The spiritual development of young persons in care : towards a Christ-centred approach

Abstract

The researcher became interested in the subject through his experience in the field of work with Young Persons (YPs) who are marginalized in some way or other. Further, it sometimes is the case that the adults who carry the moral responsibility and assume legal responsibility of the YPs in their care, are left to work without the proper training or insight in their work. Through the literature and the findings it became apparent that YPs desire to give meaning to their lives. Once probed into speaking about spiritual matters, they easily connect to the 'spiritual' meanings of life, like the injustices they have experienced and for which they still don't have some of the answers they are looking for. These same answers also reveal where the participants are spiritually. The data was collected and analysed using the Fitchett (2002) model for spiritual assessment. The main findings show that the YPs who come from different backgrounds, all share a monotheistic faith. They are all affiliated to either the Catholic or Islamic Religion, mostly showing a disinterest in the religious practice and were more focused on the Christian Gospel values of loving God and loving neighbour. For this research, 18 YPs, male and female were chosen from different homes through using the gatekeeper system. Their ages varied between 13 and 17 years old. Twelve individual semi structured interviews were held while also conducting a group interview. It came to show that the YPs are all searching for answers to their spiritual needs, yet it was not clear that the Home programmes are consciously doing this. Furthermore, the study sought to understand the spirit by which homes are run in order to be in a better position to respond to the needs. The researcher then proposed a Christian framework to answer to the needs of the YPs in care since in some way or another they were all in some way affiliated with Christian principles. This response was not merely done in an attempt to increase their lives of faith, but also to be in a situation, where through Christian spirituality, they may come to know themselves more and experience themselves more fully.