Adolescents who have strong attachment to adults in their community exhibit greater resilience and are less likely to engage in harmful behaviour. However adolescents, including young parents, are frequently denied the social status required to access formal and informal community networks so are reliant on adults to act on their behalf. If mechanisms for upholding high standards of care in these settings are weakened, adolescents will be more vulnerable to illness, violence and exploitation. Identifying areas of misalignment between culturally prescribed parenting practices followed in the region, and those embedded in parenting programmes imported from the global North. This will serve to enable a fuller understanding and strengthening of existing support to both carers and their adolescents, and to reduce the risk of resistance to potentially helpful resources, including programmes.