Candy Nxusani
Tutor,
University of the Witswatersrand
Projects
The Challenges for Grandparents as Caregivers to Grandchildren Orphaned by AIDS at Tembisa Municipality, Johannesburg
Research Questions:
1. How do grandparents, grandchildren and key informants in the community perceive the experience of grand parenting of AIDS orphans?
2. How do grandparents, grandchildren and key informants in the community perceive the support networks for grandparents in the community.
Summary
As increasing numbers of parents of under-age children succumb to the pandemic, an increased demand for care of the children will fall on others. Grandparents are an obvious first choice to care for orphaned grandchildren: they are unlikely to be infected with the virus and can offer the children continuation in family life. I argue that the psycho-social implications of the adjusted role of grandparents who have lost their own children, and who have become second generation parents, needs careful consideration and understanding. For purposes of developing education programmes to assist those grandparents and other older caregivers, their situation should be clarified through research