2012 Volume 12 Pages 35-44
This article aimed to clarify the characteristics of resilient children in residential foster care, specifically the characteristics of those children who were at high risk but now demonstrate their resilience by adapting successfully to high school. The method of the study was to qualitatively analyze interviews with children. The interviewees were children who had passed the entrance examination, and have performed well at their respective high schools. The analysis found that resilient children in residential care have five common characteristics: they feel physically and emotionally safe in their residential foster care settings, they recognize support from others, they have come to understand complexities in their families, they have come to accept the reality that they are living in residential care, and they have a clear outlook for the future. The findings of this study provide support for the type of family social work interventions necessary to promote resilience in children living in residential care.
