Enablers and barriers to acquiring and maintaining employment among care leavers in South Africa

• Care-leavers mobilize and create networks to acquire employment. • Personal challenges, incomplete education and COVID-19 impede finding work. • Determination, drive and interpersonal skills facilitate maintaining employment. • Care-leavers’ bad behavior and poor work conditions reduced sustained employment. • Key interventions with young people while in care may improve employment post-care. Transitioning from alternative care into young adulthood is a challenge for many care-leavers. Access to employment is one of their key milestones, but research shows that care-leavers struggle more than age-equivalent youth without care experience to acquire and maintain employment. However, research on the enablers of and barriers to employment for care-leavers is relatively scarce. This qualitative study describes the enablers and barriers to acquiring and maintaining employment. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 62 care-leavers, aged 15–27, from Girls and Boys Town South Africa. Enablers of acquiring work included mobilizing or creating networks, receiving support from the childcare agency, and job chaining, while barriers included personal issues, incomplete education, and COVID-19. Enablers of maintaining work included personal determination and interpersonal skills, while barriers included negative behavior, poor salaries and working conditions, and COVID-19. These findings suggest that care-leavers and their service providers can engage in a range of actions to enhance their chances of finding and maintaining employment.