The contribution of community volunteers in foster care placements of children living with HIV : towards comprehensive and sustainable services

Abstract

This article discusses the importance of involving community volunteers to contribute towards meeting the needs of children in foster care living with HIV. This discussion is anchored in Abraham Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of human needs. The findings presented in this article emanated from a broader study that was conducted in the City of Johannesburg with social workers and community volunteers. This article discusses qualitative results which were derived from the semi-structured interviews conducted with community volunteers consisting of eight social auxiliary workers and twelve community caregivers. The participants were selected from drop-in centres using a purposive sampling strategy. The data collected were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that community volunteers offered services such as food/nutrition services, home visits, psychosocial support, homework assistance, HIV support groups, HIV adherence programmes and linking children living with HIV to care. However, very few children who were in foster care placements benefited from these services. It is concluded that the programmes rendered by community volunteers were unable to attract children in foster care, despite the children needing these services. Therefore, the study recommends a collaboration between foster care social workers and community volunteers for children in foster care to benefit from these services.