Malawi is located in Southern Africa and borders Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. This country occupies a total area of 118,484 square kilometers1 and has a population of 15,028,757,2 making it one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most densely populated countries.3 Children fourteen years of age or younger account for 45.4% of the population,4 and 53% of the population is below the poverty line.5 People living with HIV/AIDS number 930,000; the rate of prevalence of HIV/AIDS among adults is 11.9%.6 Poverty and HIV/AIDS are two major challenges impacting Malawi’s children.
According to a 2004 Demographic and Health Survey, approximately 21% of Malawi’s 6.4 million children, aged 17 or younger, were orphans: 6% were maternal orphans, 12% were paternal orphans, and 4% were double orphans.7 AIDS-related deaths account for approximately half of all orphans.8
Institutional or residential care is one intervention used in dealing with the orphan crisis. According to estimates, Malawi has 40 children’s homes taking care of 2,507 children.9 Seven of those homes are “babies’ homes” and are providing care for 204 children under two years of age.10 Besides turning to institutional care out of necessity, some families choose to send maternal orphans to children’s homes, rather than allowing the father to care for them, because of a cultural practice that regards children as belonging to the mother’s family.11
Some families also turn to institutional care because of poverty. According to a 2008 report, “Poverty is a major factor that undermines parents’ and relatives’ ability to care for children and makes them resort to residential care.”12 To address the issue of poverty, the government of Malawi instituted a program that provides financial support to those who are “ultra poor” and “labor constrained.”13 Approximately 10% of Malawi’s households fit one of those categories, and “more than 60% of the members of these households are children, 80% of them orphans.”14 The program, which was started in 2006 and which has been implemented in seven districts, has “reached 28,000 households, comprising 106,000 individuals, including 68,000 children.”15
Informal fostering is another intervention used in Malawi, and “20% of Malawian households take care of one or more orphans.”16 Foster care by relatives is not formalized, and few non-relatives enter into formal fostering arrangements.17 Adoption is rare. According to estimates, in 2006, fewer than ten adoptions took place.18 A study of 23 receiving states revealed that between the years 2003 and 2009, approximately 23 Malawian children were adopted by citizens of other countries.19
1 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (2010). Malawi. In The world factbook. Retrieved October 25, 2010, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mi.html.
2 CIA, 2010. July 2010 estimate.
3 U.S. Department of State, Bureau of African Affairs. (2010, September 14). Background Note: Malawi. Retrieved November 1, 2010, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/7231.htm.
4 CIA, 2010. 2010 estimate.
5 CIA, 2010. Poverty line statistic is from 2004.
6 CIA, 2010. 2007 estimates.
7 Dunn, A., & Parry-Williams, J. (2008, September). Alternative care for children in Southern Africa: Progress, challenges and future directions (Working Paper). Nairobi, Kenya: UNICEF. Retrieved from http://www.crin.org/docs/Alt%20Care%20in%20Southern%20Africa.pdf. pp. 3, 40.
8 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 39.
9 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 43.
10 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 44.
11 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 45.
12 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 3.
13 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 8. “Ultra poor” is defined as living “below the lowest expenditure quintile and below the national ultra-poverty line (take one meal per day, and own no valuable assets)” (Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 8). “Labor constrained” is defined as “a household that has no able-bodied member between 19 and 16 years old fit for work (i.e. household members are chronically sick, disabled, elderly, or the household is child-headed); or has a member who is fit but has a dependency ratio of more than three dependents per producer” (Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 8).
14 UNICEF. (n.d.). Using social cash transfers to alleviate poverty. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/evaluation/index_49364.html.
15 Chinyama, V., & Siu, V. (2010, October 28). UNICEF Executive Director spotlights Malawi’s social cash-transfer programme. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi_56675.html.
16 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 39. Additionally, 20% of children are not living with either parent, and 11% of children with both parents still alive are not living with their parents (Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 39).
17 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 15.
18 Dunn & Parry-Williams, 2008, p. 16. According to Dunn & Parry-Williams (2008), Malawi does not “have national statistics on adoption” (p. 16).
19 Selman, P. (2010, December). African states of origin, 2003-2009: Number of children sent to 23 receiving states. Paper prepared for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, Washington, DC. p. 2.