Young people in foster care and their leisure : tools for living independently

Abstract

This thesis utilises a case study method with a small cohort of young people in foster care to generate an explanation of how leisure can be used beneficially to move to and through their transition from care to independent living at 18 years of age. The foster care environment, as a sub-set of Out-of-Home Care (OOHC), has been described as complex, regulated and one in which those in care have at times little or no control over important aspects of their lives. Indeed, it has been reported that young people in foster care are sometimes told by those in authority such as teachers that they need not concern themselves with ambition or aspiration because their life choices are already limited by their situation and their environment. Nevertheless, there are two sides to foster care and the second side involves supportive birth families, foster families, teachers, counsellors, case workers and friendships. As well, there is an inherent optimism among those in care reported by some authors. This inherent optimism, frequently expressed through leisure, was found to be well established in the great majority of the twelve case studies undertaken. This optimism is evident in the study as an underpinning of the willingness of participants to look to the future, to plan, to understand their leisure environment, to actively apply personally held cognitive skills and to generate outcomes and experiences that were useful to them. A number of interesting factors relevant to the use of leisure by young people in foster care have been articulated in the study. It is noted, for example, that the participants were using a range of cognitive resources to date unreported in the literature on foster care or OOHC and only reported as a limited allied concept in the leisure literature. However, the small amount of work in the leisure literature was not undertaken in regards to foster care. The use of personal cognitive resources was found to be widespread and multifaceted within the cohort studied. These resources were not leisure specific and while their application was, it does not need be. In effect then, participants were using, or creating and using, and practicing the use of sets of cognitive resources applicable to independent living after transition from care at the age of 18.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English