Making a connection: school engagement of young people in care

Intervention to improve educational attainment for children in out‐of‐home care is increasingly being recognized as important for their well‐being and future opportunities. This paper reports on a mixed method study of the school engagement or connectedness of young people in care. The study comprised a survey of 202 young people in care in Queensland, Australia, and a matched comparison group of young people not in care, plus interviews with a subset of 65 young people in care who were surveyed. Both the school environment and the perceived levels of support influenced school engagement, with those who were assisted by carers and caseworkers more likely to be positively connected with school. These young people perceived education as a pathway to achieving work and life goals. The findings suggest that active and focused attention on young people's school engagement should be part of case planning and monitoring as it offers an additional strategy for improving their educational experience.     

Making a home, finding a job: investigating early housing and employment outcomes for young people leaving care

This paper presents findings from a new study of outcomes for young people leaving care funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It reports findings for a sample of 106 young people in relation to progress made in housing and employment some 12–15 months after leaving care. The generally poor employment outcomes of care leavers are acknowledged, but ingredients that make for success are also highlighted, including the value of settled care and post‐care careers, sound career planning and, significantly, the value of delaying young people’s transitions from care. Early career paths also interconnect with how young people fare in housing, in developing life skills and with other problems in their lives after leaving care. Housing outcomes were more encouraging and predominantly shaped by events after leaving care, and faring well in housing was the factor most closely associated with positive mental well‐being in young people. Some groups that are at risk of faring badly are identified, including young people with mental‐health problems, young people with persistent offending or substance misuse problems and, in some respects, young disabled people. The implications of these findings for leaving care services are considered.     

Hard to reach and easy to ignore: the drinking careers of young people not in education,employment or training

Young people's drinking in the UK remains a matter of medical, social, media and political concern. The notion of transition and drinking styles in the move from childhood to adulthood and from education to employment has been central to understanding young people's drinking behaviour, but little is known about how the drinking patterns of those not in education or employment, both men and women, develop over time. This paper reports on research which aimed to examine the current drinking habits and drinking careers of young people not in education employment and training who are traditionally described as hard to reach. In‐depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with 23 young people: 15 women and 8 men aged between 14 and 23. The findings are presented with respect to three stages of drinking: starting, continuing or increasing, and decreasing or stopping. The conclusions indicate that for the majority of these young people, alcohol is a significant factor in their lives and that peers, gender, time and place combine to structure both their current alcohol use and drinking career. The paper argues that an understanding of young people's drinking career development and current alcohol use will help target effective social work and multi‐agency intervention.     

Advocacy for disabled children and young people: benefits and dilemmas

Recent policy has emphasized the need for advocacy services for children and young people, developments that have gone hand‐in‐hand with greater levels of participation of young people in decision‐making. Advocacy for disabled young people is especially important, as they are a particular vulnerable group and have, traditionally, been even more excluded from decisions about matters affecting their lives. This paper reports the findings, as they relate to disabled young people, from a study that investigated the role of advocacy for looked‐after children and children in need. The paper highlights some of the benefits of advocacy for disabled children, the dilemmas facing advocates between advocating and acting in someone's ‘best interests’, identifying the client and the boundaries between advocacy and social work. It argues that time given to establish a close relationship with a disabled child or young person is crucial if advocacy is to be effective and participation in decisions affecting their lives a reality.     

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.     

Use of population measures and norms to identify resilient outcomes in young people in care: an exploratory study

The purposes of this study were to derive a new method for identifying resilience (i.e. positive adaptation in spite of serious adversity) among young people in care and to determine the percentage of the latter who experienced resilience on selected outcomes, as conceptualized from within the developmental approach of Looking After Children. The participants comprised two samples of young people who were living in out‐of‐home care (mainly foster care) in the province of Ontario, Canada, 340 aged 10–15 years and 132 aged 5–9 years. Virtually all had experienced severe adversity in their families of origin, such that in most cases the legal custody, care, and control of the young people had been permanently transferred from their parents to a local Children's Aid Society. Corresponding to each in‐care sample was a general‐population sample of the same age range that served as a normative comparison group and was drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). The NLSCY is an ongoing, long‐term social‐policy study of the development of a nationally representative sample of Canadian children into adolescence and early adulthood. The general‐population samples were composed, respectively, of 5539 young people aged 10–15 years and 11 858 children aged 5–9 years. Resilience among the young people in care was operationally defined, on each outcome variable, as average or above‐average functioning relative to that of the general‐population sample of the same age range. The percentage experiencing resilience was relatively high on the outcomes of health, self‐esteem, and pro‐social behaviour, moderate on the outcomes of relationship with friends and anxiety and emotional distress, and low on the outcome of academic performance. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

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.     

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.     

Interpretative phenomenological analysis of young people's lived experiences of therapeutic residential care

Concerns of maltreatment and poor outcomes persist in residential care despite numerous government inquiries and recommendations. Young people in residential care continue to be the most vulnerable and marginalized group in the out‐of‐home care population. Young people's voices are also underrepresented in research. Existing studies predominantly focus on service evaluations in which individual voices of young people are overshadowed by adults' perspectives. Other studies examine the perspectives of young people in out‐of‐home care as a homogenous population, limiting understandings of the subjective experiences of young people in residential care. This study focused exclusively on young people's lived experiences in Australian therapeutic residential care, utilizing interpretative phenomenological analysis. The young people in this study revealed experiences of peer victimization, ambiguous loss and uncertainty during transitions. These findings suggest that more work is required in order to provide safe and healing environments and experiences for young people in therapeutic residential care. Each individual voice captured in this study offers valuable insights into how residential care practitioners can strengthen practice to enhance protection, engagement, connection with families and leaving care support.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Residential care: an effective response to out‐of‐home children and young people?

The ever‐growing number of out‐of‐home children in Italy over the last decade has urged an assessment of the available care services. Although foster care is spreading rapidly, many young people are still housed in residential facilities. Reflection on residential care quality has intensified at both a national and an international level. This paper presents the results of a study on residential care facilities for children and young people in the region of Northern Italy (Lombardy). Four dimensions of ‘quality’ are considered: efficiency, effectiveness, participation in planning and intervention, and empowerment of children and their family relationships. The combined effects of these dimensions are defined as ‘relational quality’. The results show that residential care facilities are generally good, while Social Services resources often appear inadequate for interventions aimed at birth families (efficiency). The well‐being of children in residential care facilities is high, even if they tend to move from one facility to another, rarely returning to their birth family (effectiveness). The involvement of children and their families at different stages of the care path is limited (participative approach). Finally, the most critical element is the failure to properly involve birth families (empowerment).     

Participation in social,leisure and informal learning activities among care leavers in England: positive outcomes for educational participation

Against a background of research and national statistics that consistently show that educational participation and achievement of young people in and leaving care is significantly lower than is the case for the non‐care population, previous research has shown the positive impact that social, leisure and informal learning activities can have on the educational participation and achievements of young people, and particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The UK: Care Matters Green Paper stated that involvement in leisure and social activities can have a positive impact on the self‐esteem of young people in and leaving care and upon their educational attainment and later success in the labour market. This paper reports on the English results of a cross‐national study of young people from a public care background and their pathways to education in Europe. Using case study examples it explores the impact that social, leisure and informal learning activities can have on educational participation and educational pathways of young people in and leaving care. The paper argues that, in view of these findings, encouraging and supporting young people in and leaving care into these types of activities should be a priority for social care professionals, carers and teachers.     

Ascertaining the wishes and feelings of young children: social workers' perspectives on skills and training

The research was undertaken in the context of the ongoing debate about child care social work training and children's participation. Its aim was to explore the views of qualified child care social workers about their skills in eliciting the wishes and feelings of younger children and the relevance of social work training for this task. Questionnaires, focusing on their skills and training, were completed by 70 UK child care practitioners from the Children and Families Court Advisory and Support Service, voluntary agencies and local authorities. On average, practitioners felt able to ascertain the feelings and wishes of children as young as 4 years old. Nevertheless, at qualifying level, only 30% had training in communicating with young children, 16% in ascertaining children's feelings and wishes, and 66% in child development. Many had subsequently relied on in‐service training and their own initiatives to acquire further skills and understanding. In conclusion, most participants were experienced practitioners working in supportive organizations and had developed considerable communication skills. However, concerns remain because they identified deficits in child care social work qualifying and post‐qualifying training. Consequently, more effective training at all levels is required if social workers are to engage younger children successfully and facilitate their participation.     

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.     

Driving outcomes: learning to drive,resilience and young people living in residential care

There are continuing concerns about the experiences offered to older adolescents being looked after (‘in care’) in the UK and, especially, to care leavers. Questions are asked about the limitations of State care compared with normal family life. This paper reports on an initiative to provide driving lessons to a group of six young men living in residential homes in one city. It links with resilience theory – how individuals can have relatively good outcomes despite early adversity. A qualitative study was undertaken to explore the effects of the initiative, including individual interviews with young men, heads of homes in which they lived and children's services managers. The overall results indicated that the initiative was very worthwhile. The lessons were a significant part of young people's lives. Possible effects on young people were divided into personal, instrumental and social. Benefits were reported from all parties concerning young people's self‐esteem and self‐confidence, as well as in forging close relationships with supportive adults. Driving would not be seen as a panacea for complex personal histories and structural problems, yet this small experiment suggests that driving lessons could be of disproportionate benefit and there is a moral obligation to provide them in any case.     

Into adulthood: a follow-up study of 718 young people who were placed in out-of-home care during their teens

In this study, national register data were used to analyse long‐term outcomes at age 25 for around 700 Swedish young people placed in out‐of‐home care during their teens. The sample consisted of 70% of all 13‐ to 16‐year olds who entered out‐of‐home care in 1991. Results revealed a dividing line between young people placed in care for behavioural problems and those placed for other reasons. Young woman and men from the first group had – in comparison with peers who did not enter care – very high rates of premature death, serious involvement in crime, hospitalizations for mental‐health problems, teenage parenthood, self‐support problems and low educational attainment. Young people who were placed for other reasons had better outcomes, but still considerably worse than non‐care peers. Young women tended to do better than young men, regardless of reasons for placement. Very high rates of hospitalizations for mental health problems were found among young people placed for behavioural problems. Breakdown of placement was found to be a robust indicator of poor long‐term prognosis.     

The social networks of young people in Ireland with experience of long‐term foster care: some lessons for policy and practice

This paper presents findings from the first study of the social networks of a group of young people in Ireland who have experienced long‐term foster care. The study group was composed of two groups of young people, a group who were currently in care and a group who had left the care system. The central focus was to examine the impact of foster care on the social network experience of the young people. Findings indicated that foster care impacts on the young people's social network experience in the following ways: losing contact with extended family; a greater challenge in making and sustaining friendships; an impact on education; and an inability to maintain contact with groups and activities that are of significance. This paper also presents recommendations in relation to policy and practice, including the raising of awareness of the importance of a social network approach in working with young people with care experience.     

The experiences of carers in using shared activities to communicate with looked‐after young people about alcohol,tobacco, and drug use

Parental conversations with their teenage children about alcohol, tobacco, and drugs are associated with lower rates of use. Looked‐after young people are at greater risk of early initiation, higher rates of use, and more problematic use. However, there is no evidence regarding whether these conversations occur in settings where the parental role is assumed by someone other than the biological parent. The aim of the study was to examine how carers communicate with looked‐after young people about alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 16 residential care staff and foster carers in Scotland. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Participants talked about “shared doing” as a way of building relationships and communicating about substance use. Shared doing encompassed particular activities that carers and young people would do together, such as driving in the car, cooking, watching TV, and going for a walk. Shared doing provided an opportunity to spend time together and to create an environment in which communication could be facilitated. These environments were shaped by space, time, and context. Carers should be encouraged to take advantage of the time‐limited occasions they are with young people to have conversations about substance use.