Devastating life experiences continually plague many foster care youth throughout their entire lives on social, emotional, educational, psychological, and physical levels. Oftentimes, the cumulative effect of these events results in large numbers of individuals dropping out of school and becoming increasingly disconnected from people and many social situations (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, & Levine, 2005). In their work, Wagner et al. (2005) define or view social disconnection as foster youth who have dropped out of school, run away from their homes, foster care placements, rehabilitations, detention centers, or who do not seek employment, join clubs, or spend time with friends. Although thousands of foster youth endure such incredible obstacles from infancy and later become entangled in a morass of events, which inexorably lead to their social disconnection and ultimately to their life-failures, many others manage to defy the odds and achieve a measure of success in adulthood. This proposed study investigated why some individuals do not succumb to social disconnection and its disastrous consequences while trying to determine what events make a difference or provide the turning points in the lives of individuals who were formerly in foster care. The intended research utilized a case study, interview approach to identify what Espinoza (2011) refers to as the critical, pivotal moments in the lives of these individuals. Two case studies were developed: one focused on a person who had been identified with a disability and the other focused on a person without disabilities. The overall goal of this research is that if individuals in foster care can define the turning points or pivotal moments in their lives and clearly articulate what makes the difference for them, then this study might influence institutional policies in education and other aspects of their lives to implement specific practices and programs that could increase educational and career outcomes for youths in foster care. The hope is that such knowledge sets individuals on a course that results in more positive adult outcomes and avoids paths that typically lead to a continuing downward spiral and an unsuccessful transition into adulthood. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]