Abstract:
The transition to independent living is a challenging phase for youths who grow up in residential care. The vulnerability of the care leaving population is widely acknowledged in care leaving research. In addition to the transitioning challenges that face care leavers globally, South African care leavers are faced with contextual disadvantages that increase their vulnerability. These include limited formal support services, high levels of unemployment and many family related problems that can be accounted for by the apartheid legacy. This paper presents qualitative findings of the resilience processes of young women who have left the care Child and Youth Care Centres in Gauteng, South Africa. Nine young women, aged 21 years and above, who had disengaged from the care of different CYCCs four to six years prior to the research were purposively sampled for the study. Grounded theory methods were used to analyse the data and gain insights into the social-ecological resilience processes that facilitate successful journeying towards independent living. With the resilience perspective as a theoretical lens, this paper presents the processes which the young women actively engage in, that appear to be central in facilitating a successful journey towards independent living. Eight social processes emerge as contributing to the successful transitioning of young women out of residential care. A separation is made between the social processes that appear as unique to the journey of young women and those that reflect the young men’s journey. Four social processes that emerge as unique to the young women’s journey are: taking on responsibilities, embracing motherhood, living in faith and cultivating gratitude. The other four social processes which are consistent with van Breda’s findings, and therefore appear to facilitate the resilience of both young men and young women are: striving for authentic belonging, networking people for goal attainment, building hopeful and tenacious self-confidence and contextualised responsiveness. `The notion of success is also conceptualised as process that may take as long as a life time rather than a state. This study makes a contribution to the body of literature on women leaving care which is a research area that has formerly received little attention. The study is also useful in informing local policy, social work interventions, particularly those that will focus on enhancing the resilience of young people in care as well as further research.