Evidence suggests that parenting remains critical to young people’s sense of belonging, constructions of their sexuality, their interface with wider society and to their emotional and physical safety. But poverty can make parenting a very difficult task - for instance, poverty increases the stress that parents experience when trying to provide for and protect their children. This makes emotionally distant, harsh and inconsistent parenting more likely - which in turn leads to poor health and risk behaviours in children negatively affecting the child/youth’s ability to self-manage, perform well at school and find employment. While the risk factors for unhealthy child development are high in areas such as the Cape Flats, it is still possible for children to thrive in these conditions. One major protective factor that can improve child outcomes is that of parental resilience which is defined as “the capacity of parents to deliver competent, quality parenting to children despite adverse personal, family, and social circumstances” (Gavidia-Payne, Denny, Davis, Francis, & Jackson, 2015). For this reason, Family Affairs works towards improving participants' levels of resilience.