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Poverty to more poverty: An evaluation of transition services provided to adolescent girls from two institutions in Zimbabwe
... Nonetheless, it is a crucial process that depends on the preparedness of an individual as well as the support mechanisms put in place to sustain life after exiting institutions. While many organizations such as Non-Governmental Oganizations (NGOs) complement governmental efforts within the institutions of care and even for care leavers (Daly, 2012;Bond, 2018;Holt and Kirwan, 2012;Van Breda, 2018), the flaws in preparing young people with disabilities to exit care facilities are glaring in Zimbabwe and other resourceconstrained countries of Africa (Van Breda, 2018;Chakwati, 2016;Mhongera, 2016;Gwenzi, 2014). Importantly, the programs institutions of care are aimed at providing primary care for those in need of care and to provide a safe environment for the children in need of care -children with disabilities included (Ministry of Labor and Social Services, 2011b;FrimpongManso, 2010;Lombard and Mhongera, 2014;Bond, 2018). ...
... This entails that for a sustainable transition to adulthood, there is a need for a participatory approach to the care plans which might foster independence. Care leaving is a process that requires much therapeutic intervention and if not properly arranged often leads to a dependent transition to adulthood (Bond and Van Breda, 2018;Mhongera, 2016;Dziro and Rufurwokuda, 2013;FrimpongManso, 2016). Such a process of care leaving is largely related to issues of participation and sustainability of the care plans from the day of inception to the day of exiting care (Bond, 2015;Bailey, Loehrke, and French, 2011). ...
... Zimbabwe as a nation has been supporting children in institutions of care through governmental and non-governmental efforts as evidenced by her commitments to different initiatives and treaties crafted by the United Nations (Gwenzi, 2015;Lombard and Mhongera, 2016 still dependent on the institutions of care for daily survival with some still being discriminated against in their societies. Through discrimination, young people with disabilities' access to opportunities is limited as they are subjected to negative attitudes which do not foster integration within the society (Bond and Van Breda, 2018;Rogers, 2011;Tanur, 2012;Mhongera, 2016). ...
This paper identified the flaws in preparing children with disabilities for life after institutional care living in Zimbabwe. With the utility of a qualitative paradigm, the study discovered that institutions of care have limited choices for vocational skills training courses due to financial paucity. The paucity of financial resources has also been found to compromise the effectiveness of preparing children with disabilities for life after institutional care. The findings revealed that there are also inherent systemic weaknesses and loopholes in the design of care plans which cast a shadow of confusion on the reintegration process. Limited family support and involvement were also found to weaken the acceptability and simulation of these children into the community. The discussion through social work lenses recommended immense advocacy for the participation of children with disabilities together with their families in the preparation of care plans to ensure inclusion and sustainable reintegration. Furthermore, the paper pushes for closer monitoring and evaluation of institutional care facilities to guarantee alignment and compliance of care plans with national policy frameworks that guide the placement and reintegration of youth with disabilities back into the community.
... There is some evidence to suggest care leavers in Zimbabwe face challenging transitions from care into independence and adulthood (Gwenzi 2018). Mhongera and Lombard (2016) described youths who are leaving care and becoming even more vulnerable. The lack of support after leaving care has been observed as the biggest challenge for adult care leavers in sub-Saharan Africa (Van Breda and Frimpong-Manso 2020). ...
... Community transition services which will enable CLTs to complete their education and achieve better outcomes were recommended. Mhongera and Lombard (2016) also assessed transition programs in two Zimbabwean institutions, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) run facility and state-run facility. Having secure accommodation was one of the markers of successful transitions from the state-run institution. ...
... Having secure accommodation was one of the markers of successful transitions from the state-run institution. According to Mhongera and Lombard (2016), both groups of participants viewed the need to achieve sustainable livelihoods through livelihood assets, e.g. human, social, physical, financial and natural, accessed through the provision of services and support. ...
Care leaver transitions from care have attracted a great deal of scholarly attention in the Global North. More recently, scholars from the Global South have begun documenting care leavers' experiences, and the evidence suggests their outcomes are largely negative. In Zimbabwe, institutionalisation is still a common form of child welfare for young people without family care, yet a handful of studies exist on the institutional care experiences. This paper presents findings from a study on care leavers' (n ¼ 15) experiences of transitional housing at three institutions in Zimbabwe. Using the social sustainability conceptual framework, the study found that transitional housing offers continuity of care, relationships, and a smoother, gradual transition from care to independence. However, care leavers feared that transitional housing was temporary and their basic needs were not always met. The study makes recommendations for aftercare policy and transitional services provision for care leavers in Zimbabwe.
... Ineffective transition care appeared to increase adolescent girls' vulnerability to poverty and gender inequality. 19 In a Polish survey of young adults with autism spectrum disorder, high cost and unavailability were the most frequently reported barriers to services. 20 In Zambia, when the studied intervention did not show widespread impact on the cultural norms that lead to adolescent vulnerability, the authors hypothesised that one limitation to sustained programmatic success was the need for more tailored interventions based on individual and community needs. ...
... Significant financial insecurity post-transition made them vulnerable to experiencing homelessness and abuse. 19 Interviews of caregivers for adolescents with childhood-onset neurological conditions in Guatemala revealed that targeted transition care is more effective when understanding the impact of disability on economic resources. 22 When families had greater resources, more long-term emphasis on educational and professional development of the adolescents were exhibited. ...
... 21 In Zimbabwe, providing young adolescent girls with bank accounts and curriculum on financial empowerment appeared to be key in perceived improvement in health and quality of life. 19 Culturally sensitive measurement, evaluation and validation An important consideration in this review, with a majority of non-English-speaking patients, was methodological assessment, including language validation of surveys used and culturally sensitive measurement of programme implementation. Successful qualitative methodology approaches for equitable data collection and analysis included sustainable livelihood approach, 20 purposeful sampling with maximum diversity approach, 13 20 constructivist grounded theory framework 22 and relational worldview framework. ...
Background
Ageing into adulthood is challenging at baseline, and doing so with a chronic disease can add increased stress and vulnerability. Worldwide, a substantial care gap exists as children transition from care in a paediatric to adult setting. There is no current consensus on safe and equitable healthcare transition (HCT) for patients with chronic disease in resource-denied settings. Much of the existing literature is specific to HIV care. The objective of this narrative review was to summarise current literature related to adolescent HCT not associated with HIV, in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and other resource-denied settings, in order to inform equitable health policy strategies.
Methods
A literature search was performed using defined search terms in PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases to identify all peer-reviewed studies published until January 2020, pertaining to paediatric to adult HCT for adolescents and young adults with chronic disease in resource-denied settings. Following deduplication, 1111 studies were screened and reviewed by two independent reviewers, of which 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Resulting studies were included in thematic analysis and narrative synthesis.
Results
Twelve subthemes emerged, leading to recommendations which support equitable and age-appropriate adolescent care. Recommendations include (1) improvement of community health education and resilience tools for puberty, reproductive health and mental health comorbidities; (2) strengthening of health systems to create individualised adolescent-responsive policy; (3) incorporation of social and financial resources in the healthcare setting; and (4) formalisation of institution-wide procedures to address community-identified barriers to successful transition.
Conclusion
Limitations of existing evidence relate to the paucity of formal policy for paediatric to adult transition in LMICs for patients with childhood-onset conditions, in the absence of a diagnosis of HIV. With a rise in successful treatments for paediatric-onset chronic disease, adolescent health and transition programmes are needed to guide effective health policy and risk reduction for adolescents in resource-denied settings.
... Research on care-leaving in the Global South is limited but growing (Van Breda and Dickens 2016, Van Breda 2018c, with 11 journal publications or book chapters from Africa north of South Africa (Diraditsile and Nyadza 2018, Dziro and Rufurwokuda 2013, Frimpong-Manso 2012, Mhongera and Lombard 2016, Muguwe et al. 2011, Pryce et al. 2016) and 18 from South Africa (Bond 2018, Dickens 2017, Maposa and Louw-Potgieter 2012, Mmusi and Van Breda 2017, Muller, Jansen van Rensburg, and Makobe 2003, Nurcombe-Thorne, Nadesan, and Van Breda 2018, Pinkerton 2011, Tanur 2012, Van Breda 2014, 2018b, a, c, Van Breda and Dickens 2015. This body of research shows similar findings to those of the Global North, though in the context of severely under-developed policies and services to care-leavers, and adverse socioeconomic contexts for youth. ...
... Furthermore, their study was unable to uncover meaningful gender explanations of these outcome differences. There are studies that focus on the experiences of female care-leavers (Dutta 2016, Dziro and Rufurwokuda 2013, Mhongera and Lombard 2016, Takele 2017, but none of these compare these experiences with those of male care-leavers. ...
Among the many youth transitioning to young adulthood, a group that has been found to be particularly vulnerable is young people transitioning out of care, particularly residential care. Research on this population of youth has burgeoned over the past few decades, but in South Africa it remains limited. This article focuses on the resilience processes that facilitate better transitions of young women out of care and towards independent living. It replicates the research design of a previous study with young men, with the aim of determining to what extent the resilience process of young women are similar to those of men. A sample of nine women was purposively selected, interviewed in-depth and data analysed using grounded theory methods. The findings indicate that the same resilience process found among male care-leavers are evident also in the narratives of female care-leavers, confirming the findings of the previous study. However, these processes had a slightly stronger relational focus among women than was seen among men. The authors conclude that similar resilience-building programmes can be implemented to prepare both males and females for leaving care.
... In care, they have access to resources (e.g., quality of education) unavailable to many children in poor homes (Cooper, 2008). However, leaving care creates vulnerabilities for young people, because they return to the same deprived contexts that brought them into care, with little or no support (Mhongera & Lombard, 2016). The residential facilities are unable to offer aftercare support owing to human and financial constraints (Dickens, 2016). ...
... However, they have difficulties in getting jobs because they lack social connections (Pryce et al., 2015;Van Dam, Pouw, Aboua, & Koffi, 2017;Ucembe, 2013). Not having jobs affects their ability to meet their housing, education, and health needs, forcing some to turn to crime and prostitution to survive (Mhongera & Lombard, 2016). ...
Each year, some young people leave children's homes or orphanages in Ghana to start life on their own. However, little is known about their challenges and the factors that influence their coping mechanisms. Data were collected through interviews with 23 care leavers and analysed using the framework analysis. The findings show that the care leavers were experiencing challenges with employment, housing, and social integration. Risk factors included having inadequate social and cultural skills and leaving care without employment. The protective factors that influenced the participants' ability to cope with challenges after leaving care were social support and self-reliance. Recommendations for practice and policy include extending services for young people leaving care, having a national campaign to reduce stigma towards care leavers, and ensuring adequate cultural socialisation for children and young people in residential care facilities.
... Generally, research has shown that care leavers experience unfavorable long-term outcomes (Bondi et al. 2020;Howard et al. 2023a;McGuire et al. 2021;Neville et al. 2023), particularly those who spent time in residential care centers (van IJzendoorn et al. 2020). These challenges can include poorer physical and mental health, risk-taking behavior, high rates of incarceration, suicidality, addiction, homelessness, and unstable employment (Berejena Mhongera and Lombard 2016;Berlin et al. 2011;Diraditsile and Nyadza 2018;Palmer et al. 2022;Neville et al. 2023;Sekibo 2020; Sulimani-Aidan 2017a; Wilke et al. 2020). Additionally, these adults often struggle with social relationships and lack social support, which has a significant influence on their mental and physical health (Howard et al. 2023b;Huppert 2009;Melkman and Benbenishty 2018;Tay et al. 2013). ...
Adults with care experience have elevated rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and a greater likelihood of poor outcomes. Some research has examined how protective factors and resilience impact outcomes among care leavers, but few studies include those from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Further, little work has examined the interactive impact of protective factors and resilience in this population. We investigated (a) the prevalence of ACEs among care leavers from LMICs, the mediating roles of (b) resilience and (c) individual and relational protective factors on the relationship between ACEs and life satisfaction, and (d) whether mediation was occurring both in parallel and sequentially. Five hundred forty-two care leavers from twelve LMICs completed an online survey. Participants completed the Brief Resilience Scale, ACEs Questionnaire, and open-ended questions regarding care experiences. Open-ended questions were coded for protective factors. There was a high prevalence of ACEs among care leavers. The relationship between ACEs and life satisfaction was partially mediated by resilience. Individual and relational protective factors partially mediated the relationship between ACEs and life satisfaction. Finally, resilience and protective factors partially mediated the relationship between ACEs and life satisfaction in both parallel and sequential mediation among care leavers from LMICs. Protective factors operate interactively to influence resilience, increasing life satisfaction among care leavers from LMICs.
... Kennedy, through the analysis of Kenya's ecological environment system, points out that it is necessary to adopt a suitable way of life in order to enable resettlers to achieve a sustainable life (Kimiti, 2018). In Mhongera's view, since underage girls are further impoverished because of the low level of government services and funding, the government should allocate sufficient funds to provide them with a full range of services and support measures, to help them earn sustainable livelihoods (Mhongera, 2016). As for the research on the resettlement of hydropower projects, the research of foreign scholars mainly focuses on the severe challenges to the economic and social sustainability of the reservoir basin after the relocation of reservoir resettlement (Downing, 2002;Singh and Hiremath, 2010;Zhang et al., 2013;Babu and Datta, 2016), as well as the considerable impacts of the relocation of the reservoir on various aspects such as the environment (Tan and Yao, 2006;Singer and Watanabe, 2014). ...
Introduction: The study of sustainable livelihoods for reservoir resettlers is of great significance for consolidating the poverty alleviation achievements of China and promoting the realization of the major strategy of China’s rural revitalization.
Methods: On the basis of the Sustainable Livelihood Analysis Framework of the UK Agency for International Development and the general requirements of the rural revitalization strategy on industry, ecology, rural ethos, governance and life, this paper selects the material basis, living environment and Social Adaptability which are more close to China’s national conditions and can more accurately measure the resettlers’ livelihood. These three factors have established a Comprehensive Evaluation Index System for the sustainable livelihood of the reservoir resettlers. A mathematical model based on complex fuzzy matter-element and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is established to assess the sustainable livelihood of reservoir resettlers. Furthermore, it conducts an empirical study on the resettlement of the Danjiangkou Henan Reservoir area of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which takes the whole of immigration in Henan Province as the research object.
Results: The results show that the current survey value of the overall livelihood of the resettlers in the Danjiangkou Henan Reservoir Area of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is 0.0085 lower than the maintaining livelihood target and 0.1725 lower than the sustainable livelihood target. Such a result indicates that the livelihood of Henan resettlers in the Danjiangkou Henan Reservoir Area of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has reached a sustainable level overall, but its gap with the sustainable livelihood goal remains obvious, which is primarily demonstrated by economic foundation and social adaptability.
Discussion: Therefore, immigration management agencies should make efforts to adjust the industrial structure, increase the income of resettlers, help resettlers integrate into the local society sooner, and promote the sustainable development of resettlers’ livelihoods.
... The vulnerability of care-leavers is consistently reported in literature (Berejena Mhongera & Lombard, 2016;Palmer et al., 2022a;Takele & Kotecho, 2020). While integrated efforts of various professionals contribute to the alleviation of risk factors associated with growing up in care (Kor et al., 2021;Yubero et al., 2019), care-leaving studies typically report poor outcomes during the transition from care to independent adulthood (Dickens & Marx, 2018;Heerde et al., 2018), which can be attributed to insufficient preparation. ...
Institutional Barriers to Affording Managed Opportunities for Independence in Residential Care: Perceptions and Experiences of Child and Youth Care Workers.
Authors:
Hlungwani, Joyce1 (AUTHOR) misavenijoy@gmail.com
Source:
Residential Treatment for Children & Youth. 2024, Vol. 41 Issue 3, p390-410. 21p.
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*CHILD care workers
*RESIDENTIAL care
*YOUNG adults
*INSTITUTIONAL care of children
*CHILD care
Geographic Terms:
SOUTH Africa
Author-Supplied Keywords:
Child and youth care
managed opportunities for independence
residential care
resilience
NAICS/Industry Codes:
623999 All other residential care facilities
623990 Other Residential Care Facilities
623220 Residential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities
Abstract:
The importance of preparing young people for independent adulthood is widely acknowledged in care-leaving literature. Within the residential care setting, child and youth care workers play a crucial role in preparing young people for life after care, by affording them managed opportunities for independence. However, preparation generally receives limited attention in residential care, due to institutional factors that hinder preparation. Research that focuses on the experiences of child and youth care workers who work with children in residential care is also limited, despite their contribution to preparing young people for independent functioning. This paper aims to describe institutional barriers experienced by child and youth care workers in their efforts to afford young people in care, managed opportunities for independence. A qualitative, grounded theory methodology was employed to collect and analyze data. Nine child and youth care workers were purposively sampled from several Child and Youth Care Centres in South Africa. Findings indicate that lack of professional credibility, inadequate mandate, possible negative consequences for child and youth care workers, and funding constraints are barriers to the practice of managed opportunities for independence in residential care. Implications for residential care program and child and youth care practice are set out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Residential Treatment for Children & Youth is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Author Affiliations:
1Department of Social Work & Community Development, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
Full Text Word Count:
9344
ISSN:
0886-571X
DOI:
10.1080/0886571X.2023.2271838
Accession Number:
177738952
... The vulnerability of care-leavers (Mendes et al., 2011) stems from a pileup of vulnerabilities over both time and context rather than merely as a result of the actual transition out of care, as evidenced by a growing body of research in Africa (Frimpong-Manso, 2020;Luboyera, 2014;Mhongera & Lombard, 2016;Nshinyimana, 2014;Roeber, 2011;Sekibo, 2020;Takele et al., 2021;Ucembe, 2013). This pileup begins in childhood, through exposure to adversity in the family origin, which ultimately leads to the child's removal from parental care. ...
This chapter focuses on youth transitions, in particular young people aging out of care into young adulthood. It emphasizes resilience as a set of interactions between people and other people and systems, located within the person-in-environment framework common to social work. Several studies by academics and students on care-leaving in South Africa are used to illustrate how resilience can helpfully be thought of as interactional, rather than only personal or only environmental. Drawing on this body of research, this chapter presents a model of interactional resilience for fostering a resilience-enabling interactive social environment for care-leavers that can be applied at micro, meso and macro levels and that is of relevance to all youth in transition from childhood to adulthood.
... Broadly, individuals with alternative care experience tend to have poorer outcomes in adulthood. They have higher rates of criminal activity, unemployment, homelessness and poverty (Berejena Mhongera & Lombard, 2016;Diraditsile & Nyadza, 2018;Palmer et al., 2022;Sekibo, 2020;Sulimani-Aidan, 2017). Adults who experienced alternative care as children are more likely to attempt suicide and abuse substances (Berlin et al., 2011), have lower life satisfaction and subjective well-being (Llosada-Gistau et al., 2015;Pound & Sims-Schouten, 2022;Refaeli et al., 2019). ...
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with a plethora of negative outcomes. Research has also found that adults who were separated from parental care and lived in alternative care settings during childhood have high levels of ACEs and are more likely to have poor outcomes. A growing body of research has supported the importance of attachment as a mechanism underlying the relationship between ACEs and adult wellbeing. However, little work has examined the role that attachment may play in the outcomes of adults who resided in residential and foster care during childhood. The current study examined the role of attachment avoidance and anxiety in the associations between ACEs and mental health, physical health, and life satisfaction in a sample of 529 adults with alternative care experience from 11 nations. Attachment avoidance partially mediated the relationship between ACEs and life satisfaction, mental health, and physical health. Attachment anxiety partially mediated the relationship between ACEs and life satisfaction and mental health, but not physical health. Taken together, the present study suggests that both attachment anxiety and avoidance play important, but unique, roles in understanding the relationship between ACEs and health and wellbeing for adults with care experience. Implications and limitations are discussed.
... These priority social services are identified by surveys of stakeholders who are able to comment on the determinants of workers' living standards. We will use proxies representing certain social services deemed important [11,63]. ...
(1) Background: In Southern countries, companies that employ a large number of workers are concerned with poverty reduction, which is the priority of their CSR policy. The banana sector has made great efforts to calculate a “living wage”, but this is not sufficient. How do we assess a decent living standard in Southern countries, where basic social needs are rarely covered by the public authorities? (2) Methods: the selection and analysis of the living standard assessment methods are based on a systematic review of the literature. (3) Results: We selected 427 references in total and classified them into 10 method families. Among them, we have not found a ready-to-use method. The paper therefore suggests an innovative methodology (CSDA) inspired by Townsend’s non-monetary deprivation score and by the importance of social norms and ties. Instead of using a list of goods to define a decent living standard, the new method relies on access to services proven to be important for public health by covering social needs. Moreover, this method is easy to implement for the private sector, highlights the priority social needs for workers on which the company can act with its CSR policy, and allows for cross-country comparison. (4) Conclusions: This last point is crucial for the producers’ commercial negotiations with large-scale distribution and also to prevent the flight of workers to other activities or competitors. With regard to poverty alleviation, it will depend on how the company uses the results of the CSDA assessment.
... According to Tanur (2012), many South African careleavers have no family to return to, but if they do, their families are often too poor to meet their needs. This is true for many care-leavers across the African continent, who transition to communities characterised by high levels of poverty, often with insufficient preparation and transitional support (Van Breda and Dickens, 2016;Mhongera and Lombard, 2016;Frimpong-Manso, 2018;Tekele and Kotecho, 2020). In such contexts, some degree of Despite this acknowledgement, there is limited research that looks at what CYCWs in residential care do to enhance young people's resilience. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of what the authors have termed, “managed opportunities for independence” (MOI) in building the resilience of young people in care.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a qualitative, grounded theory methodology. Nine child and youth care workers were purposively sampled from various child and youth and care centres in South Africa.
Findings
Findings indicate that MOI contribute to the development of resilience of young people in care.
Originality/value
Care-leaving literature recognizes that too much protection does not adequately prepare young people for independent living. There is also increasing attention to the resilience processes that enable care-leavers to thrive during the transition from care to independent living. However, there is limited empirical research that looks at how in-care programmes develop young people’s resilience. In addition, very little is said about what it means for child and youth care practice. This study’s focus on the contribution of “managed opportunities for independence” in building the resilience of young people in care provides a foundation for understanding the care-leaving process better.
... Mendes, Johnson, and Moslehuddin (2011) argued that youth transitioning out of care lack safety nets since their transition is abrupt, with expectations for accelerated independent living and immediate transition into adulthood. Mhongera and Lombard (2016) concluded, from a qualitative study undertaken in Zimbabwe with 32 adolescent girls who had either transitioned and/or were transitioning out of CYCCs, that due to inadequate and fragmented services, the youth were subjected to increased poverty and negative livelihood outcomes. ...
Informed by the qualitative method and the descriptive-interpretive design, this study, which was underscored by radical humanist goals of structural social work, reflects the voices of 16 youth who had transitioned out of care. The results show that emerging adults, transitioning out of care, are vulnerable and in need of support. This article discusses three main themes derived via an inductive approach: the influence of sociocultural networks, connecting with family, and the multiple risk factors associated with getting into and out of care that compromise youth’s quest for security. The neoliberal discourse on independent living needs to shift to interdependence and Ubuntu. It is interdependence, not independence, that gives a human face to care leavers as service providers respond to their past trauma, present vulnerability, and future risks, while promoting family preservation and resourceful, caring communities. © 2018 Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood and SAGE Publishing.
... enjoy in care during their transition to adulthood, making them vulnerable to poverty and other challenges (Mhongera & Lombard, 2016;Pryce et al., 2015). ...
Emerging adulthood is the developmental period from 18 to 25 years of age when young people explore the possibilities of life with support from their parents. However, young people with an out-of-home care background usually navigate this life stage with little or no support. As a result, many care leavers experience poor outcomes including homelessness and low educational achievements. These narratives fuel low expectations and a negative stereotype toward care leavers. This study offers an alternative perspective by sharing positive stories of care leavers. Specifically, it explores the factors that promote the successful transition to emerging adulthood for care leavers in Ghana. Four key themes emerged from the thematic analysis: networks of social support, personal capacities, preparation for adulthood, and positive relationships. These are the factors facilitating the care leavers’ successful transition into emerging adulthood. The study has offered recommendations for policy-making and practice including extending the statutory leaving care age.
... Studies point to the importance of social support at this time (Adley and Jupp Kina, 2017;Mhongera and Lombard, 2016), with evidence that good social support can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful transitions for some young people ( Hiles et al., 2013). Indeed, in their review of literature on young people's experiences of social support during transition from care, Hiles et al. (2013Hiles et al. ( , p.2066 refer to 'the crucial role of social support' for this cohort. ...
Policy in England and Ireland emphasizes the use of foster care for unaccompanied refugee minors (URM). Research has highlighted the predominantly positive experiences of young people in this form of care. Drawing on “recognition theory” (Honneth, 2012), this article examines the role of foster care in supporting URM transitions to adulthood. Young people are likely to have had traumatic and challenging experiences prior to their arrival in England and Ireland. They also face the challenge of settling into life in a new country, while often experiencing difficulties and stigma related to their identities as asylum seekers, but also as young people in care. Meanwhile, their transitions to adulthood are overshadowed by uncertainties about the future. Recognition theory identifies emotional, social, and legal recognition in human relationships as central to developing and maintaining people's well-being (Honneth, 2012; Warming, 2015). We argue that foster placements can provide the conditions necessary to support these three elements of recognition and, by doing so, can support transitions to adulthood. This argument is based on findings from two studies, in England (2012) and Ireland (2013), which explored experiences of URM in foster care.
... Thus, adolescent girls were vulnerable to poverty during care. Care leavers experienced increased poverty and social marginalisation compared with their counterparts in care because upon discharge they ceased to receive any services or support from institutions and the minimal services/support from the government were not adequate to sustain their livelihoods post institutional care (Berejena Mhongera & Lombard, 2016). To promote positive livelihood outcomes, the authors recommended the implementation of social and economic empowerment programmes for adolescent girls in the institutional context. ...
This article explores the perspectives and programme needs of transition service providers (institutions and the government) in preparing and supporting adolescent girls leaving institutional care in Harare, Zimbabwe. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with institutional staff from Institution A (government-owned) and Institution B (privately owned) and social services officers from the Department of Child Welfare and Probation Services. Service providers define successful transition programming as the provision of comprehensive services and support to facilitate the achievement of sustainable livelihoods beyond care and recommend the development of well-resourced transition models for adolescent girls leaving institutional care.
Examination of livelihood assets is crucial for displaced people as it informs effective resource allocation and support. This study investigates the livelihood decisions of households displaced by Nepal's Tanahu Hydropower Project using multinomial logistic regression to evaluate how different assets affect their choices. Data were obtained using questionnaires, with a total of 185 questionnaires used for the analysis in this study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. This study finds that physical assets substantially influence livelihood strategies, promoting diversification and nonfarming activities. Interestingly, social assets have a negative impact, whereas natural, financial, and human assets exert no significant effect. The study highlights the community's focus on economic stability, balancing immediate financial needs with long-term goals such as children's education. However, it reveals ongoing financial struggles, with an average daily income of only 1.962 USD and many households remaining in poverty, particularly those dependent on farming. The study also reflects on the mixed perceptions toward government policies, influenced by factors such as skill gaps and family aspirations. These findings provide essential insights for targeted support and resource allocation to displaced populations.
Research has found that individuals who were separated from parental care and experienced alternative care settings during childhood are more likely to have poor outcomes as adults. This highlights the importance of understanding factors that are related to resilience and well-being for care leavers. A growing body of research has supported the importance of spirituality in our understanding of resilience and well-being. However, little work to date has examined the relationship of spirituality to outcomes in care leavers. The current study investigated the relationships between spirituality, resilience, well-being, and health in a sample of 529 care leavers from 11 nations. It also examined how different themes of spirituality were related to specific outcome variables. Data revealed that spirituality was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, better mental and physical health, and more resilience even when accounting for current age, gender, age at separation, Human Development Index scores, and childhood adversity. Furthermore, findings indicate that different themes of spirituality are related to specific outcome variables, even when accounting for demographic information. Findings indicate that spirituality may play an important role in resilience and well-being for care leavers. Implications and limitations are discussed.
This qualitative study explored adolescent girls’ perspectives and programme needs as they transition from two institutions in Highfield, Harare, Zimbabwe. The study was guided by the sustainable livelihood and feminist theoretical frameworks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 adolescent girls (16 inside and 16 outside) from Institutions A and B. Focus group discussions were held with two groups of eight adolescent girls inside both institutions. Institutions A and B are run by the government and a non-governmental organisation respectively. Findings suggest that adolescent girls associate successful transitions with social, economic and emotional well-being. Thus, they need programmes that provide advocacy skills, relationship-building, educational support, accommodation, financial support, employment opportunities, family tracing and after-care support to address poverty and other social vulnerabilities after leaving care. The study concludes that adolescent girls are active agents of development capable of articulating their views and developmental needs. Thus, the researcher recommends their increased participation in transition planning and programming as well as the development of a support model that incorporates gender-specific concerns and needs addressing poverty in the institutional context.
A book review by Sonya Hunt, Senior Lecturer, Social Work Programme, University of Waikato, New Zealand.
This article uses data from a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to explore variation in the risk of legal involvement among youths who have aged out of the child welfare system. Employing latent class analysis, it empirically derives subgroups of youths with common or shared characteristics of risk. The analyses identify four distinct subgroups: the low-risk, moderate-risk, high-risk externalizing psychopathology, and high-risk drug culture groups. Multinomial logistic regressions show that contextual and dispositional factors predict group membership. Attention to the factors that distinguish the groups may attenuate the risk for legal involvement for youths aging out of the child welfare system.
Policies and procedures govern organizations whether they are private or public, for-profit or not-for-profit. Review of such policies and procedures are done periodically to ensure optimum efficiency within the organization. Framework analysis is a qualitative method that is aptly suited for applied policy research. Framework analysis is better adapted to research that has specific questions, a limited time frame, a pre-designed sample and a priori issues. In the analysis, data is sifted, charted and sorted in accordance with key issues and themes using five steps: familiarization; identifying a thematic framework; indexing; charting; and mapping and interpretation. Framework analysis provides an excellent tool to assess policies and procedures from the very people that they affect.
This paper picks up from Bynner's recent critique of the current formulation of emerging adulthood as presented in his recent exchange with Arnett in the Journal of Youth Studies (2005, volume 8(4) and 2006, volume 9(1)). It pays particular attention to the exclusion processes in education and the workplace that prevent young people in some socio-economic contexts from experiencing the developmental processes presumed to be of benefit to all ‘emerging adults’. In addition, an alternative to Arnett's psychological, free-choice model of emerging adulthood is offered that identifies the social and economic conditions that have produced the prolonged transition to adulthood. We argue that this hiatus in the life-course, which is increasingly referred to as emerging adulthood, can be better explained in terms of changing economic conditions leading to a lowering of the social status of the young that is contributing to increasingly precarious trajectories, and in terms of the decline in the social markers of adulthood associated with the individualization process. When these structural conditions are examined, it appears that Arnett's model ‘begs the question’ about emerging adulthood (i.e. takes for granted the very thing under contention), and mistakes the coping mechanisms of many young people for freely chosen options to delay their entry into adulthood.
A general inductive approach for analysis of qualitative evaluation data is described. The purposes for using an inductive approach are to (a) condense raw textual data into a brief, summary format; (b) establish clear links between the evaluation or research objectives and the summary findings derived from the raw data; and (c) develop a framework of the underlying structure of experiences or processes that are evident in the raw data. The general inductive approach provides an easily used and systematic set of procedures for analyzing qualitative data that can produce reliable and valid findings. Although the general inductive approach is not as strong as some other analytic strategies for theory or model development, it does provide a simple, straightforward approach for deriving findings in the context of focused evaluation questions. Many evaluators are likely to find using a general inductive approach less complicated than using other approaches to qualitative data analysis.
D. Wayne Osgood, E. Michael Foster, and Mark E. Courtney examine the transition to adulthood for youth involved in social service and justice systems during childhood and adolescence. They survey the challenges faced by youth in the mental health system, the foster care system, the juvenile justice system, the criminal justice system, and special education, and by youth with physical disabilities and chronic illness, as well as runaway and homeless youth.
One problem is that the services these vulnerable populations receive from these systems as children and adolescents often end abruptly as they transition to adulthood, even though the need for them continues. Youth must leave systems tailored for clients their age and, if they are eligible for further services at all, enter adult systems that are not equipped to address their needs. One exception is the special education system, whose services extend into early adulthood and are designed for individuals' needs.
The authors review current public policies directed toward vulnerable youth in transition and find problems in four areas: eligibility criteria that exclude youth from services that might benefit them, inadequate funding for transition services, a lack of coordination across service systems, and inadequate training about young-adult developmental issues for service professionals.
The authors then discuss policy options that can help create a developmentally appropriate and socially inclusive system of support for vulnerable youth. Among the options are strengthening all programs for youth in transition, improving the existing systems of care for children and adolescents, addressing the loss of access to services at the age of majority, and coordinating today's multiple systems into a single coherent system. The authors see heightened governmental interest in better supports for vulnerable young adults, both through expanding the federal role in their lives and through improving coordination of the systems that serve them. The Fostering Connections Act of 2008, for example, extended services to adolescents in foster care from the age of eighteen to the age of twenty-one.
Institutionalisation of children in need of care is widely recognised as inappropriate and potentially damaging. Studies have confirmed a higher prevalence of psychological disturbance in institutionalised children than in those raised in community settings. Dormitory style institutions produced a higher level of disturbance than family based units. In addition, institutionalised youth received little training in life-skills and were ill-prepared for the transition from the institution to the outside world. Overall, these findings suggest that the placement of children in residential care is potentially harmful and is a cost-ineffective strategy for addressing the orphan crisis in Africa. Ironically, many Western organisations have responded to the growing orphan crisis in Africa by initiating and/or supporting the construction of residential care institutions Although the Government of Zimbabwe has implemented a clearly defined orphan care policy which states that residential care should be regarded as a strategy of last resort, the number of institutions in Zimbabwe has doubled over the last decade. Studies have demonstrated that a majority of institutionalised children and youth have the possibility of being re-integrated with their families and communities but fail to do so because the responsible authorities lack the capacity to investigate their cases. Evangelical Christian organisations have been responsible for 90% of the new orphanages and incidentally more than half have been built in the dormitory style which denies children the experience of family life.
This article summarizes a much lengthier one that appeared in Prevention and Treatment. The earlier article grew out of a project initiated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The Positive Youth Development Evaluation project described why policy makers, practitioners, and prevention scientists advocated a shift in approach for how youth issues are addressed in this country. The Positive Youth Development Evaluation project sought to define how youth development programs have been defined in the literature and then to locate, through a structured search, strong evaluations of these programs and summarize the outcomes of these evaluations. In the current article, we explain why prevention has shifted from a single problem focus to a focus on factors that affect both positive and problem youth development, describe what is meant by positive youth development, and summarize what we know about the effectiveness of positive youth develop...
This article examines how poverty and inequality increase girls' vulnerability to HIV, and affect the ability of older women to care for AIDS sufferers. It outlines the responses of health providers and development organisations to the crisis, and recommends that gender and age analysis be integrated into health and development policy and practice.
The transition to adulthood has become a thriving area of research in life course studies. This review is organized around two of the field's emerging themes. The first theme is the increasing variability in pathways to adult roles through historical time. The second theme is a heightened sensitivity to transition behaviors as developmental processes. Accounts of such processes typically examine the active efforts of young people to shape their biographies or the socially structured opportunities and limitations that define pathways into adulthood. By joining these concepts, I suggest new lines of inquiry that focus on the interplay between agency and social structures in the shaping of lives.
Gordon Brown has high and admirable aspirations for welfare reform. In his foreword to the recent Green Paper No-one written off he states these as being 'delivering personalised services tailored to individual needs, giving more freedom to frontline professionals and increasing people's control over the services and support they choose to access' (DWP, 2008, p 5). For such policies to be successful, it is essential to understand people's own strategies and aspirations, the assets they bring and the barriers they experience to achieving and sustaining work. This article is based on in-depth research carried out by Church Action on Poverty's 'Thrive' project and Oxfam with households experiencing long-term poverty in the North East of England since 2006, using an internationally recognised sustainable livelihoods approach.
This article describes the process that youth in a large residential out-of-home care program complete as they prepare for the transition into adulthood. This process is geared toward preparing these young people through a series of structured real-life activities and lessons. Results from a separate 5-year follow-up study indicate that those who completed this process report more positive functional outcomes than those who did not. Also addressed is the importance of effective after-care services to help these young adults maintain the gains established during treatment.
Young people transitioning from state out-of-home care are arguably one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society. Many have been found to experience significant health, social and educational deficits. Most western countries have now introduced specific policy and practice initiatives to improve the life chances of care leavers, but there have been varied conclusions about the efficacy of those programs. This paper argues that a community development support model based on a partnership between professional social welfare workers and local community networks is most likely to enhance opportunities for the social inclusion of care leavers. Particular reference is made to the leaving care and after care support program introduced by St Luke's Anglicare in the Australian rural city of Bendigo which has included key program initiatives around housing, employment and mentoring. Some conclusions are drawn based on the experiences of service users about ‘what works' in leaving care programs.
The failure of ‘blueprint’ development interventions to deliver substantive improvements in poverty reduction has been well recognised over the last twenty years. Process approaches seek to overcome the rigidity and top-down operation of much aid-funded intervention. Sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLA) are one of the latest additions to this family of approaches. As a theoretical framework and as a set of principles for guiding intervention, sustainable livelihoods thinking has implications for development management. Drawing on research exploring the application of sustainable livelihoods principles in 10 development interventions, this article considers how these principles have evolved from continuing debates surrounding process and people-centred (bottom-up) approaches to development management. This research suggests that whilst these principles can improve the impact made by interventions, the effective application of sustainable livelihoods and other process approaches are fundamentally restricted by unbalanced power relationships between development partners. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Malawian orphans and vulnerable children are becoming increasingly numerous and visible in the media and materials produced by non-governmental organisations. As a result, orphanages are proliferating to meet their needs. Drawing on data collected in three different orphanages, this paper reports some of the positive and negative outcomes of ‘institutionalising’ children in Malawi. Being designated an orphan is becoming a valued identity for some, and a source of vulnerability and exploitation for others. While institutions address material vulnerabilities, orphans and staff report that they can also lead to increased stigmatisation, struggles over belonging, and the disruption of community and family ties.
It is argued that the progress and resilience of young people in public care can be greatly enhanced by attention to the value of cultural, sporting and other activities in their lives. Sensitive mentoring of the young person in these activities by concerned adults – members of the child’s social network or volunteers – can foster the potential of the young person, build self-esteem, strengthen mental health and open new social relationships beyond the care system. A series of case illustrations are used to demonstrate how such involvement in activities can greatly improve the prospects for a more successful transition out of care. It is suggested that the potential of this neglected dimension of care can only be fully realized through alert professional practice, imaginative engagement with potential ‘natural’ mentors, supportive agency policy, effective care planning systems, and relevant training and professional supervision for social workers.
In response to incessant assaults by the Zimbabwean state's repressive apparatus, spearheaded by the urban planning system, youth in Harare have shifted their modes of resistance. The most successful forms of resistance appear to be those that are multifarious, non-confrontational and less docile. Empirical material from Harare suggests that the situation is best understood in the framework of more sophisticated conceptualizations of human agency and resistance than those proposed by modernist perspectives. It is shown that the resistance of the youth is about localized struggles that disrupt institutions and normalization. Arguing that the youth's continued occupation of contested urban spaces is a result of abandoning full-scale confrontation in favour of ‘resistance at the margins’, the article concludes that a postmodernist analysis best explains the youths' modes of resistance.
En réaction aux assauts continuels menés par l'appareil répressif étatique du Zimbabwe avec, en fer de lance, le système d'urbanisme, les jeunes de Harare ont changé de modes de résistance. Les formes les plus performantes semblent être celles qui sont plurielles, non conflictuelles et plus sages. Les données empiriques sur Harare suggèrent que la situation est mieux appréhendée dans le cadre de conceptualisations de l'agence humaine et de la résistance plus sophistiquées que celles que proposent les approches modernistes. Il est montré que la résistance des jeunes porte sur des luttes localisées qui perturbent institutions et normalisation. Le fait que les jeunes occupent en permanence les espaces urbains contestés reflète leur renonciation à une confrontation massive au profit d'une ‘résistance aux marges’. L'article conclut qu'une analyse postmoderniste explique plus clairement les modes de résistance de la jeunesse.
This paper examines the issues surrounding pubertal development in Africa by discussing the context of adolescent maturation, pubertal development and the global implications of traditional support systems for adolescents in Africa. Adolescent development in Africa with all its attendant risks and opportunities cannot be adequately understood without reference to cultural context, both past and present. Too frequently, issues surrounding human growth and development have been examined outside their cultural context. However, there is a growing awareness that the situational context must be taken into consideration in order to achieve adequate dynamic models of human development. The paper concludes by stating that the essential requirement for ensuring healthy adolescent development can be met through the joint effort of a number of pivotal institutions, namely, the family, traditional institutions and the school.
This study tested the feasibility of a combined microcredit and life-skills HIV prevention intervention among 50 adolescent female orphans in urban/peri-urban Zimbabwe. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected on intervention delivery, HIV knowledge and behavior, and economic indicators. The study also tested for HIV, HSV-2, and pregnancy. At 6 months, results indicated improvements in knowledge and relationship power. Because of the economic context and lack of adequate support, however, loan repayment and business success was poor. The results suggest that microcredit is not the best livelihood option to reduce risk among adolescent girls in this context.
The State of the World’s Children 2009 focuses on maternal and neonatal health and identifies the interventions and actions that must be scaled up to save lives.
This study examines the retrospective reports of alumni of Israeli group homes on their experiences of leaving care, taking into account possible gender differences as well as associations with their experiences while in care. The reports of 94 alumni (38 men and 56 women) interviewed by phone revealed major difficulties associated with the transition from the group home. About half perceived their transition from care as "quite hard" or "very hard". A fifth reported having no one to talk to during the first period of leaving care. Generally, the transition was more difficult for girls than boys. The longer the alumni (especially boys) stayed in care, the more difficult they found the transition to independent living. Better relationships between the child and the group-home parents while in care were associated with a more difficult transition to independent living. This study highlights the need for longer and more extensive preparation for leaving out-of-home care.
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