The purpose of this study was to identify the youth who do not participate in Independent Living Program (ILP) services and, if possible, to ascertain if any characteristics or factors appear to affect participation in ILP services. The study utilized a quantitative research method to assess ILP participation by extracting data from existing case records via a data extraction form created in conjunction with the San Bernardino County Legislation, Research and Quality Support Services Unit.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Most research studies focus on foster children or foster parents, there is dearth of research on the impact of fostering on biological children. This aim of this study was to fill the gap in the literature regarding the experiences of biological children sharing a home with foster children. It also investigated how biological children perceive foster care and challenges encountered by children under foster care. This was achieved through a qualitative research approach. The study was conducted at Zwelitsha Township in King Williams Town. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with thirty biological children of foster parents and ten social workers in practice. Two focus group discussions were held with twenty foster parents. A focus group discussion guide was used in collecting information during the discussions. Purposive sampling was used in the study and data was analysed according to themes. The major findings revealed that fostering has both positive and negative impacts on biological children and the foster family. Biological children find foster care placement as helpful to children whose parents cannot provide care and protection for children. They gain and learn new knowledge through fostering and are happy about their new siblings in the family since they have companionship. On the other hand, minority of biological children were ambivalent about foster care as they were uncertain between altruistic feelings of making a difference in the lives of needy children against the negative outcomes of fostering. One biological child was negative about foster care. This participant did not like the idea of fostering and did not describe any personal positive outcomes resulting from his fostering experiences. The findings revealed that biological children are unable to voice out their views and ideas regarding foster care placement. The findings also revealed that biological children are not passive observers on how fostering influences their daily lives. Instead, they use strategies to influence fostering processes, especially to protect their foster siblings for the fostering process to be successful, while also having feelings of responsibility for their foster siblings. The findings further suggest that despite the complex nature of the fostering task, professionals should recognise and acknowledge the input of biological children to fostering. It is, therefore, suggested more training should be provided to foster parents to continually include the opinions of their own children in fostering decisions.

This study explores and describes adolescent females' experience of disclosure of sexual abuse. The goal of this study was to provide insights and theory into the experience of sexual abuse victims involved in the disclosure of that abuse.

The project is concerned with the effectiveness of the Independent Living Program (ILP) in assessing the effectiveness of preparing youth for emancipation from the foster care system. Specifically, the project focused on ILP participants' preparedness to live independently as determined by: education, housing, employment/career, and money management skills attained.

No description available.

The research was motivated by social workers’ need to develop additional resources to address the problems of adolescents in disadvantaged communities. The main goal was to explore mentors as a potential resource. More specifically whether sports coaches could be considered natural mentors in terms of the social support they provided to their adolescent players. The types of social support the literature ascribed to mentors were used to analyze the experiences of a sample of 10coaches and 63 adolescents drawn from six schools. The data was gathered through individual interviews with coaches and single focus groups with the adolescents. The findings suggested sports coaches were competent to provide guidance on certain moral, social and educational topics in a group mentoring situation as well as one on one mentoring to individual cases as part of a multi disciplinary team. / Social Work / M. A. (Social Sciences (Mental Health))

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences