What is it about?
The journey care leavers make from care to independence is often a challenging one, especially in the absence of proper support. This paper presents residential caregivers' and social service professionals' perspectives of the transition from institutional care to independence. The study explored the services being provided to care leavers exiting the public child welfare system and what will be recommended to make transitions from care to independent living smoother for them in a developing country context.
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Why is it important?
Care leaver transitions from care have been studied widely in the Global North and there is still a dearth of information about care leavers in the Global South, particularly countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Care leavers face challenges moving out of care institutions globally, but this situation is made worse by the absence of aftercare policies and support in developing countries, such that they grow into more poverty and social exclusion after being cared for by the state. If this situation is to be addressed, there needs to be empirical evidence supporting the need for there to be more support services for care leavers in the developing country context.
Perspectives
This study is important to begin the conversation about care leavers in Zimbabwe. This group of young people has been ignored in policy making and it is just assumed that they will leave the child welfare institutions as adults and therefore are able to fend for themselves. However, they become instant adults on their 18th birthday and often have nowhere to return to for support. This makes their situation hopeless that some of them are living on the street, unable to care for themselves.
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Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Transition from Institutional Care to Adulthood and Independence: A Social Services Professional and Institutional Caregiver Perspective in Harare, Zimbabwe, Child Care in Practice, January 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13575279.2017.1414034.
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