Hello, dawn000-ga1
I was VERY surprised that there was not an abundance of material on
the topic of older teenagers raising their siblings. I had a good
friend who became the guardian of her three younger siblings when she
was just eighteen and I know that it is not an abnormal occurrence.
However, after several hours of searching various databases (including
scholarly journals), I only came up with the following material. The
first video hits the nail on the head.
VIDEO
=====
The Magic Lantern website has a video geared toward this very topic:
"Siblings Raising Siblings - Shirley talks to young people who gave up
their childhood to become parents to their younger brothers and
sisters. These children lost their parents and feared being separated
or put into foster homes. Specific families discuss the challenges and
struggles they overcame to stay together."
You can buy the video on the Magic Lantern website
http://www.magiclantern.ca/Search/ProductDetails.asp?TitleID=833504459
ARTICLE
========
Time Magazine has an online article devoted to siblings raising
siblings, but you will have to pay a fee to access it online. The
article mentions the book, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering
Genius." Otherwise, I am sure you can find the magazine in your
library archives since it is from 2001. You can read the first
paragraph of the article below.
See "Siblings Raising Siblings - For parentless children who stay
together, growing up is a challenge," By HEATHER WON TESORIERO
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1101010514-108827,00.html
NON-FICTION
============
"My Brother, My Sister, and I," by Yoko Kawashima Watkins.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689806566/002-1020072-2635246?v=glance
"My Brother, Sister, And I, by Yoko Kawashima, is a poignant sequel to
the exciting book So Far From The Bamboo Grove. This book is about a
young girl, Yoko (the author), during WW2. Originally Japanese, Yoko
and her family lived in Korea until WW2 began and were forced to flee
to Japan, destroyed by the war. Unfortunately, Yoko, her mother, and
her sister had to leave her brother and father behind, for they were
not home at the time. During the journey, they meet with her brother,
although sadly, her mother dies. Now Yoko is left with no parents, no
money, and only a brother and sister for income...."
FICTION
=======
"Party of Five" television series
--------------------------------
Since you are interested in fiction - did you ever see the television
series, Party of Five? The entire series was based around the premise
of an older brother assuming guardianship of his younger siblings
after the parents had died.
"In its seven-year run on television, Party of Five managed to portray
extreme emotions in a contained, tasteful, and level-headed way
without sacrificing poignancy or richness. Aimed at a teen audience
but with crossover appeal to most viewers, the series dealt with
recurring themes of loss and disappointment, made all the more
interesting because Party of Five's major characters, especially in
season 1, are youthful siblings coping with the recent deaths of their
parents in an automobile accident."
"Shocked into a beyond-their-years awareness of the fragility of
ordinary life and the importance of loyalty and loving bonds, the
Salinger offspring--24-year-old Charlie (Matthew Fox), high schoolers
Bailey (Scott Wolf) and Julia (Neve Campbell), 11-year-old Claudia
(Lacey Chabert), and baby Owen (various infant actors)--bring a deeply
felt, sometimes desperate gravitas to lesser but still significant
misfortunes in relationships, peer pressures, and ambitions. On top of
that, each has to take on responsibilities beyond their
experience--hiring nannies, raising money for mortgage payments,
etc.--and make sacrifices robbing them of formative experiences.
Charlie, accustomed to adult freedom, has to rejigger his plans and
move back home as a surrogate, and often resented, parent. (If he
doesn't do this, his brothers and sisters could be separated and sent
to foster homes.)....."
You can buy the DVD series from Amazon.com
"Party of Five - The Complete First Season (1994)."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001IN0T4/ref%3Dase%5Fimmaculate-books/103-1288707-6074231
"The Boxcar Chilren" book series
----------------------------------
The Boxcar Children is a fiction series about children raising
themselves after being orphaned. It is geared toward younger readers.
From a teacher's review:
http://www.eduplace.com/tview/tviews/b/boxcarchildren.html
"The four Alden children; Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny find
themselves on their own after they become orphans. They are afraid to
contact their grandfather because they have heard that he is a cruel
man. They take refuge one stormy night in an abandoned boxcar. Through
their resourcefulness, they make a home for themselves, and Henry, the
oldest, is able to get some work in town to provide food for them. The
children manage fine until Violet becomes ill and they must seek
help."
You can purchase the Boxcar Children series on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0807508527/103-4813005-4207800?v=glance
From an article about the author:
"Four adventurous orphans take up residence in a boxcar and begin to
solve mysteries -- this is the premise of the beloved Boxcar Children
series, begun in 1942 by Gertrude Chandler Warner and still going
strong. Warner enjoyed pointing out that her first book, The Boxcar
Children, "raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the
children were having too good a time without any parental control!
That is exactly why children like it!"
http://www.bookpage.com/9705bp/childrens/theboxcarchildren.html
ORPHANS RAISING ORPHANS
=======================
The incidence of older children raising their siblings is common in many countries.
From "Young lives touched by death - In 1994, a half-million people
died. Today, 300,000 children are left to rear themselves. Rwanda:
Aftermath of Genocide. Part 1: September 6, 1998.
http://www.maykuth.com/Projects/rwan1.htm
"Most days for 17-year-old Claudette Mukakirwanirwa go something like this:
"She wakes at 6 a.m. in a grass-roof storage hut where a neighbor lets
her stay. She and six other children sleep on a mat spread on the dirt
floor. Claudette starts a fire that blackens the mud walls and fills
the hut with smoke. If there is corn or cassava root on hand, she
cooks porridge for the younger ones. Often the children start their
day without breakfast."
"Then Claudette straps her year-old daughter, Tuyishime, on her back
with a blanket and walks barefoot through puddles and cow manure
outside her door. She gathers firewood with a machete in a small grove
of eucalyptus trees. Afterward, she plants sweet potato cuttings,
chopping the heavy, wet soil with a hoe while her daughter sleeps,
still strapped to her back."
"Occasionally her thoughts drift back to 1994, when her parents were
among the half-million people killed in the ethnic genocide that
engulfed Rwanda. Her parents were hacked to death for hiding ethnic
Tutsi neighbors from bands of Hutu killers."
"Claudette was 13 then. For the last four years, she has been the head
of her household, caring for her four younger siblings and a cousin
whose mother was also killed in the slaughter."
Read more.....
==
From "AIDS ORPHANS STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. In the
Shadow of Death," by Nadine PEDERSON.
http://www.alternatives.ca/print238.html
"The result is that many orphans are trying to raise themselves and
often their younger siblings. Given that 95 percent of all AIDS
orphans are in sub-Saharan Africa, it?s common to see small children
sleeping barefoot on city sidewalks or rifling through garbage cans to
find food."
"The scenario we are seeing and hearing about at the moment is that we
are having child-centred families where perhaps a 15 or 16 year old is
becoming the head of the household," explains Williams. For many of
these children, raising themselves and their younger siblings means
dropping out of school and turning to crime or prostitution to raise
their families."
==
From "Aids robs orphans of their childhood," By Grant Clark
http://www.iol.co.za/general/newsview.php?art_id=qw1101702787624W643&click_id=2624&set_id=1
"She points to a nearby cluster of huts where a teenager is struggling
to raise her three younger siblings alone. In Zulu tradition, orphaned
children are usually taken in by neighbours or relatives. But
widespread poverty has made that practice difficult and now orphans
still innocent in their childhood are taking on parenthood."
"While the government runs multi-million-dollar welfare programmes for
Aids orphans and their foster parents, children who end up taking care
of their siblings seem to fall between the cracks."
==
Read "FROM SINGLE PARENTS TO CHILD-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS: THE CASE OF
CHILDREN ORPHANED BY AIDS IN KISUMU AND SIAYA DISTRICTS." A research
project report by Ayieko, M A, PHD.
http://www.undp.org/hiv/publications/study/english/sp7e.htm
==
I hope this helps. Again - I thought this would be an easy search, but
suprisingly little has been written about a situation that happens
more often than we would care to admit.
Sincerly,
umiat
Search Strategy
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case studies on orphans raising themselves
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Google groups
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