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Care-leaving in South Africa: an international and social justice perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2020

Sue Bond Open the ORCID record for Sue Bond [Opens in a new window]
Sue Bond*
Affiliation:
Social Work, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
CONTACT Sue Bond [email protected], Social Work, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Abstract

Internationally, the care-leaving debate began in the 1970s. The poor outcomes associated with care-leaving in the United Kingdom, United States of America and Australia prompted attention resulting in policy change in recent years, which continues to develop. The experience and outcomes for care leavers in South Africa reflects that of their contemporaries in other countries, however, contextual factors compound the problems that they face and there is little support available to them. This paper discusses some of the challenges facing care leavers and the development of the care-leaving debate, legislation and policy in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. A comparison of the care-leaving arena in South Africa and the support services available to care leavers in the different countries will be presented. The paper concludes by arguing that the absence of services for care leavers is a neglect of the state's responsibility as corporate parent, and represents an issue of social justice.

Keywords

Care-leaving policycare leaverscorporate parentingsocial justiceSouth Africa
Type
Review Article
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 76 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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