[Taking charge of street children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: an ethical alternative].
The goal of this study carried out on street children and care providers was to determine the opinions of the staff of these institutions--foster homes--and their degree of satisfaction. Out of twenty homes of the zone or healthcare district of Kasavubu in the city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), ten were chosen at random (50%). In them, we selected one hundred street children--the beneficiaries--, ten care providers and ten protocol programs--of guardianship. The players--beneficiaries and providers--answered questions on their perceptions and expectations regarding to following: the range of activities provided, its organization, its quality and their degree of satisfaction of the site and on the development of skills. The results obtained demonstrated the predominance on useful activities ("welfarism") and on charity. The respondents declared they sometimes commit antisocial actions (theft) to access education, which is similar to a form of obtaining independence. The protocols for guardianship are often the conceived by experts. However, in a general way for young respondents, it is relatively difficult for experts alone (assistants and social educators or others) to provide precise and exhaustive data on the needs felt by street children. In view of these results, it is thus ethically acceptable to resort to the ability-based approach in the conception, the setting up and the evaluation of guardianship protocols for street children. What the youth think, the range of activities provided, the conception and the quality of the guardianship protocols is an important stake in the development of the skills. It is highly probable that the emergence of such protocols cannot be undertaken except if street children have a degree of independence in relation to experts and can assert a specific point of view.
Faculté de Médecine, Ecole de santé publique, Unité d'éthique biomédicale, Université catholique de Louvain, Promenade de l'Alma (BTE 43/4534), 51, 1200 Bruxelles, Belgique. basuababintu@yahoo.fr
Mukandu Basua Babintu
MB
Leyka
Mylène Botbol
MB
Baum
D000293:Adolescent; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D005260:Female; D018453:Homeless Youth / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male