EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH CARE ROLE DEPRIVATION AND VULNERABILITY OF CHILDREN IN ORPHANAGES IN RIVERS STATE

EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH CARE ROLE DEPRIVATION AND VULNERABILITY OF CHILDREN IN ORPHANAGES IN RIVERS STATE

EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH CARE ROLE DEPRIVATION AND VULNERABILITY OF CHILDREN IN ORPHANAGES IN RIVERS STATE

 

BY

Ihenyen, Willing Ichechi

Phone number: 08036901655

e-mail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance& Counselling

University of Port Harcourt

&

Prof. C.G Awujo

Department of Educational Psychology, Guidance & Counselling

University of Port Harcourt.

Phone number: 08032783248.

                                                                       

ABSTRACT

 

The study examined educational and health care role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State. This study was guided by three (3) objectives,  (3) research questions and three (3) null hypotheses. The designs for this study was discriptive survey and correlational research design. The population of the study are all the children in the orphanages in Rivers State. A sample of two hundred (200) orphans and vulnerable children drawn from ten (10) orphanages in Rivers State were used for the study. Two instruments were used for data collection they are: Parental figure role Deprivation Questionnaire (PDQ) and Children Vulnerability Scale (CVS). The validity of the instrumet was done by giving copies of the instrument to experts in Measurement and Evaluation. The relaibility of the instruments were conducted using two factor analysis method. The reliability coefficient ranged from 0.68 to 0.85, the magnitude of factor loading of the items of the instrument was high, showing it was good for the study. The simple linear regression, t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data at 0.05 level of significance. From the analysis, it was shown that there is a significant relationship between educational opportunity role deprivation, health care role deprivation and age on vulnerability level of children in orphanages in Rivers State. It is recommended that government as a matter of policy should mandate all orphanages to be affiliated to a standard Health Centres that will take care of health needs of the children.

 

Keywords: Educational role deprivation. Health care role deprivation, Age, vulnerability, Orphanages.

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Children regulation and growth issues have been of foremost concern among researchers, educationist, counsellors and parents. The demise of parents, either both or one exacerbates children educational, emotional and social development. However, deprivations by parents always ignite traumatic experiences which often times are detrimental to children psycho-social development. Researches by Harter, Abraham, Christopherson and Cooper as cited in Khalid (2016) found that nurturance, support and control by the parents, play important role in the development of self-esteem in children. Deprivation is a condition of utter poverty due to willful withdrawal of the minimum resources in the physical and other survival parameters of the individual (Tagurum, et al 2015). A child is classified deprived of parental support or care if either or both parents are deceased, physically or mentally incapacitated, unemployed, are incessantly absent from the home wherein the child is living. Parent deprived children suffer the loss of one or both parents either by death, divorce or separation. Children from split or bereaved families, as those in orphanages experience the same psychological trauma for different reasons. Parental deprivation causes stigmatization of these children as they are basically different due to no fault of their own. The attitudes and feelings of these children differ significantly depending on the reason for parental separation or the intervening variables leading to deprivation (Khalid, 2016).

The World Bank as cited by Ajasa (2014), defines Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) as children who are: Orphaned; Separated from their parents; Living with caretakers that have serious problems like illness, disabilities, trauma, substance addictions, abusive habits or having normal families but special needs that even well-functioning parents will need help to address. Ajasa further stated that vulnerable children are unlikely to have the opportunity to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of social services. They include those whose health or development is likely to be significantly impaired or who have physical or mental impairment; who are in the care of a public authority or provided with accommodation by a public institution in order to secure their well-being. Ngwu, Nnama-Okechukwu and Obasi-Igwe (2017), stated that in Nigeria, there has been a history of efforts by the government, communities, families and other agencies to address the needs of children, particularly those in need of special protection on account of been in vulnerable conditions. Although, the plight of the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) is acknowledged throughout Nigeria, it has not received adequate attention.

Orphaned and vulnerable children experience stigmatization and discrimination on many levels and in all aspects of their lives. Within the extended family, children orphaned by parental demise, separation, desertion or HIV/AIDS are been coerced to work harder than other children in the family and are the last to get food or the basic necessities of life. Within the community, they are socially ostracized and marginalized by adults as well as by other children. Discrimination at schools, health services and in other institutions compromises their rights and frequently limits their access to opportunities and benefits, Ngwu, Nnama-Okechukwu and Obasi-Igwe (2017).

The family, being the primary socialization agent and a safety net for the care and support of the under-privileged including orphans and vulnerable children, no longer performs its functions. Lungile and Thwala (2013) opined that in pre-colonial Africa, production and livelihood were communal. There was an extended family system where children belonged to the entire clan. The status of a child was not necessarily defined by the marital status of the parents. The welfare and upbringing of the child was the concern of the entire community, which provided security, cared for the orphans and vulnerable children and offered them a sense of belonging and identity. Members of the family shared the same root, history, mutual values and beliefs. This provided warmth and protection, consoles and comforts orphans as well as gives familial character formation to the child after the death of the parents.

Ngwu, Nnama-Okechukwu and Obasi-Igwe (2017) stated that stress is reduced for the orphaned child, made him or her to cope better, becoming more resilient after traumatic events due to the extended family care and support. However, colonialism came with the breakdown of the traditional social and economic structure that hitherto existed. This brought about the nuclear family which somehow has affected the communal nature of production, livelihood and care for the orphaned and vulnerable children. Consequently, the breakdown of traditional system of helping the orphans and vulnerable children because of colonialism or nuclear family system, hoisted social disorganization in the society which has a number of implications and its attendant effects on the children, the communities and the society (Lungile & Thwala,2013).

Children account for a huge proportion of the extremely deprived globally, thus, Popoola and Adeoti (2016), states that more than half of the world’s children in developing countries (56%), just over one billion, are suffering from one or more forms of severe deprivation of basic human need. Consequently, children in developing countries are deprived of even the barest opportunity in life. Likewise, in Nigeria many children still thrash about on the fringes of survival. African economic outlook report (2012) stated that Nigeria’s economic growth over the past ten years has averaged about 7.4%. However, this growth has not drastically reduced poverty and deprivations suffered by the citizens, children inclusive.

Parental demise can have an effect on various strata of a growing child’s life. The loss of a father or mother can create loss of shelter, malnutrition, meager health outcome, school drop-out, stigmatization and abuse. The effect of parental death on education is likely to vary. The United Nations Children’s Fund 2017 report evinced that school enrolment in Nigeria is low, often below 50%. Consequently, when a parent dies, paid employment is taken up by older siblings just to care for the younger ones. Furthermore, the capacity of bereaved children to continue in school depends on household income and government support for education.

Vulnerability is a state of been or probable to be in a risky situation, where a person may suffer significant physical, emotional or mental harm that could result in his or her human rights not being fulfilled (CUBS, 2010). This entail that vulnerable children are prone to attack, discrimination or harm due to the loss of one or both parents, as they have to live life outside the family where they should be loved. The vulnerability of these children is precipitated by age, gender, ethnicity and such elements as income, the nonexistence of a natural source of care. These children healthcare issues tranverse with social indicators, including housing, poverty and poor education.

Parental loss through death or abandonment is a germaine aspect of vulnerability. Others include persistent illness of a parent or caregiver, poverty, hunger, lack of access to social services, inadequate clothings or shelter, overcrowding, deficient care-givers and factors specific to the child as disability, utter incidence of physical and sexual violence, harsh chronic illness (Skinner, Tsheko, Mtero-Munyati, Segwabe, Chibatamoto, Mfecane, in Elegbeleye, 2013).

Simons and Koranteng (2012) opined that globally, orphans and vulnerable children live in homes called Orphanages or children homes. Whereas some of these facilities tend to cater for numerous needs than just the provision of accommodation, others merely offer safe accommodation for these children. The role of orphanages cannot be underestimated especially in Rivers State. These orphanages have minimized such problems as theft among orphans and vulnerable children and helped curb certain socio-economic malaise. Regrettably, quite a number of these orphanages do not operate with license as well as the set values of procedure, thereby jeopardizing the lives of these children. Children exposed to orphanage care habitually suffer from inadequate caregiver-child interactions as well as being socio-emotionally impeded. Vulnerable and orphaned children exposed to institutional care do not get the sort of nurturing and motivating environment needed for normal growth and healthy psychological development. Therefore, it is expedient that researchers should investigate on the state of affairs of these orphanages in Rivers state, in order to recommend to necessary authorities and give the children a sense of belonging because irrespective of their current environment and situation, they are integral members of the society.

Parental figure role deprivation due to death, illness or desertion has sentenced children to years of living in unacceptable conditions in orphanages. Hence, the care and protection for these children are left with people who are utterly negligent, ill-qualified and grossly incompetent to handle the critical developmental requirements of growing children. Thus, they are deprived of their childhood nurturance and the opportunity to communicate, be cared for and enjoy the protective umbrella of their families. Consequently, dwelling in an orphanage, harmfully affects children. Notably, children who live in orphanages have developmental issues such as problems with malnutrition, shelter, poverty, discrimination, lack of food, loss of parental care, love and affection, lack of basic education, dropping out of school, poor health, low self-esteem, involvement in drugs (alcohol) and stigmatization. The living condition of orphans and vulnerable children are debilitating which causes mal-adaptive behaviours. Orphans and vulnerable children need all the support the normal privilege children need and failure to achieve this may breed a poor personality makeup. They need good education, health care facilities etc.

Educational care role deprivation has to do with the orphans and less privileged being denied or given less educational opportunity compared to the normal children. It is the total absence of opportunity. It could be certain that if children do not have similar educational opportunities, they may make them vulnerable.

Health care role deprivation on the other hand is the total absence of health care provisions for children in the orphanage. Health of course they say is wealth and every individual under the sun needs it to keep going including children in the orphanage homes. From his premise, it could be that failure to provide this all important services to the children may make them vulnerable. This sparks the interest of the researchers.

As observed, orphanages in Rivers State are in shoddy living conditions ranging from poor lighting and cramped accommodation to violent behaviours. Sometimes the perpetrators of abuse have been care-givers, security staff, cooks and other functionaries of these homes. Similarly, there are no child care plans, no counsellors, leading to mismanagement of foster care responsibilities. Therefore, this study problem is posed as a research question: “what is the relationship between educational, health care role deprivation and age on between parental figure role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State?

Aim and Objectives of the Study

The study intends to find out whether there is a relationship between parental figure role deprivation and the vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State. In Specific terms the study intends to find o

1. Whether any relationship exists between parent’s educational opportunity role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.                      
2. Whether any relationship exists between parent’s health care role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.                             
3. If age influences the level of vulnerability among children in orphanages in Rivers State.

 

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study

1. To what extent does parent’s educational opportunity role deprivation relate with vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State?

2.         To what extent does parent’s health care role deprivation relate with vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

3.         To what extent does age influence the level of vulnerability among children in orphanages in Rivers State?

 

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

1.         There is no significant relationship between parent’s educational opportunity role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

2.         There is no significant relationship between parent’s health care role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

3.         There is no significant difference in the influence of age on vulnerability level of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

 

Methodology

The study adopted a descriptive survey and correlational design. The populations of the study consisted of 633 orphans and vulnerable children who can read and write in registered orphanages drawn from three local government areas in the state. As at the time of the study, there are 23 registered homes in the three local government areas in Rivers State. The sample of this study consisted of 200 orphans in the orphanages selected from ten (10) homes in Rivers State using multi-stage sampling procedure. Two instruments was used for the study, the Parental figure role Deprivation Questionnaire (PDQ) and Children Vulnerability Scale (CVS). The PDQ developed by the researcher is designed using a 4-point Likert scale of strongly agreed to strongly disagreed. The scale consists of two sections (A & B). Section A consist of demographic variables like gender and age. There are 36 items in the instrument and it is divided into two sub-sections; sub-section 1 measures the educational opportunity role deprivation while sub-section 2 measured health care role deprivation on the vulnerability level of children in orphanages. Similarly, the Children Vulnerability Scale (CVS) was also designed with similar pattern with items measuring the level of the children vulnerability in areas of physical, economic, social and emotional vulnerability. The instrument was validated by giving twenty copies to experts in measurement and evaluation, educational psychology, to determine the face validity of the instruments in eliciting appropriate response from the respondents. Also, content and construct validity were determined using exploratory factor analysis on the scales to establish item correlation and homogeneity in identifying common elements and specific factors in the items with which to predict performance from scores on the responses from the respondents on the variables of research.             The reliability of the instrument was determined Cronbach Alpha with a reliability index of 0.68 and 0.85 for the CVS and PDQ respectively. The data generated from the instruments were analyzed using simple linear regression and ANOVA all tested at 0.05 alpha level.

 

Result

Research Question One: To what extent does educational opportunity role deprivation relate with vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State?

Hypothesis One: There is no significant relationship between educational opportunity role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

Table 1:Simple Liner regression showing relationship between educational opportunity role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

Model		R	R Square	Adjusted R Sq		Std. Error
1		.167	.028	.023		7.985
Model		Sum of Sq.	df	Mean Sq.	F	Sig.	Result
	Regression	363.984	1	363.984	5.709	.018b	Significant
	Residual	12624.496	198	63.760
	Total	12988.480	199

 

Table 1 showed that educational opportunity role deprivation has a relationship of 0.167 with vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State. Calculated R² is 0.028 while adjusted R² is 0.023. From the R² value, it is an indication that educational opportunity role deprivation account for 2.8% (0.028 × 100) of vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State. The calculated F was 5.709 while Sig. value was 0.018. Hence, since sig (p=0.018<0.05) is less than 0.05 alpha, the null hypotheses was rejected meaning that there is a significant relationship between educational opportunity role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

 

Research Question Two: To what extent does health care role deprivation relate with vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State?

Hypothesis Two: There is no significant relationship between health care role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

 

 

Table 4.2:       Simple Liner regression showing relationship between health care role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

Model		R	R Square	Adjusted R Sq			Std. Error
		.116	.034	.008			8.045
Model		Sum of Sq	Df		Mean Sq.	F	Sig.	Result
	Regression	173.434	1		173.434	2.680	.032	Significant
	Residual	12815.046	198		64.722
	Total	12988.480	199

 

Table 2 showed that health care role deprivation has a relationship of 0.116 with vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State. Calculated R² is 0.034 while adjusted R² is 0.008. From the R² value, it is an indication that health care role deprivation account for 3.4% (0.034 × 100) of vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State. The calculated F was 2.68 while Sig. value was 0.032. Hence, since sig (p=0.032<0.05) is less than 0.05 alpha, the null hypotheses was rejected meaning that there is a significant relationship between health care role deprivation and vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

 

 

Research Question Three: To what extent does age influence the level of vulnerability among children in orphanages in Rivers State?

Hypothesis Three: There is no significant difference in the influence of age on vulnerability level of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

Table 3:          One-Way Analysis of Variance of the difference in the influence of age on the vulnerability of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

Age	N	Mean	Std. Deviation		Std. Error
10-12	37	58.22	9.618		1.581
13-15	77	61.64	7.284		.830
16 years & Above	85	62.27	7.853		.852
	Sum of Sq	Df	Mean Sq	F	Sig.	Result
Between Groups	440.482	2	220.241	3.442	.034	Significant
Within Groups	12542.865	196	63.994
Total	12983.347	198

 

The analysis above showed that those between 10-12 years were 37. Those between 13-15 years were 77 while those between 16 years and above were 85. Their mean and standard deviation values were 58.22;9.61, 61.64;7.28, and 62.27;7.85 respectively. These means valued showed that children between 16 years and above are more vulnerable followed by those between 13-15 years and above and lastly by those between 10-12 years. The calculated F value was 3.44 while Sig value is 0.034. Hence, since the sig value (0.034<0.05) is less than the alpha of 0.05. the null hypothesis was rejected meaning that there is a significant difference in the influence of age on vulnerability level of children in orphanages in Rivers State.

 

 

Discussion of Findings

Findings from table 1 have revealed that education opportunity role deprivation has a significant relationship with the vulnerability of the children in orphanages in Rivers State. This means that children are most vulnerable in orphanage when they are deprived of educational opportunities. The implication here is that as education provide insight and enlightenment to children and groom them into meaningful citizens, it is obvious that failure to provide such opportunities to them will expose them to ignorance and so many other ill-vices ongoing in the society. It is quick to note that the reason for this finding is simple. This is because majority of the orphanage homes visited by the researcher places education of the orphans and the vulnerable children above every other thing. This means that even when children are vulnerable as they are brought into the homes, it is only through education that they can get rid of such vulnerability. The findings of the study is very much expected and is not surprising in any sense to the researcher because it has shown that both the children, the orphanage management and every other stakeholders are aware of the fact that education is light and education is the only way that can liberate this children and make them meaningful in the society. The findings of Maduka (2010) quoted earlier also support the fact that children in the orphanage are properly managed when they are given proper education and which leads to self-reliant and emancipation.

 

From research findings two, it is also noted that healthcare deprivation role which the orphanage are supposed to provide to the orphans do have a significant relationship with how vulnerable they are. This means that if the orphans are not offered proper health care, this makes them vulnerable to every other thing. The finding also implies that children may be sick thereby exposing them if they're not offered proper healthcare. The finding of the study is also expected by the researcher because health care delivery is the most important of what the children in the orphanage need. As the saying goes “health is wealth” and “when there is life, there is hope”. This point to the fact that absence of good healthcare will expose the children negatively in the society. The findings of Jared (2015) also pointed to the fact that children in the orphanages need health care services if they are to function optimally.

 

Finally from research findings three, it is revealed that there is a significant difference in the influence of Age groups on the level of vulnerability of children in the orphanage homes in River State. The finding is not surprising to researchers because as children grow, they differ in their needs and if not provided, they will be vulnerable depending on their psychological and physical needs as a result of their age differences. Also, when children are deprived is Shane similar emotion irrespective of their age and in as much as they still remain children. The findings of easy quoted also supported that there is no different Cruel sea level of children between the various age groups.

 

Conclusion

The present study has established that even when children are in the orphanages with perceived parental role cares, not all of these orphanages have the capacity to provide these parental role cares and as such, many are deprived of such roles.

 

Recommendation

The following recommendations are made from the study.

1.  Based on the findings that educational opportunities role deprivation do have a significant relationship with vulnerability among children in the orphanage, it is recommended that management of orphanages should do all it takes to ensure that the children are in school and that they receive the basic education that they deserve. It is also recommended that government and NGOs should make sure that all the children are in school or alternatively both government and private educational providers should make provision for free education for children in the orphanages.
2. Since it has been found that healthcare deprivation have a significant relationship with vulnerability of children in the orphanage, it is recommended that management of the orphanages should ensure that adequate health care facilities are provided in their homes. It is also recommended that the government should as a matter of policy make it mandatory that all operators of orphanage home should operate a mini clinic or should be affiliated to a health centre that will take care of the needs of the children.
3. Based on the findings that there's a significant difference in the vulnerability level of children in the various age groups, it is recommended that caregivers and stakeholders in the orphanages should also pay more attention to differences that age may bring to the children. Also, where the children have shown significant differences in the age compared to that used in the present study caregivers in the orphanages should also ensure that they are properly monitored, counselled and the assistance necessary for their age should be provided.

 

 

REFERENCES

Ajasa, F. (2014). Vulnerable children and national priority, vanguard newspaper. Retrieved from www.vanguard.ngr.com/2014/06/vulnerable-children-national-priority.

Lungile, S. & Thwala, K. (2013). The role of culture in psychosocial development of orphans and vulnerable children. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 18(2), 1 – 10.

 

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