Abstract
De-institutionalization and a transition to family-based alternatives have long been the answers to all issues raised against residential care of at-risk children by child welfare advocates in India. Despite the innumerable developmental benefits of family-based substitute care, complete eradication of child-care institutions from the national scenario has multiple practical constraints. Given these limitations, building resilience among institutionalized children has been considered a worthier goal for intervention. Unfortunately, the area has not received much attention, and only limited investigations have targeted this sub-set of the population. This grounded theory study aimed to theorize pathways through which orphaned adolescents within institutional care navigate to achieve positive adaptation. Purposive sampling resulted in interviews with 28 adolescents (16 males and 12 females) between 14 and 23 years old. Findings reveal that a desire to break through adversity was found to be at the core for enhancing the protective value of resources encountered post-institutional admission. It was found to be a direct consequence of adversity struck childhood and exerted its protective influence in initially maintaining children at the institution as well as in their long-term adjustment. Further, environmental resources were found to have primacy in fostering positive outcomes by tapping on one’s helplessness and re-awakening the latent desire to break through adversity. The findings are significant because prior research has not focused on identifying the protective route fostering positive outcomes among institutionalized adolescents. It is concluded that given specific reforms, institutional care holds the potential to offer just what the at-risk residents desire when other options are unfeasible.