Experiences of Young People Preparing to Transition Out of Cluster Foster Care in South Africa
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Experiences of Young People Preparing to Transition Out of Cluster Foster Care in South Africa Monica Goemans1 · Adrian D. van Breda2 · Shose Kessi1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Research on young people transitioning out of care due to reaching the age of majority (referred to as care-leaving or aging out of care) is still emerging in South Africa. To date, almost all research on leaving care has focused on the transition out of residential care, with little attention to the transition out of foster care, including cluster foster care (roughly equivalent to group homes in other countries). This paper aims to describe the experiences of youth preparing to age out of cluster foster care in South Africa. Individual interviews were conducted with nine youth preparing to leave a cluster foster organization called Home from Home. In addition, a semi-structured focus group was run with six of their foster mothers. Thematic analysis generated four themes: the desire for independence; the centrality of meeting material and physical needs at the time of transition; the continuity of emotional care during the transition; and the supported development of the capacity for self-determination. Self-determination theory, ambiguous loss and ubuntu (or interdependence) were found to be useful theories to interpret the findings. Recommendations are proposed to better prepare foster children for leaving care and for creating a social environment that is receptive to and conducive for foster care-leavers. Keywords Foster care · Group home care · Youth · Aging out of care · Leaving care · South Africa Over a third of a million South African children are formally placed in foster care (meaning family care) through the Children’s Court, accounting for about 2% of the child population of 19.6 million (Hall, 2019). Parental death accounts for a large number of children in care, since 14% of South African children have lost one or both parents (Hall & Sambu, 2018). A far smaller number of children are placed in residential care settings—estimated at 21,000 (Jamieson, 2017). At age 18 (or up to 21 if they are continuing with their education) (RSA, 2007), young people are expected to transition out of care, resulting in large numbers of careleavers migrating into the general population each year. This
* Adrian D. van Breda [email protected] Monica Goemans [email protected] Shose Kessi [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
2
study is interested in a subset of these young people; those preparing to leave cluster foster care. While research on care-leaving is well developed in many parts of the world, as evidenced in a number of international comparative texts (e.g., Mendes & Snow, 2016; Stein & Munro, 2008), South African research is still in its childhood, with the first publication emerging only in 2003 and a noticeable upsurge in research only since 2012 (V
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