Survivalist self-reliance as both adaptation and danger for youth aging out of care

Research reports poor outcomes (e.g., psychosocial, educational, criminal, etc.) for youth aging out of child protective care and child welfare researchers have begun exploring how supportive relationships may improve outcomes for youth aging out of care. To better understand youths’ “identity as both healthy and resilient as well as potential challenges for youth in building informal connections and mutually supportive relationships into adulthood” (p.1199), semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 youth (20 years old on average). This paper explores the theme “survivalist self-reliance” which had been identified during the interviews. Of the 20 youth still in care, only three were in foster care placements; the remainder, while technically “in care,” were in various independent living arrangements. The majority of youth were in care for over six years and experienced less than three placements. Participants described many experiences of trauma and loss in addition to the abuse/neglect that lead to their removal (e.g., deaths of family members, abuse in care, arrest and incarceration, and homelessness).

The most prominent theme was that “youth identified, often with pride, as self-reliant and as survivors” (p. 1201). This theme was evident in the advice they offered to other youth, the meaning they made of their lives, their optimism for the future, and their belief that their only barriers to success in adulthood were internal (e.g., being too proud or independent to ask for or accept help). Survivalist self-reliance appeared to be a response to the tension youth experienced between feeling they were on their own/independent and feeling dependent on CPS thereby lacking control or power over their lives. Three interrelated mechanisms were identified as contributing to the feeling of survivalist self-reliance: premature conferral of adult status, growing up without parents, and pride in disavowing dependence. Conferral of adulthood took place when youth compensated for under-functioning parents, when youth received insufficient help from CPS workers, and when youth aged out of care. Youth reported that growing up without parents made them different from others and left them without security or support, forcing independence and self-reliance. Pride in disavowing dependence was expressed when youth described past emotional pain as a source of strength and characterized dependence as risking vulnerability. Youth acknowledged that pride may prevent help-seeking and their descriptions of service receipt often focused on instrumental use (services used for material benefit, but avoidance of emotional involvement). For example, youth reported emotional pain was something to be kept private and they tended to think that only weak people needed therapy.

The authors suggest that child welfare services need to: 1) prioritize “interdependence as an alternative goal in adulthood, and ... examine assumptions about how one’s sense of connection to others is developed in ways that ignore the experiences of youth and young adults with foster care backgrounds” (p. 1208); 2) offer independent living programs that do far more than emphasize economic self-sufficiency; 3) services should promote and enhance supportive relationships while recognizing that the fostering of trusting relationships amongst youth who have survived maltreatment may take time and persistence.