDS. Many parents have passed away or are not capable to take care of their children, which are leading to a lot of Orphans and other Vulnerable Children (OVC). The study describes and compares two kinds of support systems, which are taking care of OVC in Burundi, one institution, named Emmanuel, with one family-based organization, named FVS-AMADE. The aim in this study was to analyse which model that is in the best interest of the child according to the OVC and the staff members from the studied organizations. Our definition of the best interest of the child is based on the criteria from our 33 selected articles in The Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and The Guidelines for The Alternative Care of Children. Three research questions have been created to get an understanding about the aim. The research questions focus on; what views the staff members, youths and children from FVS-AMADE and Emmanuel have about the advantages and disadvantages with the two studied support systems, what they think about the various forms of support within these systems and what the OVC’s overall impression are about them. The questions were answered by; analysing literature reviews, participant-observations and collecting interview data. The data was collected through 13 semi-structured interviews and the respondents to these were found by using the network model. The collected data has been analysed with the theory of empowerment and the theory of social support. The result of this study show that in general, a family-based model is in the best interest of the child compared to an institutional solution. The conclusion of the result is also that it is important to see the context within the family and that the OVC sometimes can receive more adequate care by living in an institution. If the family for instance is suffering from poverty and do not have the resources to take care of the child, an institution could be a better solution for the OVC but this should always be seen as an exception.