Resilience processes that enable better-than-expected outcomes for young care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism

This study focuses on young people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism in South Africa who entered care due to child welfare concerns and were aging out of care towards adulthood, an entirely unstudied population in South Africa and severely understudied globally. Although care-leavers typically experience poor outcomes, protective processes may enable them to bounce back from adversities. The aim of this paper is to describe the resilience enablers that facilitate better-than-expected outcomes among young care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism during their first 18 months out of care. Six care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism were purposively selected from residential care settings in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with care-leavers in five waves over eighteen months. COVID-19 lockdowns impacted participants’ care-leaving journey and the study. Interviews made use of Picture Exchange Communication Systems and communication facilitation by caregivers, depending on the participant’s impairment. Young care-leavers with intellectual disabilities and/or autism attained better outcomes in several domains, even though they were not (and were not expected to be) fully independent. Participants described personal, relational, and environmental enablers as enabling these resilience outcomes, with environmental enablers being particularly prominent. This is the first study on resilience processes among young care-leavers with disabilities in South Africa. Although leaving care (which involves a change of living environment and caregivers) and COVID-19 impacted the care-leavers’ transition, and notwithstanding challenges in living, better-than-expected outcomes were achieved by most study participants, thanks primarily to environmental resilience enablers..