engleski

Youth Runaways from Residential Care: Expression of Resilience of Youth with Behavior Problems?

Youth with behaviour problems may be sent in residential care to make positive impact on their behaviour. However, recent research conducted with the population of youth living in residential care in Croatia (Ratkajec Gašević, Maurović, Zalović, 2017), show that they are often unavailable for treatment due to running away from residential care. While running away is often seen as the symptom of behaviour problems, especially from caregivers’ perspective (Bouillet and Uzelac, 2007), research conducted in 2017 shows that this behaviour may be viewed as the symptom of health or resilience of children and young people. This conclusion arises from the study conducted with 15 young people aged from 14 to 18, living in residential care treatment who had at least one episode of running away from residential care, who shared their experiences through semi – structured interviews. The framework analysis was applied in accordance to the following topics: 1) the reasons for residential care treatment, 2) experience of residential care treatment, 3) reasons for running away, 4) protective factors for prevention of running away, 5) reactions of caregivers, 6) lessons learned, and 7) youth recommendations for the improvement of the system. Analysing the data, we can conclude that young people are running away because they feel that their needs are not satisfied (need for family and home, need for society, freedom, entertainment, etc.) and they perceive that residential care conditions are unacceptable. They outlined very small extent of protective factors to prevent them from running away. Some youth emphasized that this experience of escaping from residential care even helped them because they experienced meaningful and interesting life events, re-established their social relations and became aware of their strengths. Based on this research, guidelines for the development of better practice, which can meet therapeutic and support needs of youth, will be presented.

runaways from resiedntial care, youth with behavior problems, resilience

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