Purpose: This study aimed to explore the experiences of unmarried mothers with institutional living experiences in terms of adaptation and self-reliance in the community, as well as the factors that promote and hinder self-reliance. Methods: Data were collected through one-on-one in-depth interviews with six unmarried mothers who lived in unmarried mother-child family welfare facilities before and after childbirth and then moved to the community after leaving the facilities. Based on the collected data, a qualitative case study was conducted using Yin's method of analysis. Results: The results derived five units of analysis and eleven categories. The eleven categories were as follows: ‘The last space I relied on,’ ‘Preparing for self-reliance by adapting to community life’, ‘Choices of your own life,’ ‘Consideration of the environment for raising children,’ ‘Strengthening human capital,’ ‘Self-restraint to secure self-reliance fund,’ ‘Building a support system within a homogeneous group,’ ‘Policy and social service support,’ ‘Planning a future with your child,’ ‘Exterior and disconnection,’ and ‘Dilemma between non-national support recipients and national support recipients.’ Conclusion: Based on the results, we discuss the need for social welfare policies that consider changes in the characteristics of unmarried mothers, social service support, ways to improve social relationships, and the development of self-reliance programs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of ‘becoming a mother’, regarding juvenile unmarried mothers in shelter facilities. Methods: Data were collected by in-depth interviews with seven juvenile, unmarried mothers being under 24 years of age, and raising their children. The data were analyzed by using Qualitative Content Analysis. Results: Five categories resulted from the experiences of ‘becoming a mother’. They were identified as: ‘Pregnancy’, ‘Raising the Child’, ‘Living in a Shelter Facility’, ‘Living as an Unmarried Mother’, and finally ‘Preparing for the Future’. Conclusion: The shelter facility was perceived as a safe place for raising children by juvenile unmarried mothers, who had chosen to give birth and raise children after being abandoned by their families. However, they felt that living in the shelter was a stigma and simultaneously they should think that they ought to leave the place in the near future. In truth, their real life was grimmer than their thought. In this respect, policies should be changed to support them to raise children and be prepared to live with their children. Without any sense of stigma or discrimination as juvenile unmarried mothers, policies should support that they could live together in out community.