Supporting young people from care to adulthood: International practice

This paper explores practice examples relating to young people's transitions from care to adulthood. It discusses examples drawn from young people's pathways to adulthood, leaving care law and policy and participation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the research evidence on promoting the resilience of young people from care to adulthood, by proposing a framework for evaluating the impact of practice. It is suggested that practice should be interrogated in respect of the contribution made to stability and continuity, educational achievement, involving young people, preparation and support into adulthood, and health and well‐being.     

Child maltreatment,maladaptive cognitive schemas,and perceptions of social support among young women care leavers

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the associations between child maltreatment, cognitive schemas of disconnection/rejection reported in emerging adulthood, and social support perceived in emerging adulthood among young women who have exited placements in residential care. The sample is derived from a longitudinal study conducted with 132 young women who had been placed in residential care during adolescence in Montreal (Canada) in 2008–2009. The present study relied solely on the last measurement wave of this study, which was conducted approximately 5 years (2012–2014) after Wave 1. At this time, participants were out of residential care (mean age = 19.4 years). Results showed that the more severe the retrospective accounts of child maltreatment were, the less social support young women perceived as available to them in emerging adulthood. When the tendency to endorse disconnection/rejection schemas is considered, the direct connection between maltreatment and perceived social support disappears, and we instead see an indirect relationship through these schemas. Findings suggest that programs and services must go beyond identifying social‐support networks for young women care leavers. Considerable effort should be devoted to helping these young women develop the skills they need to build and maintain trusting relationships with significant people around them.     

Needs and availability of support among care‐leavers: A mixed‐methods study

Data are scarce on the long‐term needs of care‐leavers and on the support resources that are available for them in the years after leaving care. This mixed‐methods study presents data on the needs and availability of support of 222 Israeli care‐leavers, suggesting that the most urgent needs of care‐leavers are a lasting need for a stable and available support figure and assistance with educational issues. For some care‐leavers, these needs are fulfilled by their mentors. Parents and other familial figures were found to be the most common support resource for care‐leavers, which highlights the need for the intervention of social workers to improve relationships within families while the children are still in care. Due to high rate of young people who have no support resources and a low rate of services utilization, social services should provide a platform to support this group, using mentors and other supporters. The longitudinal data of up to 4 years after leaving care indicated that the availability of various types of informal support improved over the years, and the reports on difficulties in relationships of the care‐leavers with their parents were significantly fewer 4 years after leaving care than on the verge of leaving care.     

Young people leaving care in Sweden

The transition from a placement in care to an independent life can be a problematic phase for young people. In Sweden, special care‐leaving services are almost non‐existent. What then happens to young people when they leave a placement in out‐of‐home care? This paper draws on the results of a study in which 16 young care leavers between the ages of 18 and 22 years were interviewed. Telephone interviews were also performed with the young care leavers' parents, social workers, foster carers and institutional staff. The aim of the study was to investigate how young care leavers perceive the transition from care to an independent life. The Swedish welfare model, the prolonged transition to adulthood and the family‐oriented welfare discourse have been used as analytical perspectives. The results show that young care leavers have a pronounced need for social, emotional, practical and financial support. Whilst such support is occasionally provided by foster carers and residential staff, it is seldom given by social services or biological parents. This group is at risk of facing severe problems in the transitional phase from care to independent life, a fact that is not acknowledged by the Swedish welfare system.     

Predicting after-care outcomes: the importance of 'felt' security

Young people who ‘age out of care’ generally do not have the continuing source of emotional, social and financial support that is available to most young people in their transition to early adulthood. They therefore face the challenges of making various transitions with fewer resources and less support, and at an earlier age and in a less graduated way than young people of the same age in the general population. Some, however, manage this process more successfully than others. The current study examines the links between stability, perceived or ‘felt’ security and later outcomes for young people 4–5 years after leaving care. It is based on a four‐wave longitudinal study over 5 years of 47 young people leaving care in New South Wales, Australia. Felt security in care, and continuity and social support beyond care were the main significant predictors of these young people’s outcomes 4–5 years after leaving care. While stability in care was important, this may be as a means to an end–building a sense of security, belonging and a network of social support.     

Readiness for independent living of youth in residential childcare: A comparative study

Transition to adulthood is an accelerated and early process for care leavers that requires intensive preparation, training and support from child welfare services. This study aimed to explore the perceived readiness for independent living of a group of care-experienced young people preparing for leaving care in Spain and to compare it with the perceptions of their peers from the general population. A sample of 508 youth (50% women) aged 14–21 (M = 16.67; SD = 1.72) took part, of whom 279 were care experienced and 229 belonged to the general population in Spain. Participants' independent living skills, personal autonomy, self-efficacy and sociodemographic characteristics were assessed through an online survey using standardized instruments. Care-experienced young people displayed higher levels of life skills and autonomy in self-care, daily living at home and employment domains, but not related to making daily arrangements in their community. However, their educational level and self-efficacy levels were lower than in the comparison group. Work experience stood out as a significant predictor of care-experienced young people's life skills level. These findings support the importance of assessing life skills as an outcome of leaving care preparation services and providing care-experienced young people with real-life experiences to develop their life skills.     

Moving from ‘what we know works’ to ‘what we do in practice’: An evidence overview of implementation and diffusion of innovation in transition to adulthood for care experienced young people

Global research has shown that most young people who are care experienced are not prepared to transition to independent living at 18 years of age and require support into early adulthood. We used rigorous systematic methods to identify English-based peer reviewed and grey literature describing innovations relevant to care experienced young people as they transition into adulthood, with a focus upon lessons for their implementation and diffusion. We synthesised the evidence narratively and organise data linked to seven key areas important to the transition to adulthood: (1) Health and well-being; (2) relationships; (3) education and training; (4) employment; (5) participation in society; (6) accommodation; (7) other. Twenty-five papers met our inclusion criteria. This review has found that, whilst there are a broad spectrum of innovations taking place within the social care environment for care experienced young people to support their transition into adulthood, there exists limited insight into how best to support implementation and diffusion of evidence-based innovation. We drew upon the ‘Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research’, developed in the setting of clinical service delivery, to highlight challenges in implementing and diffusing evidence-based innovation for care experienced young people transitioning into adulthood.     

‘Disability is not a word we use’: Social workers' professional judgements about support for disabled young people leaving care

Disabled young people leaving care often experience a more complex transition to adulthood than other youths. Still, policy and services can fail to recognize the intersection between a young person's care experiences and disability. Drawing on data from a qualitative interview study with 14 social workers who work with aftercare in the Norwegian child welfare services, we investigate social workers' professional judgements about support for this subgroup of the leaving care population. Our analysis uses the theoretical construct of institutional logics and shows that social workers did not include concepts of disability in their judgements about support for these young people. Instead, the social workers' considerations were guided by three other organizing principles: a ‘medical logic’, an ‘activation logic’ and an ‘aftercare logic’. We discuss these findings in light of critical disability studies and argue for a more nuanced understanding of disability in social work practice with care leavers. Highlighting disability rights and going beyond diagnosis and categorisations of disabled people can challenge a medical model approach to service provision.     

Research Review: Young people leaving care

This paper reviews the international research on young people leaving care. Set in the context of a social exclusion framework, it explores young people’s accelerated and compressed transitions to adulthood, and discusses the development and classification of leaving care services in responding to their needs. It then considers the evidence from outcome studies and argues that adopting a resilience framework suggests that young people leaving care may fall into three groups: young people ‘moving on’, ‘survivors’ and ‘victims’. In concluding, it argues that these three pathways are associated with the quality of care young people receive, their transitions from care and the support they receive after care.     

Life satisfaction in the transition from care to adulthood: the contribution of readiness to leave care and social support

This research explores whether readiness to leave care mediates the association between social support – from peers, staff and biological parents – on the verge of leaving care and life satisfaction a year after among young people ageing out of care in Israel. The results represent two waves of a longitudinal study. Two hundred seventy‐two adolescents from residential settings in Israel completed a self‐administered questionnaire shortly before they left care, and one year later, 234 of them were interviewed to assess their life satisfaction. Readiness to leave care was found to mediate the relationship between most social support measurements and life satisfaction. At the same time, the findings also suggest that this mediating effect varies for different types of support and has a lesser amount of influence for profound emotional support than other types of support. These findings highlight the need to include both the preparation to leave care and the reinforcement of emotional support available to young people who aged out of care, before and throughout the transition from care to adulthood.     

A comparison of state support for young people leaving care in Norway and Sweden: Differences within comparable welfare systems

The aim of this article is to account for and discuss support to young care leavers within the comparable welfare regimes of Norway and Sweden and to explore key differences between these 2 countries. This model implies that children and young people are included and entitled to support through being family members, not as independent actors in their own right. This makes young care leaver's transition from care to adulthood problematic—as they often do not have access to family support, they may be positioned in a vacuum where they are clients neither entitled to support from the child welfare system nor supported by their families of origin. In Norway, legislators and policymakers have agreed that care leavers need particular attention and targeted support, whereas in Sweden, there has been no such agreement. However, the Norwegian system of giving leaving care services is not strong enough to provide transition support to all care leavers, even if the legislation gives stronger protection than in Sweden. The article discusses the need for targeted measures of support for a successful care‐leaving process.     

The Ties that Bind: Support from Birth Families and Substitute Families for Young People Leaving Care

This paper draws on findings from a study of outcomes for youngpeople leaving care funded by the Department for Education andSkills. It explores the informal support networks availableto a sample of 106 young people over a period of 12–15months after leaving care. It examines patterns of contact withbirth families and caregivers, the support that emanated fromthese links and the strategies of leaving care professionalsto strengthen these connections. It also considers the new familiescreated by many young people through relationships with partnersand the onset of parenthood and discusses the continuing supportneeds of young parents. The paper situates the needs and experiencesof care leavers in a wider youth transitions framework and highlightsthe need for continuing professional attention to be given tostrengthening family links as one strategy for helping careleavers to negotiate the transition to adulthood.     

The social support networks of care leavers from a children's village in Ghana: formal and informal supports

In the past few decades, the number of children requiring out‐of‐home care in the developing world has risen sharply. Many children end up in institutions where they make a transition to adulthood. Little is however known about the social support available to young people during and after they leave care. This study examines the sources and kinds of support as well as the barriers to social support for a group of care leavers from a children's village in Ghana. The participants used a combination of formal and informal sources for their support needs. The formal sources provided mostly financial and practical support, whereas the informal sources offered emotional and informational support. The barriers to access included the attitude of the staff and SOS adults and limited cultural skills of the care leavers. Recommendations for removing the barriers and improving social support for care leavers are offered in the final part of the study.     

Research review: Aging out of residential care in South Africa

Approximately 21,000 children were accommodated in residential care in South Africa in 2011/2012. Despite this large number, and the state's substantial financial investment in residential care, there has, until recently, been little research on care‐leaving: the transition out of care due to reaching adulthood. Furthermore, much of the research available has not been published in international journals. This article reports on a systematic review of research on residential care‐leaving in South Africa, from 2003 to 2016. A thematic analysis of the resulting 40 research outputs maps the scope of findings from South African research, in relation to theory of leaving care, measurement tools developed, young people's experiences of leaving care, transitional outcomes, processes of leaving care, facilitators of improved outcomes, care‐leaving services, and policy on leaving care. Critical gaps in the current research opus are identified, with a view to refining future research on young people aging out of care in South Africa.     

Going It Alone: Comparing Subtypes of Withdrawal on Indices of Adjustment and Maladjustment in Emerging Adulthood

Scholars have distinguished conceptually between multiple forms of social withdrawal among children and adolescents, but this distinction has yet to be investigated fully during emerging adulthood. Therefore, the overarching goal of this study was to employ a person‐oriented approach to examine differences between subtypes of withdrawal on indicators of internalizing issues and relationships in emerging adulthood. The sample for the current study (M_age = 19.60, SD = 1.85, range = 18–29) consisted of 791 undergraduate students (548 women, 243 men). Results revealed that three distinct forms of social withdrawal (shyness, avoidance, unsociable) can be identified in emerging adulthood, with each one uniquely related to indices of maladjustment in regard to internalizing problems and relationship difficulties. In general, both shy and avoidant individuals reported more problems of an internalizing nature and in their relationships. Far fewer problems appear to exist for unsociable individuals.     

Future expectations of young people leaving youth care in Flanders: the role of personal and social capital in coping with expected challenges

What do young people leaving youth care think about their future? How do they view their transition between youth care and adulthood? These questions were answered by 71 young people leaving youth care in Flanders. The analysis of the interviews showed that three groups of young people can be distinguished when it comes to their expectations regarding the transition: those with positive future expectations that do not expect any difficulties during their transition, those with positive future expectations expecting difficulties that will eventually pass, and those with negative future expectations, who do not expect their transition difficulties will pass. Most respondents think the future is looking bright, because they are about to graduate or have graduated, and/or because they are intrinsically motivated to deal with their anticipated transition difficulties. Young people with negative future expectations do not stress their intrinsic motivation. Some of them think a (future) partner and their parents will be able to support them through their difficulties; they do not consider professional support as helpful, however.     

Early outcomes for young adults transitioning from out-of-home care in the USA

This paper describes the well‐being of participants in the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (n = 603), a study of youth leaving out‐of‐home care in the USA, at the point where they have been ‘young adults’ for about 1 year. Although some of these young adults are in stable situations and either moving forward with their education or employed in promising jobs, more of them are having significant difficulties during the early stages of the transition to adulthood. Too many are neither employed nor in school, have children that they are not able to parent, suffer from persistent mental illness or substance use disorders, find themselves without basic necessities, become homeless, or end up involved with the criminal justice system. They are doing worse than other young adults across a number of important dimensions. Most of these young adults continue to maintain relations with members of their family of origin, with many finding themselves living with family at age 19. Importantly, those young people who chose to remain under the care and supervision of the child welfare system experienced better outcomes than those who either chose to or were forced to leave care.     

Young people leaving care: health, well-being and outcomes

This paper focuses on the health and well‐being of young people making the transition from care to independent adulthood. It draws on findings from a wider study of outcomes for young people leaving care in England. Notably, the study used, as its key outcome indicators, measures of general and mental well‐being. In doing so, it was able to explore the interrelationship between these areas and young people's overall progress after care. The paper explores the extent to which young people experience difficulties related to physical and mental health, disability and emotional and behavioural problems. It will show that such difficulties can impact upon and be influenced by overall well‐being and post‐care progress in more traditional outcome areas such accommodation and career, and will suggest that the transition from care itself can adversely affect health and well‐being. The paper considers these issues within the context of a changing policy framework which has given increased priority to the health and well‐being of young people in and leaving care, particularly in light of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. It considers the ways that young people are supported to address health and well‐being and the implications for and impact on leaving care services.     

Economic self-sufficiency and the employment outcomes of care leavers: A 10-year follow up

Gaining employment and reaching a stable and self-sufficient livelihood are essential life tasks, especially for young people ageing out of public care. This longitudinal study followed alumni of welfare and educational residential care settings in Israel for 10 years after leaving care. Here, we describe care leavers' employment and economic self-sufficiency outcomes and examine differences over time in their experiences. They were interviewed at the age of 19, 1-year post-care (N = 235), 3 years later (N = 222) and 10 years after ageing out (N = 151). Results paint a mixed picture. While the majority of participants were employed, many in stable jobs, their wages were low even as they grow older. At the same time, they experienced significant economic hardships. For some, economic hardship decreased with time, but for others it remained a cause for concern. Our findings highlight the inherent dependency between experiences at different life stages and suggest that providing more support to care leavers would improve their economic outcomes.     

Social Support Networks of African-American Children Attending Head Start: A Longitudinal Investigation of Structural and Supportive Network Characteristics

This study examined the stability and coherence of African‐American children's social support networks. Participants included a total of 106 3‐ to 4‐year‐old children attending Head Start centers located in the southeast. Children completed a social network interview in two consecutive years at the Head Start centers. These interviews tapped multiple dimensions of the support network including social embeddedness, proportion of the network providing support, and perceived support. Analyses focused on both the rank‐order stability of children with respect to network characteristics as well as stability of network relationships (the same individuals included in the network at both time periods). Results indicated age‐related increases in network size for adult and child categories, network size across three support domains, proportion of support scores, and perceived support from adults. In addition to age‐related changes, analyses revealed considerable rank‐order stability with respect to structural network dimensions, but very little rank‐order stability in proportion of support and perceived support scores. In contrast, both structural and supportive components of the children's networks were shown to be coherent over a one‐year period when specific network member relationships were examined. Discussion highlights both continuities and discontinuities in young children's social networks, and how data obtained in this study contribute to theory building and the systematic examination of African‐American children's emerging social networks.