Conceptualizing Resilience among Adolescents Who are Orphaned and Living in Institutional Care in India

ABSTRACT Issues related to problems with institutional models of care for at-risk children in India have long been addressed by conversations around de-institutionalization. Researchers, however, believe that despite the benefits of family-based alternative care, there are multiple practical constraints in the stated transition. Fostering resilience among institutionalized children has been considered a worthier goal for intervention. The purpose of this study was to understand the pattern of resilience among adolescents with experience of family disruption due to parental loss and resultant relocation to an institutional set-up. Study 1 utilized semi-structured interviews with eight institutional caretakers in the age range of 28–50 years, and study 2 involved focus groups with 19 resilient adolescents in the age range of 14–19 years. Data from the both studies was thematically analyzed. Findings showed that against the backdrop of pre-admission adversities, resilience was conceptualized as a realization about the need to achieve in life and acquisition of a set of culturally sanctioned behavioral attributes. Resources within the institutional context itself were found to have fostered these resilient outcomes. Our findings suggest that by offering resident children needed resources, institutional care holds the potential to provide a permanent and stable living arrangement when other options are unfeasible.