• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.15-33
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• 2015

The present study conducted ethnography of a welfare facility for single-father families. The participants were 13 single-fathers living in a welfare facility. To explore life within the welfare facility, the qualitative research method of ethnography was used with Spradley's developmental research sequence (DRS). The major results of this study were as follows. The first theme was 'finding a way to overcome the crisis: the facility is a lifeline.' For fathers, choosing to enter a facility meant enduring a social stigma, but the decision was made with the hope of achieving successful parenting and economic independence amidst pressing difficulties. The category of living in the facility was represented by the theme 'build the family: preparing for independence through living in a welfare facility.' The fathers achieved psychological recovery through the decrease in parenting stress, improvements in their economic situation brought by living in a facility, and used this time as the foundation to gain independence and build a stable life. The event of departure from the facility was seen as 'incomplete preparation for departure' by the single fathers. The fathers with infants or younger children admitted to being anxious about leaving the facility, which involved the burden of raising the children on their own. There are practical and policy-related implications based on the results of this study.