Male care-leavers' transfer of social skills from care into independent living in South Africa

Residential child and youth care centres typically provide programmes to develop the social and life skills of the children in care, on the assumption that these skills will equip them for adult life. However, there is little research to show whether and how these skills are transferred from the child care setting to young adulthood. This qualitative study investigates how a sample of male care-leavers from Girls and Boys Town South Africa transferred these social skills into independent living. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten young men who had left care 2-5 years previously. Content analysis of the data was conducted. Findings indicate that participants could recall the skills they had learned in care and reflect on how they have applied these skills in their adult lives. In many cases, skills that were lost or abandoned were later recovered during times of crisis; and many participants adapted the skills to be more applicable in their adult world contexts. Teaching social and life skills, using rigorous and structured methods, appears to be a useful intervention with long-term benefits to young people after leaving care. However, the flexible and context-specific use of these skills should also be emphasised.