Parenting in adversity An examination of interventions and mechanisms that support parents of young children in South Africa at the family, community, and policy level

This thesis aims to contribute to the field of early childhood development (ECD) and parenting in the South African context. It explores how parents of young children are supported through different systems and services to enable competent parenting, strengthened family relationships and the optimal development of children facing adversities. Established on the principles of ecological systems theory, it adopts the perspective that individuals and families are positioned in and influenced by environmental contexts, understood as multiple interconnected layers or levels within an ecosystem. The study particularly acknowledges the depth and breadth of adversities and vulnerable conditions that the majority of parents and children in South Africa experience, and subsequently, parents’ need for support to enhance child development and wellbeing.
The central question this study seeks to understand, in the South African context, is:
How are vulnerable parents and their children supported at different socio-ecological levels to enhance child development and wellbeing, and how could this support be strengthened?
The approach adopted for this study uses examples of interventions in South Africa at the macro, community and micro levels, that is, the ECD policy and regulatory framework, community-level support programmes, and extended family relationships to describe their support of parents and effects on parents and children. It also explores the lessons and implications for strengthened implementation of systems of support.