Anticipatory child fostering and household economic security in Malawi.

AbstractBACKGROUNDWhile there is a rich literature on the practice of child fostering in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about how fostering impacts receiving households, as few studies consider household conditions both before and after fostering. Despite the fact that circumstances surrounding fostering vary, the literature's key distinction of fostering is often drawn along the simple line of whether or not a household is fostering a child. This paper argues that anticipation of fostering responsibilities, in particular, is a useful dimension to distinguish fostering experiences for receiving households.OBJECTIVEThis paper examines the relationship between receiving a foster child and subsequent changes in household wealth. Particular emphasis is placed on how these changes are conditioned by differing levels of anticipation of the fostering event.METHODSThis study uses data from Tsogolo la Thanzi (TLT), a longitudinal survey in Balaka, Malawi. Using data from 1754 TLT respondents, fixed effects pooled time-series models are estimated to assess whether and how receiving a foster child changes household wealth.RESULTSThis paper demonstrates the heterogeneity of fostering experiences for receiving households. The results show that households that anticipate fostering responsibilities experience a greater increase in household wealth than both households that do not foster and those that are surprised by fostering.CONCLUSIONHouseholds that anticipate fostering responsibilities exhibit the greatest increase in household wealth. While fostering households that do not anticipate fostering responsibilities may not experience these gains, there is no evidence to indicate that such households are negatively impacted relative to households that do not foster. This finding suggests that additional childcare responsibilities may not be as detrimental to African households as some researchers have feared.1. IntroductionChild fostering-the custom of children living outside of the natal home-is practiced throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa (Bledsoe 1990; Bledsoe and Isiugo-Abanihe 1989; Goody 1982; Madhavan 2004; Monasch and Boerma 2004; Urassa et al. 1997). Although the practice varies from region to region, fostering is commonly thought to be a mutually beneficial arrangement between sending and receiving households (Bled- soe 1990; Caldwell 1997; Drah 2012; Isiugo-Abanihe 1985). Empirical work recognizes child fostering as a strategy African households use to distribute the cost of childrearing and offset economic insecurities by sending children to be fostered by other households (Akresh 2005; Eloundou-Enyegue and Shapiro 2004).Three facts about child fostering have been well established in the qualitative and ethnographic literature but are underdeveloped in survey research. First, child fostering is part of a larger negotiation process that takes place among extended family networks (Akresh 2005; Caldwell 1997). Second, receiving a foster child happens under a variety of circumstances (Bledsoe and Isiugo-Abanihe 1989; Goody 1982). Third, ethnographies further suggest that households that receive foster children benefit from the added labor of the foster child and from the social insurance of investing in other people's children (Bledsoe 1990; Caldwell 1997). However, the tangible benefits for receiving families remain largely unexplored and are less established in quantitative research.This paper explores the economic consequences of child fostering for receiving house- holds in southern Malawi. Using intensive longitudinal data, I track the incidence of child fostering over an approximately two and a half year time period in order to test competing hypotheses about how fostering a child triggers changes in household wealth. The results demonstrate that receiving a foster child as part of an anticipated arrangement is asso- ciated with improved household wealth over time. …