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going deeper - child headed households

Rachel looks after 6 other children in her house, she's 13.
Rachel looks after 6 other children in her house, she's 13.

A child headed household is when a child, or children, takes over as the head of their household to support and care for their brothers and sisters without any adults to look after them.

HIV has created a huge number of child headed households, especially in Africa.  Grandparents, aunts and uncles may be able to help out in some situations but there are many families where due to the devastating nature of untreated HIV the children are simply required to fend for themselves.

Child headed households can be particularly vulnerable to abuse of their situation, sometimes even from family members who may come to help but end up taking over the household, forcing the family out.

Download and watch Rachel's story and Lawrence's story to find out what living in a child-headed household is like.

 

This page was last updated on 30 May 2008


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