Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Social Work)
This study contributes to the emerging body of South African literature on care leaving, as it explores the future selves and resilience factors of young people who are still in residential care and who are about to exit the statutory system. This is in contrast to the few other studies of care leaving in South Africa, which focus on the experiences of individuals after their discharge from care. This study also makes a contribution to the international discourse on care leaving, by adding a South African perspective on care leavers and their anticipated transition to adulthood.
For young people who are aging out of the care system, their exit from residential care coincides with leaving high school and transitioning into adulthood. This is a time of great excitement and optimism for young people of this age. Unfortunately for care leavers their journey into adulthood frequently does not fulfil its promise, as the outlook for care leavers is poor and their transition from care is largely unsupported. This is particularly true in the South African context; unemployment and NEET (not in employment, education or training) rates among youth are high, and family and community contexts are characterised by poverty, substance abuse, violence and crime. Compounding these factors is the absence of legislation mandating services for care leavers. Service provision for this vulnerable group of young people is minimal and fragmented.
Therefore, it may be argued that the time a young person spends in the care system should be aimed at maximising their life chances when they are discharged. In this regard, developing a young person’s resilience may be regarded as a critical element of service provision within the child and youth care centre. Future focus is regarded as a resilience factor, and this study argues that the development of the possible selves of young people while they are in care contributes to their resilience and may serve to improve the outcomes post discharge. The study argues too that developing resilience may also contribute to the emergence of possible selves in young people in care.
The views of a small group of young people, who were shortly to exit the statutory system, of their futures, the content of their possible selves and resilience factors were explored in this research. The social workers and child and youth care workers who worked with these young people also contributed to this study, identifying resilience factors, and the successes and challenges they have experienced when facilitating young peoples’ transition from care. Thus the voices of the principal role players, at a critical and pivotal moment in the care system journey are brought to the fore in this research.