Children ‘in need of care’ or in need of cash? Social security in the time of AIDS
Abstract In the face of international pressure and local concern regarding the repercussions of the AIDS epidemic for children in South Africa, as well as the review underway of children's legislation in the country, there is much debate regarding social security provision for children in the context of HIV/AIDS. To date, the State's social security response to the impact of AIDS on children has been to focus its attention on the provision of the Foster Child Grant for orphans. Draft Children's legislation introduces additional cash grants, some of which similarly target orphans. However, drawing on a combination of primary research and demographic projections, this paper argues against the provision of grants for orphans as a category of children distinct from other children. It argues that, given the pervasiveness of poverty across South Africa's child population, a social security system that directs interventions on the basis of children's orphanhood mistargets crucial resources; is inequitable; is lo...