In the 2006 Care Reform Initiative (CRI), Ghana’s Department of Social Welfare (DSW) called for the deinstitutionalization of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and sought to move vulnerable children towards a range of integrated family and community-based care services. The initiative is currently on its third five-year road map for 2017 to 2021 with specific targets and yet still children are in orphanages. Over a decade after the official launch of the initiative a myriad of challenges persist, especially the uncertainty over whether families are prepared to welcome OVC into their homes. Set in Central Region Ghana, using Country-Side Children’s Welfare Home (CCWH) as the main case study, this thesis investigates the underlying factors that are preventing families in the Bawjiase and surroundings from opening their homes and hearts to vulnerable children. Qualitative data was obtained through forty interviews; people interviewed included community leaders, men and women with an active profession in education, banking and informal trading sectors. The views of teenagers from two RHC were also examined through focus group discussion. The study shows that although financial means are often cited as a deterrent for adoption and fostering, the sluggishness in emptying orphanages in Ghana is often due to the lack of training of would-be foster parents and the complicated system of legal adoption. On top of that, the idea of being moved to a family triggers different attitudes among the children involved. The predisposition of OVC towards the idea of reintegration into family life is often conditioned by their memories of their initial experience of family life, or lack thereof. Most of them display a lackadaisical attitude because of their negative experiences of family life, whereas a small number are driven by the prospect of earning a living and being independent even when they are not necessarily looking forward to being integrated into families. This study brings to light the agency of children under care and shows the importance of the psychological and emotional state of OVC involved in deinstitutionalization which could be an influencing factor to be taken into account when taking measures to reintegrated children into a family or community.
