The reader is introduced to the West African country of Ghana, formerly Gold
Coast, where children constitute almost half the population of 25.9 million, of
whom 12 percent are orphans. Europeans introduced residential care to Ghana
and now there are three types of residential homes including: homes for
abandoned and orphaned children; shelters for trafficked and abused children;
and correctional (borstal) centres for juvenile delinquents. Concentrating on
homes for abandoned and orphaned children, it is noted that by the late 1990s
and early 2000s, the number of private homes grew rapidly, from 10 in 1998
to 148 in 2008, heightened by more than 200,000 child survivors of
HIV-AIDS. Life story accounts about young people’s care experiences and
about leaving care are provided.