A Resilience Mosaic: Former Youth in Care View Resilience in light of their Childhood Experiences

Abstract

Resiliency is a concept that has both intrigued and eluded scholars and practitioners throughout time and across multiple disciplines. In the case of youth in the foster care system, resilience is prominent in studies where researchers work to discover which factors cultivate some youths’ ability to thrive in spite of less than ideal circumstances. This qualitative study explores the phenomenon of resilience thro ugh the lens of men and women who have aged out of the child welfare system. Six adults between the ages of 20 and 35 volunteered to participate in this case study where they engaged in hour-long, in - person interviews and shared their experiences prior to, during and following their time in foster care. As a result of this study, these participants were given the opportunity to paint, what they consider to be, a realistic, attainable, and desirable picture of resilience post - care. Resilience as a manifested reality, resilience as a partner to success and resilience as an individualized effort were the shared themes that encompass this mosaic of resilience as crafted by the study participants’ profound and colorful. Implications of this study suggest that the cultivation of resilience requires quality mentor ship, self-leadership from youth in-care and organizational commitment by state-operated child welfare agencies as well as the federal government. Recommendations based on these findings offer practical interventions for leadership to apply on both micro and macro levels of care for foster youth.