Youth in Transition: Exploring a Life Course Perspective on Leaving Care in Africa

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://sagepub.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      20
    • Subject Terms:
      Child Welfare; Experience; Adjustment (to Environment); Resilience (Psychology); Foster Care; Residential Programs; Barriers; Foreign Countries; Cultural Context; Individual Characteristics; Interpersonal Relationship; Responsibility; Young Adults; Youth
    • Subject Terms:
      Ghana; South Africa; Uganda; Zimbabwe
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/0044118X231193708
    • ISSN:
      0044-118X
      1552-8499
    • Abstract:
      While there is a substantial body of leaving care research, the theorization of care leaving has been more limited. Only a few studies have incorporated a life course perspective, mainly in Global North contexts where life course perspectives may differ significantly from those in the Global South, including Africa. Drawing on findings from a feasibility research study, this paper contributes to the emerging international literature on theorizing care leaving by applying a life course perspective to the experiences of youth leaving care in four African countries. The paper highlights how life course can be a useful conceptual framework for understanding the experiences of care leavers with an emphasis on four core concepts: biography, linked lives, waithood, and agency. Implications for policy and practice are outlined with a focus on interdependence, participatory practice, biography, and cultural transition planning alongside efforts to redress systemic, oppressive barriers facing care leavers in society.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Publication Date:
      2024
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1426374