Qualitative Exploration of Mentoring Relationship of Young People Leaving Care: CCSA’s Mentoring Program as an Example
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Yen, Miao-Fen
Abstract
In Taiwan, many researchers found that young people leaving care have encountered various challenges as transitioning to adulthood. Although the independent living services have been established gradually, most of them are designed to provide concrete support while these adolescents’ emotional and social needs are relatively ignored. Comparatively, the core value of foreign independent living service has changed from independence to interdependence, which emphasizes the importance of safe social support network. Furthermore, young people leaving care usually lacked opportunities to establish a positive and long-termed relationship with an adult, making their social support even weaker. The mentoring program is considered a popular strategy to increase youth’s access to adult sources of support in America and Britain. However, only the Chinese Childrenhome & Shelter Association (CCSA) offers mentoring program for young people leaving care in Taiwan. Therefore, this study attempted to understand the interaction quality, development, vital elements and meaning of relationship, as well as the program practice and the challenges faced. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with four adolescent and mentor pairs who have been in a continuous mentoring relationship for a minimum of 1 year and two social workers. The findings suggested several themes within a mentoring relationship. Firstly, the interaction qualities were identified as empathy versus distance and sense of inferiority, respect versus reluctance and sense of guilt, and authenticity versus self-protective behavior. Among four pairs, only one pair’s relationship development kept growing while the others’ seemed to decline. And the vital elements included mentor’s expectation to the relationship, shared interests, mentor’s patience and perseverance, the time spent together, and the degree of emotional bonding. Secondly, the mentoring experience is meaningful for both of them. The mentoring relationship promoted adolescent development in social-emotional, cognitive, and identity domains. For mentors, they built cross-generational friendship, enhanced their sense of self-value, and gained self-growth opportunities. Thirdly, as this program was established hastily and lacked local experiences as references, this study also discussed the experiences and challenges the social workers had faced. Finally, based on the outcomes, the proposed intervention strategies included cultivating mentoring relationship in foster care, taking priority to develop relationship with natural mentors, and developing an effective mentoring program.
Subjects
Young People Leaving Care
Foster Youth Transitions to Adulthood
Youth Mentoring Program
Type
thesis
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