"Kinship care is a widespread and customary practice in South Africa, as it is elsewhere in southern Africa," says this article by Kath Hall from the Conversation. The laws that support families in the country, however, do not always take these practices into account. "One of the hangovers from apartheid," says Hall, "is the entrenched idea of the nuclear family – heterosexual mother and father living together with their children – as 'ideal'. This notion has remained remarkably persistent; its privileged status is sometimes implicit in policies and in the attitudes of those who implement policy." The article highlights the "red tape" and other barriers to formalizing kinship care arrangements and offers several recommendations for better meeting the needs of kinship families.
