Abstract
The enduring legacy of apartheid in South Africa manifests through persistent family strife and deep-seated poverty, which intensify the vulnerabilities of children, especially those with intellectual disabilities and autism. While the transition to a post-apartheid era brought commendable child welfare reforms and strengthened community resilience, high unemployment rates continue to deepen poverty and adversely affect child welfare. This phenomenon is not isolated to South Africa but echoes across sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty, disease, cultural practices, conflict, and trafficking significantly deprive children of adequate parental care.
Globally, millions of orphaned and vulnerable children grapple with poverty, social exclusion, and loss, a situation worsened by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. South Africa’s response to the end of apartheid included robust child welfare strategies and policy enhancements, yet the pressure on traditional kinship care and societal support systems is immense, often resulting in the placement of youth in Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs). Upon exiting these CYCCs, young adults may face difficulties marked by a lack of post-care support, which can lead to poor outcomes such as homelessness and unemployment.
This study specifically examines the transition of youths with intellectual disabilities and/or autism as they age-out of CYCCs in the Western Cape Province, navigating a crucial life milestone in the shadow of socioeconomic challenges stemming from an apartheid-afflicted past.
This research employed a qualitative longitudinal approach with purposive sampling to gain an in-depth understanding of the transitional experiences of youth with intellectual disabilities and/or autism leaving care. Over 18 months, the study followed six participants aged 17 to 21, all diagnosed with intellectual disability and/or autism. Data collection occurred in five waves, capturing the perspectives of both the participants and their caregivers. The aim of the study was to investigate the transitional process and outcomes of youth with intellectual disabilities and/or autism transitioning out of child and youth care centres in South Africa’s Western Cape Province.
Objective 1 is presented in Chapter 4 of this thesis, which focuses on preparing young people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism as they transition out of care.
Objective 2 is presented in Chapter 5 of this thesis, which focuses on the resilience processes that enable better-than-expected outcomes for care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism.
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Objective 3 is presented in this thesis in Chapter 6, and the findings resulted in an article. The article sought to ascertain caregiver perspectives on the transitional process for youth with intellectual disabilities and/or autism out of CYCCs towards young adulthood.
Objective 4 presented in chapter 7 of this thesis describes the methodological issues when interviewing care-leavers with disabilities.
Objective 6 presented in Chapter 5 of this thesis focused on the transitioning to adulthood from residential care during COVID-19. The findings of this objective were published in a journal in 2021.
Objective 5 is presented in chapter 8 of this thesis, and it focuses on the critical implications and recommendations for policy and practice for youth with disabilities leaving care in South Africa. This chapter concludes the thesis by synthesising the findings to extract critical implications and recommendations for policy and practice for youth with disabilities in transition in South Africa.
The study's limitations include a small sample size of six care-leavers and three caregivers, which limits the generalizability of the findings.
In addition, the study explores the social ecology of resilience, viewing it as a dynamic process influenced by the interactions between individuals and their environments.