Future Expectations as a Source of Resilience among Young People Leaving Care (original) (raw)
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Young adults who leave care enter a crucial period in their lives in which they have to plan their future and make significant decisions regarding many aspects of their adult life (Arnett, 2000). During emerging adulthood, their expectations for the future are especially important and could influence their goal setting and motivation to accomplish those goals. However, little attention has been paid to the importance of future expectations of care leavers as a source of resilience. This paper aims to address the role of future expectations among young people leaving care in the context of resilience theory and emerging adulthood theory. It describes the challenges these youth face in transition to adulthood and the role that future expectations play during this period. Further, it reviews studies that examine the correlations between future expectations, resilience and outcomes, and focuses on two possible personal and environmental resources that can contribute to care leavers' positive future expectations: optimism and social support. In addition, it articulates the possible links connecting future expectations with resilience. Finally, it suggests a unified approach that integrates both environmental and personal components for increasing future expectations and concludes with implications for practice and directions for future research.
Children and Youth Services Review, 2017
Emerging adulthood is considered to be a period of many possibilities, expectations and aspirations for the future (Arnett, 2007). However, vulnerable young adults have fewer personal and social assets, which might limit their possibilities and goals. This exploratory study aims to investigate the challenges and barriers of 25 Israeli young adults who left care, while trying to realize their expectations and pursue their future plans. Thematic analysis revealed that these young peoples' perceptions of their future and their goal-setting are challenged mainly by their weak and unsupportive social ties, obligations to their biological parents, and poor personal capital. All of these challenges combined comprise a barrier to pursuing their future aspirations. The discussion addresses the connection between the challenges care leavers struggle with in their transition to independent living, their future outlook, and chosen paths in the context of emerging adulthood theory. Implications for practice suggest the importance of creating supportive follow up frameworks that allow care leavers to strengthen their social ties, build new positive and supportive relationships, and consult about future decisions, in order to increase their future possibilities and opportunities.
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.
Children and Youth Services Review, 2018
Emerging adulthood is considered a risky and vulnerable period for young people leaving substitute care but a window of opportunity for the development of resilience and positive change. This study explores the challenges and resources in transition to adulthood from the point of view of 50 care leavers and caseworkers in Israel. The findings revealed several shared perspectives of the two group regarding the challenges and assets during this period including: economic hardship and limited support by their families as a struggle, and supporting professional relationships as an asset. While caseworkers focused on the care leavers' low awareness and realization of their rights as a challenge, care leavers emphasized their weak social ties and loneliness as their main challenge. In addition, self-reliance was described as a resource by the care leavers but not by the caseworkers. The study's findings emphasized the importance of belongings, companionship and emotional support care leavers need, and the meaningful role of professional relationships in the transition to adulthood. One of the practical conclusion was helping the care leaves to develop interdependence and relational connections, and at the same time encouraging the caseworkers to see the care leavers' self-reliance as a strength.
Resilience among Youth in the Process of Preparation for Leaving Alternative Care
Journal of Social Service Research, 2020
Young people leaving alternative care in Serbia face numerous challenges while they frequently lack formal and informal support for emancipation. Resilience and preparedness for leaving care increase their chances for successful transition and social integration. This article aims to understand the resilience of youth leaving care in Serbia and the relationship between resilience, type of placement (foster, residential or kinship) and preparedness for leaving care. Quantitative analysis of replies 134 adolescents leaving alternative care had made in self-assessment questionnaires showed: high resilience scores of subjects, lower resilience of youth leaving residential than foster care and interconnectedness between the resilience and most of the indicators of preparedness for emancipation. Results suggest that resilience: (a) could be fostered by improving mental health, structured leisure time, selfcare and social skills, and by quality foster carers' support; (b) contributes to positive feelings and general positive attitude toward life; (c) is not connected to school achievements and support by family and other caregivers; (d) of care leavers had more to do with their skills to gain social support than with receiving support from family and the alternative care system. Future research could investigate emancipation outcomes of youth with different baseline resilience and preparedness levels.
The capacity for a young adult to develop and overcome obstacles in life underpins the concept of resilience building (Gilligan, 1997). A key role of the social care worker is to ensure that young adults growing up in the care system are afforded the best possible outcomes. This includes social care workers helping young people build their resilience in preparation for the transition into independent living and aftercare. The research reported here examines the experiences and perspectives of two residential social care workers regarding the promotion of resilience amongst young people transitioning from residential care to independent living. From analysis of the data collected, three themes were identified: the importance of a secure base, maintaining consistent and long-term relationships and challenges faced by social care workers in building the resilience of care leavers. Findings concur with previous research, which identified the importance of young people having a secure base in their lives as well as long-term relationships as a source of support to aid them in their transition from care to independence. This research in exploring some of the challenges of helping build the resilience of care leavers highlights the possible value of allowing young people to engage in positive risk taking opportunities in order to build important life skills for independent living
Resilience of youth in transition from out-of-home care to adulthood
Children and Youth Services Review, 2007
Youth in transition from out-of-home care to adulthood are a vulnerable sub-population of the foster care system. In addition to the trauma of maltreatment, and challenges associated with out-of-home care, these youth face the premature and abrupt responsibility of self-sufficiency as they leave care for independent living. The purpose of this study was to identify personal and interpersonal factors that contribute to resilience of young adults who left out-of-home care of a large urban child welfare system during a one year period. Sixty percent of the eligible young adults participated in a computer-assisted self-administered interview about their self-sufficiency including: educational attainment, employment, housing, parenthood, health risk behavior, criminal activity, and perceived levels of social support, spiritual support, community support, and global life stress. This study explored the relationship between support systems, life stress, and the young adults' resilience reflecting key outcomes. The study's findings indicated that females, older youth, and youth with lower perceived life stress had higher resilience scores. Implications for child welfare practice, policy, theory, and research advance knowledge about young adults in transition from out-of-home care.
2017
The capacity for a young adult to develop and overcome obstacles in life underpins the concept of resilience building (Gilligan, 1997). A key role of the social care worker is to ensure that young adults growing up in the care system are afforded the best possible outcomes. This includes social care workers helping young people build their resilience in preparation for the transition into independent living and aftercare. The research reported here examines the experiences and perspectives of two residential social care workers regarding the promotion of resilience amongst young people transitioning from residential care to independent living. From analysis of the data collected, three themes were identified: the importance of a secure base, maintaining consistent and long-term relationships and challenges faced by social care workers in building the resilience of care leavers. Findings concur with previous research, which identified the importance of young people having a secure base in their lives as well as longterm relationships as a source of support to aid them in their transition from care to independence. This research in exploring some of the challenges of helping build the resilience of care leavers highlights the possible value of allowing young people to engage in positive risk taking opportunities in order to build important life skills for independent living.
A strong future for young people leaving out-of-home care
Young people leaving care or who have left care are over-represented in the statistics on homelessness, early school leaving and contact with the criminal justice system. They are also more likely to have children at an early age and are at greater risk of having their own child taken into care. Improving outcomes for young people who are leaving care requires a dual focus on improving the quality of care and providing better support to young people as they are transitioning from care. Uniting (formerly UnitingCare Children Young People and Families) has conducted a review of Australian and international policy and program approaches relevant to improving outcomes for young people who are transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) to adulthood. This paper sets out the key learnings from this review. The paper focuses on the policy changes needed for young people who are transitioning from care across the leaving and aftercare phases. It includes a six-point plan to improve outcomes for young people who are transitioning from OOHC to adulthood. While the paper focuses particularly on the NSW policy context it will also have relevance to readers in other Australian states and territories.