Orphans in foster care and the state : a biopolitical analysis of the relationship

Abstract: Due to the scourge of AIDS deaths in South Africa, there has been a significant increase in the number of orphans. Against this backdrop communities have evolved alternative parenting strategies to mitigate this. This research focused on the foster care system as a nexus of how the state exercises biopower. This qualitative study was carried out in order to understand the nature of the relationship between orphans in foster care and the state. This was done to illuminate the functionality of social services and the foster care system through analysing the subjective experiences of the actors involved in the foster care process. This study probes Foucault’s concept of biopower and how it is useful in locating the South African state’s role within the schema of foster care. The study was conducted in a rural district called Ha-Makuya, which is located in the North Eastern Limpopo province. Sixteen participants were interviewed; one magistrate, four social workers, three school teachers, five home-based care workers and three foster parents. The study found that the agents of the state (magistrate, social workers and school teachers) had an intricate biopolitical role in the foster care system. The agents worked together with the home-based care workers and foster parents, who were the mediators of this relationship as they were not directly linked to the state. The state was only able to assist orphans in foster care through a combination of the roles and responsibilities of both the agents and the mediators. The magistrate’s key role was ratifying foster care. He relied heavily on the social workers for a comprehensive psycho-social report which he consulted when evaluating a foster care application. The social workers were the greatest biopolitical agents who were at the heart of this system as they worked very closely with the other actors. The teachers’ role was to monitor the children’s academic performance and in the event that they noticed any anomalies, they were required to bring this to the attention of the social workers. These agents were “technicians” and “normative judges” who were responsible for monitoring, distinguishing, qualifying and ranking orphans, hence facilitators of normalisation. Due to the shortage of social workers across South Africa, the home-based care workers in Ha-Makuya filled in this void and assumed some of the responsibilities that the social workers were required to carry out by the state...M.A. (Sociology