THE INFLUENCE OF ORPHANAGE HOME ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN IN KWARA STATE RECEPTION CENTER, ILORIN

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 hoodoften 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.