Coming Full Circle: Young Adults Reflect on Their Experiences in Care, their Transition to Independence and how they find their Place in the World. A presentation by Werner van der Westhuizen

This episode is a recording made at the 22nd South African National Association of Child and Youth Care & 4th CYC-Net world conference, which took place in Durban South Africa of June 2019. The presenter was Werner van der Westhuizen, from Port Elizabeth, South Africa    The following is the conference abstract: “During 2018 the presenter, a former director at a residential child care centre, was contacted by a number of the former residents via Facebook wishing to reconnect with each other. As discussions started regarding a possible reunion, the presenter was struck by how the perspectives of these young people have changed and evolved over the past couple of years and suggested to them having discussions about their views and experiences. Following an overwhelmingly positive response, a series of conversations were arranged where both these young people and former director “come full circle” as for the first time, they talk honestly about their relationships and experiences with each other years after they left the residential care centre.  This presentation offers the highlights from these discussions as a process of mutual meaning-making unfolded between the former director and the young people. Some of the highlights of these discussions include their views on aspects of child and youth care work that affected them, such as de-institutionalisation, residential child care workers versus shift workers, the absence of male role models, structure and routines and values. As they reflect on their childhood while in residential care and how their experiences of independent living have evolved their perspectives on child residential care, many express a desire to “return to their home” and become involved in the care of children now in residential care. Now adults, they also considered how these experiences contributed to their own value systems and shaped the way they view both their past and the future, the society they wish to live in and how they want to shape society for future generations.  The views and experiences of these young people offer additional insights and possible practice implications for practitioners in the child and youth care field.”