Introduction
In recent
times The orphanage home is one of the
numerous social institution that have emerged over the years to carter for some
of social need of orphanage associated with such problem(German and Marshall
2002).
Motherless babies have nowadays become common because of the
moral Decadences of the Society young people who cannot carter for themselves, find
themselves put in the family way they end up find abandoning those innocent
babies. The increases hardship because of the present economic recession has
increased the incidence of burden family relationship and the consequent loss
of firm control of family members. This has tended an evidence by the
increasing number of abandoned babies such have become the central focus of the
orphanage home.
The impact of orphanage home on child personality
development that behavior pattern of social behavior on child personality
development (Dauda 2015).
An orphanage
is an institution dedicated to caring for children who have lost their parents,
or for children believed to be abused, abandoned,
or generally neglected. Largely seen as an inferior alternative to foster care and adoption, orphanages
may be privately or publicly funded, or may be run by religious organizations.
A major humanitarian and
development challenge facing Nigeria and which has hampered the realisation of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is the increasing number of orphans and
vulnerable children in the country. A visit to some of the orphanages in
Nigeria shows that the impetus created by Nigeria’s participation of the 2015
West and Central Africa regional workshop on orphans and vulnerable children
has since fizzled out. Although only a small percentage of orphans find their
way to the orphanages as most of them finds solace in the homes of family
friends or relatives where they often end up being abused in many ways, the
government still has to beam it searchlight and lend some support to the
orphanages or motherless babies homes as they are often called.
Millions of children across the
world are deprived of this crucial phase of life, those are the orphans and
abandoned children. In the absence of the child’s parents, grandparents, or
reluctant relatives not willing to take care of the child, orphanage act as an
institution to provide care and support for these unfortunate children. These
children are educated within or outside the orphanage. Orphanages provide an
alternative for care and adoption for some of these children. There are about
153 million orphan children living in the world and Asia is the home for nearly
60 million of the children.
According to statistics by UNICEF, there are
currently 148 million orphans. It is estimated that by 2015, the
number of orphaned children will still be tremendously high. Orphan hood often results in loss of family income, poorer health
and emotional problems. It may also disturb family network and adds further
responsibilities for family members and caretakers. At the
beginning of the twenty-first century more than 200 million orphans were
reported throughout the world; this number includes all children internally
displaced, refugees of conflicts and natural
disasters, mandated child soldiers, those enrolled in orphanage institutions,
and those estimated to be home,less, living on
the streets. While efforts to improve the conditions in orphanages are
important, the greater effort has moved to finding stable homes for children in
such situations, where they may have the chance to experience the love of family despite
their tragic past.
Childhood is the
most crucial and formative period of human life. A healthy childhood is
essential for future growth and development. It is greatly influenced by
parent, family, society and environment which formulate attitude, behavior,
manner and emotions. The type of care received after becoming an orphan has significant
impact on the development of the orphan. Institutionalized orphanages are the
most common care system throughout the world for the orphans.
The total numbers of Kwara State population is 2,367,837
million people (2006 Population and Housing Census of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, National Population Commission). In this town, children that need
special protection on account of being in vulnerable conditions and situations
such as orphanhood and homeless are observably increasing. To ensure that the
orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) grow up under proper care and support is
not sole responsibility of the government alone but also of their relatives and
general public. In other words, the society has a vital role to play in
improving the conditions of the OVC, and by extension is drastically reducing
the tendencies for the risks the children are exposed to, as well as on the
communities and society. Following more than a decade of inadequate action,
there is now an absolute imperative that the global community, every individual
nation, USAID personnel (such as health and population officers in missions),
other donors, and programme managers in government and in civil society.
1.2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Many influences contribute to a child’s
development and behavior, including genetics and the environment, both during
pregnancy and following birth. In the general population, 15% to 20% of all
children will display some type of developmental and/or behavioral issue.
These children suffer from a variety of
developmental and behavioural problems especially when they are raised in
adverse condition during early ages of life. The lack of emotional and social
attachment, adequate stimulation and interaction among the family members is an
important cause of developmental impairment. Emotional deprivation, anxiety
& insecurity influence the neurochemical regulation of growth hormone &
affect the growth of the child. Children exposed to social–emotional neglect
display growth deficiencies called psychosocial dwarfism.
Most of
those children have mild difficulties regarding, for example, attention,
language or reading. Certain situations can increase a child’s risk for
developmental and behavioral problems. Malnutrition, neglect, and abuse, for
instance, can all incur long-lasting effects. For these reasons, children who
are raised in privation (such as in poor foster care, orphanages, or neglectful
primary care) suffer increased risk for a variety of developmental and
behavioral issues, particularly if they have lived in an adverse environment
during the first 3 years of life. Specific medical histories also increase the
possibility of developmental/behavioral problems: premature birth, low birth
weight, prenatal alcohol exposure, and family genetic disorder.
Secondly,
Children brought up in the orphanage home cannot cope effectively with the
outside world. This display in the their dispositions because most of them tend
to be introvert and always want to keep to themselves in the few causes they
turn out to be backwards in speed and verbal intelligence.
Furthermore,
According to Segmund Fraud (1945) children who grown up in the orphanage home
may likely to affected in their culture tradition, and religion are their interests
belief ambitions ideas and soon thus affecting the personality development as
their behaviors is not only more indiscriminate but more immature than those
children who are with their natural parent. Hence the increase in various
research as to find out the effectiveness and influence of these home
(orphanage home) on the child development.
Also, Institutional graduate orphans discharged
back to the community have been observed to lack life-long survival
capabilities (social, moral, cognitive and emotional) following institutional
socialization. This resulted in failure by orphanage homes graduates to
integrate positively into the community as expected. The problem was where were
this orphanage homes failing?, it
is as a result of this backdrop that this research study will try to also
compare children between the age of one (1) month to three (10) years that
grows up in orphanage home to those that grow-up with their parent, because
children from the orphanage behave in a unique pattern thereby displaying
some certain social behaviour attitude that could be associated with the upbringing
in the orphanage home.
