The Right to Alternative Care for Children in Tanzania : An Inquiry into the Law and Practice of Foster Care

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Buchumi, Veronica Gabriel:
The Right to Alternative Care for Children in Tanzania : An Inquiry into the Law and Practice of Foster Care.
Bayreuth , 2021 . - xxi, 296 S.
( Dissertation, 2021 , Universität Bayreuth, Rechts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät)

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Abstract

Children need to grow up in a loving and caring family environment for their development. In the absence of such an environment, children become vulnerable to violations of their rights, hence the need for alternative care, preferably family-based, for children deprived of their family environment. The right to appropriate alternative care for children is guaranteed under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of 1990, both ratified by Tanzania in 1991 and 2003, respectively. Mainland Tanzania domesticated these treaties through the Law of the Child Act in 2009, in which the need for alternative care for children deprived of their family environment is reflected, with an emphasis on family-based alternative care rather than institutional care. However, in practice, institutional care is prevalent in Tanzania. The limited use of foster care as one of the family-based alternative care options to protect children deprived of their family environment necessitated this study that assesses the place of foster care in the continuum of child care in Mainland Tanzania. In this study, foster care, as distinct from informal traditional kinship care, refers to a form of family-based care, to be ordered and supervised by the competent social welfare authority, where a child deprived of his or her family environment is placed in the home of a carer who is selected, approved and supervised by the authority to provide such care. However, in Tanzania, foster care is understood and used in practice merely as a prerequisite for adoption rather than an independent form of alternative care as provided in the laws. On the other hand, with the so-called fit person programme, a short-term variation of foster care is applied without relating it to foster care. Therefore, the study examines the efficiency and effectiveness in practice of the legal framework regulating foster care and other forms of protection of children deprived of their family environment. By analysing the relevant legal and policy documents and conducting interviews with selected respondents, the challenges and prospects of foster care as family-based alternative care in Mainland Tanzania were unravelled in the light of the international and regional standards and principles on the right to alternative care, such as the principles of necessity and suitability. The narrow definition of foster care in the Law of the Child Act limited to care by non-relatives, lack of clarity on the objectives and uses of foster care, and lack of coherence of the Law of the Child Act and the regulations made under it stand out as the major legal challenges resulting in the limited use of foster care. Against this background, the study analyses the actual role of the social welfare officers in the protection of children, as well as child-care traditions and culture of Tanzanians, and poverty as critical practical challenges affecting the use of foster care in Tanzania. As a result, the study contends that existing campaigns to deinstitutionalise alternative care in favour of family-based care, the need for a case-by-case analysis of children’s needs, and flexibility in the practice of foster care provide prospects for a functioning foster care system in Tanzania. The study emphasises that adopting a holistic approach looking at the whole system of protection of children is essential in developing a desired foster care system as foster care cannot be a solution on its own. The study calls for a reform of the legal framework on child protection and a concretisation of the right to alternative care within the legal framework.

Abstract in weiterer Sprache

Watoto wanahitaji kukua katika mazingira yenye upendo na uangalizi wa familia ili waweze kustawi. Mazingira hayo yanapokosekana, watoto huwa hatarini kuvunjiwa haki zao, hivyo kusababisha haja ya malezi mbadala, hususani malezi ya kifamilia. Haki ya malezi mbadala mwafaka kwa watoto waliokosa kulelewa katika mazingira ya familia zao inaelezwa katika Makubaliano ya Umoja wa Mataifa ya mwaka 1989 ya Haki za Mtoto na Mkataba wa Afrika wa mwaka 1990 wa Haki na Ustawi wa Mtoto, vyote vikiwa vimeridhiwa na Tanzania kwa nyakati tofauti, (1991 na 2003). Tanzania Bara ilianza kutekeleza makubaliano haya kupitia Sheria ya Mtoto ya mwaka 2009, ambapo haja ya malezi mbadala kwa watoto waliokosa kulelewa katika mazingira ya familia zao inaakisiwa, huku msisitizo ukiwekwa kwenye malezi mbadala ya kifamilia zaidi kuliko yale katika makao ya watoto. Hata hivyo, kiutekelezaji, malezi katika makao ya watoto ndiyo yanayojitokeza zaidi nchini Tanzania. Matumizi hafifu ya malezi ya kambo kama moja ya aina za malezi mbadala ya kifamilia katika kuwalinda watoto waliokosa kulelewa katika mazingira ya familia zao ndiyo yaliyochochea kufanyika kwa utafiti huu, ambao unatathmini nafasi ya malezi ya kambo katika mlolongo wa malezi ya watoto Tanzania Bara. Katika utafiti huu, malezi ya kambo, kama mfumo wa malezi unaotofautiana kabisa na ule wa kimila ambao huegemea kwenye ukoo, maana yake ni muundo wa malezi ya kifamilia ambayo hupangiliwa na kusimamiwa na mamlaka mahiri za ustawi wa jamii, ambapo mtoto aliyekosa fursa ya kulelewa katika mazingira ya familia yake huwekwa nyumbani kwa mwangalizi aliyeteuliwa, kuthibitishwa na kusimamiwa na mamlaka husika ili kutoa malezi kwa mtoto. Hata hivyo, nchini Tanzania, uelewa na matumizi halisi ya malezi ya kambo ni hatua tu katika masharti ya kuwaasili watoto, wala si njia mbadala na inayojitegemea ya malezi ya watoto kama inavyobainishwa katika Sheria. Kwa upande mwingine, kile kinachoitwa ‘programu ya mtu wa kuaminika’, aina fulani ya malezi ya kifamilia ya muda mfupi, ndiyo itumikayo pasipo kuihusisha na malezi ya kambo kwa maana halisi. Kwa hiyo, utafiti huu unachunguza ufanisi na uthabiti wa kiutendaji wa miongozo ya kisheria inayosimamia malezi ya kambo na mifumo mingine ya kuwalinda watoto waliokosa kulelewa katika mazingira ya familia zao. Kwa njia ya uchambuzi wa nyaraka mahususi za sheria na sera pamoja na kufanya mahojiano na watoataarifa teule, changamoto na matarajio ya vituo vya malezi kama malezi mbadala ya kifamilia Tanzania Bara vinadhihirishwa kwa kuongozwa na viwango na kanuni za kimataifa na kikanda, kama vile kanuni za ulazima na ufaafu. Fasili finyu ya malezi ya kambo katika Sheria ya Mtoto ambayo hukomea katika malezi ya watu wengine wasio ndugu, kutokuwa na ufasaha wa malengo na matumizi ya malezi ya kambo, na kukosekana kwa ushikamani na Sheria ya Mtoto na Kanuni zake, ndizo changamoto kuu za kisheria zinazosababisha matumizi hafifu ya malezi ya kambo. Kwa kuzingatia usuli huu, utafiti huu unachambua dhima ya Maafisa Ustawi wa Jamii katika kuwalinda watoto, desturi za malezi ya watoto katika utamaduni wa Watanzania, na kuwapo kwa umasikini kama changamoto kuu zinazoathiri matumizi ya malezi ya kambo nchini Tanzania. Utafiti huu pia unathibitisha kwamba kampeni zinazoendelea za kutotaasisisha malezi mbadala na kupigia chapuo malezi ya kifamilia, haja ya ukuchambuzi wa kesi-kwa-kesi wa mahitaji ya watoto, na unyumbufu katika utendaji wa malezi ya kambo vinatoa matarajio ya mfumo hai wa malezi ya kambo nchini Tanzania. Utafiti huu unasisitiza kwamba kutumia mkabala jumuishi na kuutazama mfumo mzima wa kuwalinda watoto ni muhimu katika kujenga mfumo bora wa malezi ya kambo, kwani malezi ya kambo peke yake hayawezi kuwa suluhisho. Utafiti huu unatoa wito kwamba yafanyike maboresho ya miongozo ya kisheria kuhusu kuwalinda watoto pamoja na uimarishaji wa haki ya malezi mbadala ndani ya mfumo wa sheria.