THE EXPERIENCE OF SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION FROM A CHILDREN’S HOME TO INDEPENDENT LIVING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15270/39-3-357Abstract
The research explores the experience of growing up in a children’s home, as well as the experience of having to make a transition from a children’s home to society. It wants to know from individuals who have lived this experience, what they believe aided them in attaining success and what has hindered their strivings. In consultation with SOS Children’s Villages, the researchers chose to follow a positive ethos similar to Cooperrider’s Appreciative Inquiry (Hammond, 1996). Appreciative inquiry is a theory of organisational change that focuses on “what works” rather than traditional “what is broken” models of problem solving (Hammond, 1996). The underlying assumptions of appreciative inquiry are (1) “in every society, organisation or group, something works” and (2) “what we focus on becomes our reality” (Hammond, 1996:4). Consequently, the present research is aimed at learning, “what works” from the experience of those that have grown up in their villages.Downloads
References
ALDGATE, J.; MALUCCIO, A. & REEVES, C. 1989. Adolescents in foster families. Chicago: Lyceum.
ARGYLE, M. 1988. Social relationships. In: HEWSTONE, M.; STROEBE, W.; CODOL, J. & STEPHENSON, G.M. (eds), Introduction to social psychology: A European perspective. Oxford: Blackwell.
BARON, R.A. & BYRNE, D. 1994. Social psychology: Understanding human interaction (7th ed) Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
BATSON, C.D.; DUNCAN, B.D.; ACKERMAN, P.; BUCKLEY, T. & BIRCH, K. 1981. Is empathy emotion a source of altruistic motivation? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40:290–302.
BERGER, K.S. 1994. The Developing Person throughout the Lifespan (3rd ed). New York: Worth.
BERRIDGE, D. & BRODIE, I. 1998. Children's homes revisited. London : Jessica Kingsley.
BETANCOURT, H. 1990. An Attribution-Empathy Model of Helping Behavior: behavioural intentions and judgements of help-giving. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16:573–591.
BILLER, H.B. 1993. Father's and Families: paternal factors in childhood development. Westport: Auburn House.
BRONFENBRENNER, U. 1979. The ecology of human development. London: Harvard.
BULLOCK, R.; LITTLE, M. & MILLHAM, S. 1993. Residential care for children: A review of the research. London: HMSO.
COTTERELL, J. 1996. Social networks and social influences in adolescence. London: Routledge.
DUMARET, A. 1988. The SOS Children’s Villages: school achievement of subjects reared in a permanent foster care (part two). Early Child Development and Care, 34:271–277.
EISENBERG, N. & FABES, R.A. 1991. Prosocial behavior and empathy: A multimethod developmental perspective. In: CLARK, M.S. (ed) Prosocial behavior. Newbury: Sage, 34–62.
ERIKSON, E. 1964. Childhood and Society. New York: W.W. Norton.
FETTERMAN, D.M. 1998. Ethnography: Step by step. (2nd ed) Thousand Oaks: Sage.
FISHER, M.; MARSH, P.; PHILLIPS, D. & SAINSBURY, E. 1986. In and out of care: The experiences of children, parents and social workers. London: B.T. Batsford.
FROMM, E. 1976. To have or to be. London: Abacus.
GRABER, J.A. & BROOKS-GUNN, J. 1990. Expectations for and precursors to leaving home. In: GRABER, J.A. & DUBAS, J.S. (eds) Leaving home: Understanding the transition to adulthood. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 21-38.
GRUNDLINGH, A. 1991. ’n Kruiskulturele ondersoek na die behoefte duur en aard van ’n ondersteuningsisteem vir swart huismoeders binne ’n kinderhuisverband [A cross-cultural investigation of the need for and nature of a support system for black housemothers in a Children’s home context]. Pretoria: University of South Africa. (D.Lit.Phil. Thesis)
HAMMOND, S.A. 1996. The thin book of appreciative inquiry. Plano: Thin Book Publishing.
JORDAAN, W. & JORDAAN, J. 1998. People in context. Johannesburg: Heinemann.
LAMB, M.E. & SAGI, A. 1983. Fatherhood and family policy. New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum.
LINDEGGER, G. 1999. Research methods in clinical research. In: TERRE BLANCHE, M. & DURRHEIM, K. (eds) Research in practice: Applied methods for the social sciences. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 251–266.
MORDOCK, J.B. 1994. The search for an identity: A call for observational-inductive research methods in residential treatment. Residential treatment for children and youth, 12(1):1–23.
LOUW, D.A.; VAN EDE, D.M. & LOUW, A.E. 1998. Human development. (2nd ed) Pretoria: Kagiso.
McKENZI, R.B. 1998. Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
MATHITI, V.I. 2000. An exploration study into quality of life of street children standard of living in Pretoria. Pretoria: University of Pretoria (M.A. thesis).
MEYER, W.F. 1989a. Gordon Allport’s holistic theory. In: MEYER, W.F.; MOORE, C. & VILJOEN, H.G. Personality theories: From Freud to Frankl. Johannesburg: Lexicon, 325–354.
MEYER, W.F. 1989b. Erik Erikson’s Egopsychological Theory. In: MEYER, W.F.; MOORE, C. & VILJOEN, H.G. Personality theories: From Freud to Frankl. Johannesburg: Lexicon, 145–166.
MOORE, C. 1989. Abraham Maslow’s self-actualisation theory. In: MEYER, W.; MOORE, C. & VILJOEN, H.G. Personality theories: From Freud to Franlk. Johannesburg: Lexicon, 355–372.
MOTEETEE, L. 2001. National Director. SOS Children’s Villages (South Africa). Personal Communication, 1 April. Randburg.
NURMI, J. 1989. Adolescents’ orientation to the future: Development of interests and plans and related attributions ad affects, in the life span context. Helsinki: Finnis Society of Science.
PRICE, S.J. & McKENRY, P.C. 1988. Divorce. London: Sage.
RAPMUND, V.J. 2000. Enhancing student’s personal resources through narrative. Pretoria: University of South Africa. (D.Lit. Phil. Thesis)
RAYCHABA, B. 1988. To be on our own with no direction from home: A report of the special needs of youth leaving the care of the child welfare system. Canada: Canadian Children’s Foundation.
SCHNEIDER, C.K. 1991. Etiology and phenomenology of depression in women. Miami: Miami University. (PhD thesis)
SEETHAL, S. 2001. Report on Youth out of SOS Care. Randburg: SOS Children’s Villages (Southern Africa region II), (unpublished research report).
SHADE, B.J. 1983. The social success of black youth: the impact of significant others. Journal of Black Studies, 14:137-150.
SINCLAIR, I. & GIBBS, I. 1998. Children’s homes: A study in diversity. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
SOS BROCHURE 1996. Hermann Gmeiner – the SOS Children’s Villages. Innsbruck: SOS-Kinderdorf – Verlag.
SOS KINDERDORF INTERNATIONAL 2001. Facts and Figures 2003. Innsbruck: SOS Kinderdorf – Verlag.
STAKE, R.E. 1994. Case Studies. In: DENZIN, N.K. & LINCOLN, Y.S. (eds). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 236–247.
STILES, W.B. 1993. Quality control in qualitative research. Clinical Psychology Review, 13(6):593–618.
STOBER, G.J. & SHUMACHER, D. 1972. Technology assessment and quality of life. Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific.
WHITAKER, D.; ARCHER, L. & HICKS, L. 1998. Working in children’s homes: Challenges and complexities. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged when works are cited.
Authors may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, and with conferences.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-4.0
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
Articles as a whole may not be re-published with another journal.