Authors : Pius Tangwe Tanga and Priscilla Gutura
Abstract: This study explores the views of female beneficiaries on the commitment of biological fathers in the welfare of their children who are in receipt of the Child Support Grant (CSG). The study was qualitative in nature and interview guides were utilised in collecting data from twenty participants. The major finding of the study points to the realisation that the CSG has become a substitute of fathers’ commitments to the welfare of their children hence there are few fathers who are present in the lives of their children. In the study, most of the fathers’ where abouts were unknown and so was their contribution. The mothers perceived that men as fathers assumed that the CSG represented them hence they did not need to be active in their children’s lives. Some women who were single parents also did not want any involvements from these men due to the fact that they had deserted them. Nevertheless, the CSG emerged as a reliable source of income for these participants as the piece jobs the women engaged in were not sustainable. The study however recommends that fathers be liable to court sanctioned maintenance.
Pius Tangwe Tanga and Priscilla Gutura, 2013. Paternal Involvement in the Financial Welfare of Children Receiving Child Support Grant in South Africa. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 10: 190-197.