JOURNALS

ABSTRACT

Child fostering is an age long socio-cultural practice in West Africa which has remained beneficial to individuals, families and the communities at large. It has served as a medium of strengthening family/friendship ties and also as an alternative plan to lessen the burdens of child care for low income families. In recent times, this practice has been greatly demonized, having being associated with child migration, as well as all forms of child abuse and molestation. In Nigeria today, this has remained a very topical issue, as cases of abuse of the rights of the child are being reported by the media frequently as an integral part of child fostering. Consequently, this practice is been discouraged and is almost phasing out. This study aimed at examining two Nollywood films in order to evaluate the various dimensions and outcomes of fostering, paying closer attention to the functional indices as regards the media treatment of this critical social issue and its overall effects on the people’s perception and attitude. Applying the qualitative research method, using the purposive sampling technique, these films were selected and content analyzed. Using Ervin Goffman’s Theory of Framing in media studies for critical interrogation of the issues, findings revealed that there are two narratives- the positive and negative outcomes of fostering. However, the positive outcomes outweigh the negative outcomes; nevertheless, the media has paid more attention to the promotion of the negative narratives, thus creating an unconscious sense of paranoia in the masses.