This report is the presentation of the survival mechanism of the nineteen families of the Child Headed Families (CHFs) in Obalanga sub county, Amuria district. Such families result from the rapid increase in numbers of parental deaths leading to overburdening of the capacity of relatives, local government, community and non-governmental organizations to fulfill their traditional and mandated role of caring for the orphans. Most children living in child headed families have had both parents die in the preceding seven years; many of them receive regular visits and support from relatives, well wishers and the local government. Child-headed families represent a new coping mechanism in response to the impact of AIDS on communities, the civil wars specifically the LRA, child abandonments by the parents and the death of the single parent for those children who had single parent. It seems likely that once households headed by children start to appear in communities affected by AIDS and civil wars, their numbers and relative proportion will both rise as the cumulative total of orphans continues to increase. Though it is often assumed that the presence of these households in communities implies that extended family methods of support have broken down, this assumption has not been validated since there have been no previous studies of child-headed households. This study seeks to establish the survival mechanisms of child headed families in Obalanga Sub County. Through better understanding of existing coping mechanisms, appropriate methods of support to children living in especially difficult circumstances may be developed.

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