*2.2. Research Setting and Sampling*

The study was conducted amidst the NGO sector, specifically within the Khula Development Group's context that renders services to absent learners and their families in the Paarl-East community. The process for service delivery commences when schools in disadvantaged communities refer absent learners to this organization, where they are contacted by the means of home visits. Hereafter, continuous services are rendered, which include home and school visits to provide academic and psychosocial support to absent learners, as well as parental guidance and support to their primary caregivers [43]. The context of the Paarl-East community is characterized by a low-income population, high levels of crime and violence, together with substance abuse [44,45].

A random purposive sampling method was utilized for recruiting 18 biological mothers of the Foundation Phase learners from Grades R to 3, on the database of the Khula Development Group. These learners were referred to the Khula Development Group for a variety of reasons for school absenteeism, such as poverty, social ills like substance abuse, and domestic violence at home, transport challenges, chronic illnesses, poor academic progress, etc. Although the possibility exists that these 18 biological mothers could possibly have older children that was also absent and were recorded on the database of the Khula Development Group, the focus of this study was learners from Grade R to 3. The inclusion criteria were as follows—(1) biological mothers of absent learners in the Foundation Phase; (2) residing in Paarl-East; (3) lived with their child during their child's first 1000 days; (4) currently lives with their child; and (5) were factually capable of giving consent to participate in this research study.
