| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 社會工作研究所 === 104 === Current literature on the care leavers from children’s homes focuses mostly on their experiences and feelings about independent life. This study is carried out based on life course theory. In depth interview was employed with eight young adults who had been in residential care for significant periods and who has preschool children . Their parenting image will be represented in this research.
The result of this study shows that roles of parents generate a special meaning for the care leavers. As stated in the research, the care leavers experienced the “Family Feeling”, satisfied their yearning for an intact family and found out main purposes of self-existence and the meaning of life. Because of this, their life experience became more enriched and complete. Just as other new parents, the role of parents does make both negative and positive impacts on the care leavers’ individual mentality, their life and their family relationship. During their child rearing, the spouse, family members of the spouse and friends of the care leavers offered advantageous support for their role of parents. Nonetheless, their family-of-origin are still absent, or even lead to other problems. Besides, care leavers’ early life experience still imperceptibly influences their parenting behaviour and values after they became parents. Every one of them would like to give their children an intact family. They don’t want to repeat what their parents have done, so instead, care-taker in the children’s home became their role model. Thanks to having a growing-up experience in the children’s home, they pay more attention to their children the ability of independent life and cultivate great characters. This research also found out that care leavers’ personal ”agency” is the key to parenting demonstration. All the care leavers chose to actively face challenges during child rearing and to play well their own role of parents. In this way, they explored and went through a totally different way of life course than their own parents. In addition, “timing of birth” also decides a variety of parenting experiences. This researcher, by adopting the life course theory perspective, combining Belsky’s(1984) structure of “the process model of the determinants of parenting”, sketches “the life course process model of the determinants of parenting for the care leavers” in a more systematic way.
Finally, the research and practice implications are provided.
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