Resilience and Social-emotional Well-being in Institutional Childcare: The Case of TARA Girls’ Home,Delhi

Abstract

This study explores social-emotional health and resilience in adolescent girls at the Transitional and Residential Accommodation (TARA) Girls’ Home in Delhi, where positive relationships between children and caregivers foster emotional health, self-esteem and resilience. In interviewing qualitatively with 10 residents, the study identifies patterns of sisterhood, recovery from traumatic stress, confidence, trust and positive behavioural management. Findings elucidate the transformational value of secure attachment and trauma-informed care in satisfying needs for love and belonging in girls, and offer productive guidance for policymakers and practitioners in creating supportive, multi-dimensional environments in institutional care.

Keywords

Love and belonging adolescent girls secure attachments resilience autonomy Child Care Institutions

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bandura

(1977). Social learning theory . Prentice-Hall.

Barratt

(2010, December). Supporting the religious and spiritual needs of looked-after and accommodated children in Scotland . https://cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cyconline-dec2010-barrat.html

Baumeister

R. F.

(1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin , 117, 497–529.

Bowlby

(1969). Attachment and loss. In Attachment. Basic Books.

Bowlby

(1988). A secure base: Parent child attachment and healthy human development . Basic Books.

Centre on the Developing Child, Harvard University. (2004, April 13). Young children develop in an environment of relationships . https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/working-paper/wp1/

Deci

E. L.

(2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry , 11, 227–268.

Engel

G. L.

(1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine. Science , 196, 129–136.

Erikson

E. H.

(1963). Childhood and society . W. W. Norton & Company.

10.

Gottschalk

, & Borhan

(2023). Child participation in decision making: Implications for education and beyond [OECD education working papers]. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

11.

Fromm

(1956). The art of loving . Harper & Row.

12.

Fuligini

A. J.

, & Eccles

J. S.

(1993). Perceived parent child realtionships and early adolescents’ orientation toward peers. Developmental Psychology , 29, 622–632.

13.

Hauser

S. P.

(1991). Adolescents and their families: Paths of ego development . Free Press.

14.

Holmes

(1993). Attachment theory: A biological basis for psychotherapy? The British Journal of Psychiatry , 163, 430–438.

15.

Hooks

(2000). All about love: New visions . William Morrow.

16.

Kauhanen

I. K.

, Kaukko

, & Lanas

(2022). Pockets of love. Unaccompanied children in institutional care in Finland. Children and Youth Services Review , 141, 106621.

17.

Lanas

, & Zembylas

(2015). Towards a transformational political concept of love in critical education. Studies in Philosophy and Education , 34, 31–44.

18.

Maslow

A. H.

(1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review , 50, 370–396.

19.

Meintjes

H. M.

(2007). Home truths: The phenomenon of residential care for children in a time of AIDS . Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town & Centre for the Study of AIDS, University of Pretoria.

20.

Rogers

C. R.

(1959). A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships: As developed in the client-centered framework. Psychology: A Study of a Science , 3, 184–256.

21.

Ungar

(2011). The social ecology of resilience: Addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity of a nascent construct. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry , 81, 1–17.