The challenges experienced by youths leaving kinship foster care in South Africa

Abstract

Young people who leave foster care in South Africa typically encounter greater difficulties transitioning into young adulthood when compared to their peers who grow up with their biological parents. The aim of the study is to explore the challenges experienced by youths leaving kinship foster care in South Africa. The used research approach was a qualitative and exploratory, descriptive and contextual research designs. The participants were selected using purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews, using questions the interview guide contained questions that were used to collect data. The researcher utilised semi-structured interviews as an in depth data collection technique. The verification of data was conducted using Guba’s model. The four aspects of trustworthiness are honesty, reliability, dependability, and credibility were applied, namely; credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability. Ethical considerations were observed as follows; informed consent, no harm to the participants, confidentiality, privacy and anonymity, debriefing of participants and management of research data. It is expected that the study will add to existing knowledge, as well as to make recommendations for social work intervention and future research. The researcher concluded that life after kinship foster care was characterised with hardships, namely; poverty, homelessness, unemployment. etc.