Life is not pap and vleis: Poverty in child-headed households ingauteng

Abstract

Children are caring for an increasing proportion of orphans and abandoned children in several African countries. Children in child-headed households generally live under poor economic conditions. Given the dire need to alleviate child poverty, studying this phenomenon is of the utmost importance. The objective of this paper is to investigate the economic circumstances facing these children in Gauteng. The study assesses their monthly income and contributions from different sources to these child-headed households. These data are analysed in terms of poverty criteria to determine whether the children's monthly income conforms to the minimum income necessary for material survival.