Abstract
This article offers a theoretically informed and critically grounded analysis of the structural, relational, and psychosocial constraints encountered by orphanage graduates in their transition to independent adulthood. Drawing on qualitative methods including semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with residents, caregivers, social workers, and field experts, the study moves beyond descriptive assessment to interrogate the institutional configurations that shape post-care trajectories. The authors argue that the difficulties experienced by orphanage graduates are not reducible to individual deficits but reflect structurally embedded discontinuities between institutional care and societal integration.Empirical findings indicate persistent deficits in familial and relational capital, limited preparation in practical life competencies (e.g., domestic management, financial planning, legal literacy), and heightened exposure to precarious employment and housing markets, particularly in smaller urban contexts. These material constraints intersect with psychosocial vulnerabilities attachment instability, diminished self-efficacy, and distrust thereby reinforcing patterns of marginalization. This convergence suggests a systemic underinvestment in capability formation within institutional environments,where custodial stability often supersedes developmental empowerment.Although formal social and psychological services are nominally available, their implementation remains fragmented and temporally limited. The resulting policy gap contributes to dependency orientations and misconceptions regarding state support, which, when combined with low financial literacy and weak legal awareness, perpetuate cycles of socio-economic precarity. The authors interpret these patterns as indicative of structural bias within welfare frameworks that prioritize short-term protection over long-term integration.The article advances a policy-oriented framework advocating integrated, multi-disciplinary interventions that embed life-skills education, sustained psychological support, mentorship, and community-based inclusion within a longitudinal support architecture. Such recalibration, the authors contend, is essential for transforming institutional care from custodial provisionto emancipatory social integration.