Abstract
Research on female care-leavers in South Africa is limited, with only one other study that specifically focuses on female care-leavers in South Africa. Care-leavers are consistently referred to as a vulnerable group in society, even more so for young female care-leavers as they have to face gender-specific challenges such as motherhood. While care-leaving studies have largely focused on the poor outcomes associated with the transition from care to adulthood, there is increasing attention on the resilience of young people during the transition from care to adulthood. Despite the hardships endured before, during, and after care, some young female care-leavers achieve better-than-expected outcomes. Thus, this study aims to use the resilience theoretical framework to explore the experiences as well as factors that contribute to the resilience of young women raised in residential care during the transition to adulthood and motherhood.
This study adopted a qualitative, exploratory approach to explore the transitioning experiences of female care-leavers, a population that is largely neglected in care-leaving research. A phenomenological design was adopted to explore the subjective lived experiences of young female care-leavers during their transition to adulthood and motherhood. The purposive sampling method, a sub-cluster of non-probability sampling, was used to select six female care-leavers who were between the ages of 21 and 30, mothers and reported to be doing well. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed by making use of thematic analysis.
The findings are presented in two main themes that fit a resilience framework, with the first theme focusing on the challenging experiences of young women leaving care during the transition to adulthood and motherhood. The second theme focuses on resilience enhancing factors for the young women leaving care during the transition into adulthood and motherhood. Findings of this study show that young women experienced challenges during their transitions to adulthood and motherhood. The findings also reveal that the presence of resilience enhancing factors contributed to them achieving better-than-expected outcomes during their transitions to adulthood and motherhood. Intrapersonal protective factors that enhanced the young women’s resilience included: taking responsibility for oneself, a positive attitude, drive for a better future, gratitude, and faith and spirituality. Environmental protective factors included: the impact and role of the child, youth care worker and support from the CYCC after disengaging from care. This study contributes to research on female care-leavers in South Africa, which is currently limited. Recommendations for social work and child and youth care practice within the CYCC context are offered. The identified limitations of this study can be used to inform future research on female care-leavers.