Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T03:03:20.438Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Exploration of Complex Longitudinal Relationships Between Care Factors and Post-Care Outcomes in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2018

Adrian D. van Breda
Adrian D. van Breda*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa
*
address for correspondence: Prof Adrian D. van Breda, professor of social work, Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research on young people transitioning out of the childcare system and into young adulthood is inevitably reductionist in that it is unable to take into account the many complex forces that play a role in the development of a child from birth, into and through the care system and on to adulthood. Consequently, studies on the outcomes of care-leavers need to be interpreted with care and thought. This paper serves to illustrate these challenges in research and the various ways that research results can be interpreted by drawing on data from a study being conducted in a residential care programme in South Africa. Demographic, pre-care and in-care variables of a sample of care-leavers are compared with a set of independent living outcome variables a year after aging out of care. Unanticipated results are contrasted with those that were anticipated, and multiple interpretations of the same results are provided. Because of this, the author calls for judicious and humble use of research results when making judgements about the outcomes of care-leavers and the effectiveness of child welfare interventions.

Keywords

residential careleaving careoutcomesindependent livingSouth Africa
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 43 , Special Issue 2: Understanding Outcomes for Care Experienced Children , June 2018 , pp. 152 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainsworth, F., & Hansen, P. (2014). Family foster care: Can it survive the evidence? Children Australia, 39 (2), 87–92. doi: 10.1017/cha.2014.5.Google Scholar
Batista-Calderbank, T. (2011). Measuring implementation fidelity in independent living programs (ILPs) for youth leaving care: A systematic review of the literature. MSc, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Becvar, R. J., & Becvar, D. S. (2018). Systems theory and family therapy: A primer. Lanham: Hamilton Books.Google Scholar
Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18 (2), 76–82.Google Scholar
Courtney, M. E., & Hook, J. L. (2017). The potential educational benefits of extending foster care to young adults: Findings from a natural experiment. Children and Youth Services Review, 72, 124–132. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.09.030.Google Scholar
Department for Education. (2017). Children looked after in England (including adoption) year ending 31 March 2017. London: Department for Education.Google Scholar
Dickens, L. F. (2017). One-year outcomes of youth exiting a residential care facility in South Africa. Child & Family Social Work. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12411.Google Scholar
Dixon, J. (2008). Young people leaving care: Health, well-being and outcomes. Child and Family Social Work, 13, 207–217.Google Scholar
Dworsky, A., White, C. R., O'Brien, K., Pecora, P., Courtney, M., Kessler, R., . . . Hwang, I. (2010). Racial and ethnic differences in the outcomes of former foster youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 32 (6), 902–912. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.03.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, C. (2016). Compassionate research: Interviewing and storytelling from a relational ethics of care. In Goodson, I., Antikainen, A., Sikes, P. & Andrews, M. (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook on narrative and life history (pp. 431–445). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fernandez, E., Lee, J.-S., Blunden, H., McNamara, P., Kovacs, S., & Cornefert, P. A. (2016). No child should grow up like this: Identifying long term outcomes of Forgotten Australians, Child Migrants and the Stolen Generations. Kensington: University of New South Wales.Google Scholar
Hudson, W. W. (1982). The clinical measurement package: A field manual. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.Google Scholar
Loffell, J. (2007). Monitoring the situation of children in statutory care. In Dawes, A., Bray, R., & Van der Merwe, A. (Eds.), Monitoring child-well-being: A South African rights-based approach (pp. 293–327). Cape Town, RSA: Human Sciences Research Council.Google Scholar
McSherry, D., & Fargas Malet, M. (2017). Family foster care: Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Children Australia, 42 (3), 217–221. doi: 10.1017/cha.2017.23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McSherry, D., Fargas Malet, M., & Weatherall, K. (2016). Comparing long-term placements for young children in care: Does placement type really matter? Children and Youth Services Review, 69, 56–66. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.07.021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendes, P., Johnson, G., & Moslehuddin, B. (2011). Young people leaving state out-of-home care. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing.Google Scholar
Mendes, P., & Moslehuddin, B. (2009). Transitioning from state care to state prison: A critical analysis of the relationship between leaving out of home care and involvement in the criminal justice system. Social Alternatives, 28 (3), 51–56.Google Scholar
Mendes, P., & Snow, P. (2016). Introduction. In Mendes, P. & Snow, P. (Eds.), Young people transitioning from care: International research, policy and practice (pp. xxxi–xli). London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Mmusi, F. I., & van Breda, A. D. (2017). Care-leavers’ transfer of social skills from care into independent living in South Africa. Children and Youth Services Review, 81, 350–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okpych, N. J., & Courtney, M. E. (2014). Does education pay for youth formerly in foster care? Comparison of employment outcomes with a national sample. Children and Youth Services Review, 43, 18–28. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.04.013.Google Scholar
Pett, M. A. (2016). Nonparametric statistics for health care research: Statistics for small samples and unusual distributions (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
StatsSA. (2017). Quarterly labour force survey quarter 4, 2016. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.Google Scholar
Stein, M. (2012). Young people leaving care: Supporting pathways to adulthood. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Google Scholar
Stewart, C. J., Kum, H.-C., Barth, R. P., & Duncan, D. F. (2014). Former foster youth: Employment outcomes up to age 30. Children and Youth Services Review, 36, 220–229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.11.024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tregeagle, S. (2017). Weighing up the evidence and local experience of residential care. Children Australia, 42 (4), 240–247. doi: 10.1017/cha.2017.36.Google Scholar
United Nations. (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. Geneva: United Nations General Assembly.Google Scholar
van Breda, A. D. (2017). The Youth Ecological-Resilience Scale: A partial validation. Research on Social Work Practice, 27 (2), 248–257.Google Scholar
van Breda, A. D. (2018). The first two years out of residential care in South Africa: A critical period for care-leaving services. Child Welfare, 95 (6), 71–90.Google Scholar
van Breda, A. D., & Dickens, L. F. (2016). Young people transitioning from residential care in South Africa: Welfare contexts, resilience, research and practice. In Mendes, P. & Snow, P. (Eds.), Young people transitioning from care: International research, policy and practice (pp. 349–366). London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
van Breda, A. D., & Dickens, L. F. (2017). The contribution of resilience to one-year independent living outcomes of care-leavers in South Africa. Children and Youth Services Review, 83, 264–273.Google Scholar
Williamson, J., & Greenberg, A. (2010). Families, not orphanages. New York: Better Care Network.Google Scholar
Yelick, A. (2017). Research review: Independent living programmes: The influence on youth ageing out of care (YAO). Child & Family Social Work, 22 (1), 515–526. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar