Vulnerable young adults’ experiences of post-school psycho-social preparation

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)Abstract: According to legislation, orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) living in foster care homes and orphanages within South Africa are required by law to leave these places of care when they reach the age of 18. Many of them have been living in child-headed households. In addition, they have to leave the safety net of schooling and are expected to enter the adult world of independent living. This is often accompanied by a lack of psycho-social preparation. Research has shown that these OVC are at risk of being adversely affected psychologically as well as lacking the basic social skills for independent adult living. Instead of becoming independently functioning adults, they become vulnerable young adults who, because of circumstances and inadequate support mechanisms, are in need of protection and assistance. Psycho-social development theory proposes that a young adult can be said to be ready psychologically and socially when they have learnt and developed the necessary life skills to participate in society and to have faith for the future. The aim of this study was to explore the post-school psycho-social preparation experiences of vulnerable young adults. A phenomenological multiple case-study design was used to gain insight into five cases. The study followed a social constructivist paradigm where an individual’s sense of his or her own reality is constructed through personal experience and the use of language to describe it. Data was collected using individual semi-structured interviews, individual collages with five selected participants and a focus group discussion. The data was subjected to phenomenological explicitation so as to explore the emerging themes of the experiences of the participants’ psycho-social post-school preparation while they were still at school. The findings revealed that these experiences can be divided into two themes: psychological experiences and social experiences. Sub-themes that emerged indicated that the participants had been affected by the lack of psycho-social preparation, which had in turn affected their ability to function as independent young adults. Despite these challenges, the participants displayed resilience and hope for the future which can be attributed to their current psycho-social assistance at Hope House. The findings indicate that there is a need for a more specific programme of psycho-social preparation for OVC at schools before their transition to independent adult living. With this in mind, it is recommended that support structures as well as specifically designed programmes be developed for use in schools