Leaving care: retrospective reports by alumni of Israeli group homes.
Social Work › Vol. 51 Nbr. 4, October 2006
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Leaving care: retrospective reports by alumni of Israeli group homes.
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is marked by several changes and rituals, including the process of leaving the household of one's nuclear family (Hussong & Chassin, 2002). Leaving home symbolizes the completion of the process of separation from parents, an important step toward achieving autonomy and independence as a young, well-adjusted adult (Mayseless & Hai, 1998; Moore, 1987). Leaving home in Western society is characterized by young adults deciding to leave their parents' household (Cooney & Mortimer, 1999; Hussong & Chassin); reaching a certain age, usually 18 years or older (Cooney & Mortimer; Molgat, 2002); and consulting and negotiating with their parents on the timing and mode of leaving. This is sometimes accompanied by parent-child conflicts over the transition (Hussong & Chassin).
Leaving home is usually a positive experience (Flanagan, Schulenberg, & Fuligni, 1993; O'Connor, Allen, Bell, & Hauser, 1996), and parent-child relationships frequently improve after the transition, with warmer expressions of mutual affection and better communication (Anderson, 1990; Mayseless & Hai, 1998; Sullivan & Sullivan, 1980; Thornton, Orbuch, & Axinn, 1995). In contrast, for young alumni of group homes, leaving out-of-home care may be a stressful and negative experience. This may be because many alumni leave care at age 18 (the age of legal adulthood) and frequently even earlier, and not through their own wishes or plans (Courtney, Piliavin, Grogan-Kaylor, & Nesmith, 2001; Rutter, 2000). An early transition to independent living is associated with poorer adjustment in young adulthood (Hussong & Chassin, 2002; O'Connor et al.; White, 1994). Unlike leaving home, leaving care means separation from the foster or group-home parents with few, if any, opportunities for maintaining ongoing interaction with them, let alone maintaining warmth and affection. This separation may be especially traumatic because group-home parents may have served as substitute attachment figures partially compensating for the loss of secure attachment with biolog...See the full content of this document
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