A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a PhD in Community Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. / South Africa is one of the most violent countries with most crimes committed by the youth. Following conviction and sentencing of a young person the transition is normally very difficult for the family. It may indicate a need for change in order to find harmony. The study examined resilience in 50 Xhosa speaking families who have a juvenile delinquent that has been sentenced for a period of not less than 1 year. In each family one parent (n=50) and one adolescent (n=50) were interviewed. The researcher used self-report questionnaires to access information. A standardized questionnaire was used for gathering information regarding family composition, employment, level of education, income, age and gender of the respondent’s nuclear family members. The questionnaire had an open-ended question which asked for the respondents’ opinion on which factors or strengths they believed helped their family through the difficult time. The following standardized questionnaires were also used; Family Hardiness Index (FHI), Social Support Index (SSI), Relative and Friend Support Index (RFSI), Family Time and Routine Index (FTRI), Family Problem Solving Communication (FPSC), Family Attachment and Changeability Index 8 (FACI 8) and Family Crises Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale (F-COPES). The key coping strategies used by individuals, spouses, parents and siblings were reliance on spirituality, seeking support of relatives and friends, sharing with family and remaining positive in the midst of adversity. There is however a need for more research to be done in a wider population of South Africa so as to allow for generalizability of the findings.