Research Review: Independent living programmes: the influence on youth ageing out of care (YAO)

Independent living programmes (ILPs) aid in promoting productive outcomes for youth ageing out of care (YAO). This narrative review aimed to determine if sufficient evidence exists to substantiate statements regarding the effectiveness of ILPs based upon outcome studies published from January 2006 through December 2012. Are current ILPs effectively promoting independent living and productive outcomes among youth leaving foster care, relative to similar youth who do not participate in an ILP? Six studies published in English, in the USA and in peer‐reviewed journals included non‐experimental design (n = 1), quantitative designs (n = 2), mixed methods design (n = 2) and randomized design (n = 1). Five outcomes addressing education, employment, housing, mental health, and living skills emerged. Weak evidence that ILPs effectively aid YAO exists. Additionally, inconsistencies exist in methodology. Finally, differences in important components in the ILPs exist, making comparisons difficult.     

Exploring the promotion of youth voice in community-based youth development programmes

This constructivist grounded theory study used semi-structured interviews with 19 youth service providers in community-based youth development programmes to develop a context-specific framework of how and why youth voice promotion occurred. Factors external to the youth programmes, such as funder expectations, influenced the conceptualization of role for youth workers. The social process of meaning making in relation to role identity impacted how youth workers perceived self-efficacy when working with youth, especially when engaged with behaviours falling outside programmatic expectations or norms. Workers prioritized fostering physical and psychological safe spaces for youth participants. When conflict occurred, perceptions of efficacy guided workers in taking positions that either promoted or restricted youth voice based on their perceptions of efficacy in resolving conflict safely. Youth programmes have the capacity to resist or replicate oppression present within the educational system. The adoption and adaptation of educational models of resistance offer a strategy for community-based youth organizations to promote equity and thriving youth.     

Quality of experience in residential care programmes: Retrospective perspectives of former youth participants

This exploratory study examined perceptions of care quality within parent‐pay youth treatment programmes such as therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centres, wilderness therapy programmes, and intensive outpatient programmes. Reflecting on their personal experiences as youths, 214 adults reported on a total of 75 different treatment settings. Two indices developed for this study measured participants' perceptions of quality of experience and the totalistic programme characteristics of their care settings. Regression analyses and ANOVA tests of means indicated a negative relationship between totalistic programme characteristics and quality of experience index scores. Significant relationships were not found between quality of experience and forcible transport, intake decade, or the amount of time in treatment.     

Mentoring adolescent foster youth: promoting resilience during developmental transitions

The current exploratory study used quantitative and qualitative data from an evaluation of the ‘Advocates to Successful Transition to Independence’ programme, a mentoring programme designed to train mentors to assist older adolescent foster youth in acquiring skills and resources needed for successful transition out of foster care and into adulthood. The study was conducted in two phases over 2 years. Quantitative methods were used to describe characteristics of the older adolescent foster youth and advocates, and qualitative methods were used to describe the experiences of youth and advocates in the programme. Results suggest that the use of a mentoring programme for older adolescent foster youth represents a particularly beneficial prevention strategy that may help prevent negative outcomes as youth emancipate from the foster care system and transition into young adulthood. Implications and recommendations for developing mentoring programmes for transition‐aged youth are presented.     

Building home on a fault line: Aging out of child welfare with a serious mental health diagnosis

Youth aging out of foster care are at high risk for homelessness. This research explains how and why homelessness occurs among youth with serious mental health struggles after aging out of residential and transitional living programmes. Using a longitudinal constructivist grounded theory design, we analyse 20 in‐depth interviews exploring youth's transition experiences and perceptions of transition success within 4 months of emancipation and at 6 and 12 months postemancipation. Monthly 15‐min check‐ins prevented attrition. A three‐phase transition process was observed driven by participant desires and actions to cultivate psychological home through establishing physical home alone away from social networks. Pre‐emancipation, the promise of home was privacy and opportunity for self‐redefinition. Shortly after emancipation, home became a physical and social space to be, a valuable resource to share and a demonstration of personal transition success. However, later in the year postemancipation, maintaining physical home proves nearly impossible given the risk context. Findings speak to how and why youth aging out appear overly self‐reliant upon emancipation. Cultivating a psychological sense of home has practice implications for child welfare providers who aim to prepare youth to live independently postemancipation.     

Assessing the impact of community programmes working with children and families in disadvantaged areas

Community programmes designed to improve the functioning of disadvantaged neighbourhoods and the families living there, as well as to reduce specific problems such as child abuse and youth offending, are currently very popular with the UK government. However, whilst there is considerable knowledge about the structural causes of individual and neighbourhood disadvantage in UK society, evidence about the role that community programmes can play in addressing these inequalities is much more limited. The evidence that does exist tends either to have been imported from other parts of the world (notably the USA), or to be in the early stages of evaluation in the UK, with the initial findings sometimes proving rather unconvincing. In particular, the limitations of targeted funding, and the difficulties of establishing and maintaining the effective partnerships upon which successful programmes rely, are emerging as significant issues. In this paper the implications of these findings for the future of children's services is considered, in the context of ever‐widening inequalities in UK society and the government's plans for children's trusts, integrated children's centres, and extended schools, involving multi‐agency working between health, education and social services.     

A study of social adjustment and incidence of mental disease in six generations of a family 1

While on the street, youth encounter many circumstances that have the potential to bring physical, psychological, and spiritual harm to them. Homelessness for youths seems to occur as a process or journey that appears to parallel a Rite of Passage Framework. This article develops a conceptual model called the Runaway Rite of Passage Framework, which may provide service providers with a way to categorize the stages through which homeless youth transition. Also, this article explores the typologies of homeless youth. Assessment strategies at the different stages in the runaway rite of passage are discussed to assist in identifying possible intervention buffers that may help the youth. The focus of this theoretical reflection addresses how to reverse the transition toward homelessness with strategies that will lead to stable living situations for street youth.     

Achieving high quality and long‐lasting matches in youth mentoring programmes: a case study of 4Results mentoring

Mentoring programmes show significant promise for enhancing the well‐being of youth with complex needs. Research indicates that high quality mentoring, although difficult to achieve, positively impacts youth development across behavioural, social, emotional and academic domains. The difficulty of sustaining long‐term matches between mentors and youth, however, remains an important concern for the field of mentoring, as foreshortened matches can be harmful to youth. The 4Results mentoring programme has been identified as a Promising Practice through the Washington State Inventory of child‐serving behavioural and mental health programmes and has developed a unique infrastructure to support critical programme values such as match longevity. In 7 years, the programme has successfully retained 98% of mentors for at least 1 year with an average match length of 3.7 years. The following article describes the programme's guiding philosophy and approach to recruiting and training mentors in the context of existing best practices research.     

Youth‐focused active labour market programmes in a constraining welfare regime: A qualitative reading of programmes in Egypt

Active labour market programmes (ALMPs) are at the core of welfare regimes in many countries across the world. This study addressed youth‐focused ALMPs in Egypt, a country with high youth unemployment and a plethora of programmes ostensibly addressing this issue. Building on interviews with implementers, programme documentation and a publically accessible inventory of programmes in Egypt, the analysis locates ALMPs within the country's overall welfare system and the politics of programme targeting, design, governance and implementation modalities. The legacy of state ‘protective’ policies and the fragmented multiplicity of players within the field constrain the effectiveness and outreach of these programmes. Analysis of implementation modalities also shows that there is a pervasive lack of programme coordination, activity documentation, management for results, and pathways to achieving sustainability and programme institutionalisation. Key Practitioner Message: ? Egypt's fragmented ALMPs field must be integrated and coordinated within the country's broader welfare system ? Programme documentation, management of results, rigorous evaluation and sustainability plans must be seriously addressed     

Breaking bad: an attachment perspective on youth mentoring relationship closures

Endings in youth mentoring relationships have received little attention to date despite the frequency with which they occur. In this paper, we bring an attachment theory perspective to bear on youth mentoring relationship closures and consider how the rich empirical and theoretical literature on attachment can inform mentoring programme practice and possibly help prevent premature and poorly handled mentoring relationship endings. We consider what is known about endings in youth mentoring relationships, articulate an attachment perspective on mentoring relationships and their endings and offer recommendations informed by these literatures for how mentoring programmes can promote positive closure when relationships come to an end.     

Youth‐oriented active labour market policies and economic crisis: Explaining policy effort in Greece and Portugal

The starting point of this study is the implementation of seemingly similar youth‐oriented labour market policies in Greece and Portugal. Both countries have suffered high youth unemployment rates and have been pressured to restructure their labour market as part of the rescue programmes adopted during the European sovereign debt crisis. Despite convergence in terms of policy trajectories, there is a significant divergence in employment outcomes. In Portugal, youth‐oriented policies were better‐targeted and structured. Their implementation has been more effective and has involved the social partners from the outset of the crisis. In Greece, policy design failures, administrative weaknesses and unfavourable macroeconomic conditions have limited the dynamics of youth‐oriented policies thus increasing youth insecurity. Τhe analysis suggests that convergence in policy content can be compatible with divergence in terms of outcomes.     

Effective services for improving education and employment outcomes for children and alumni of foster care service: correlates and educational and employment outcomes

Outcomes for youth from foster care have been found to be poor. The education and employment outcomes of youth and alumni of foster care served by transition programmes located in five major US cities were examined. Data were collected by case managers and reported to evaluators quarterly on 1058 youth from foster care for over 2 years. Job preparation, transportation, child care, education support services and life skills were the most common services provided to youth. During the 2‐year study period, 35% of participants obtained employment, 23% obtained a General Education Development or diploma, and 17% enrolled in post‐secondary education. It was found that the longer the youth were enrolled, the more education and employment outcomes they achieved. Further, job preparation and income support services were associated significantly with achieving any positive education or employment outcome. Results indicated that certain services provided over an extended period of time can improve outcomes for youth placed in foster care. For youth to achieve positive outcomes as they transition to adulthood, additional services are necessary. Other implications are discussed.     

Caregiving Youth Knowledge and Perceptions of Parental End-of-Life Wishes in Huntington’s Disease

Knowledge of patient end-of-life (EOL) wishes and discussions are vital for family caregivers, including children and youth who may be in caregiving roles (“young carers” or “caregiving youth”). However, little is known about caregiving youth awareness and perceptions of EOL issues. This study sought to explore caregiving youth knowledge of EOL wishes and their willingness for EOL discussions. Face-to-face interviews with 40 caregiving youth ages 10–20, who have a parent with Huntington’s disease (HD), provided information about their knowledge of the presence of their ill parent’s living will (LW) and durable power of attorney for health care (DPAHC), and willingness to talk with the parent about EOL choices and possibility of death. Less than one-half of the participants were aware of the parent’s LW or DPAHC. Content analysis revealed themes in reasons to want or not want EOL discussion with the parent: respect for the parent’s wishes, caregiving youths’ opinion not valued, and avoidance of EOL issues. Themes also included reasons to not want discussion with the parent about possibility of death: protecting the parent, parent in denial, parent not ready, and realization of the terminal outcome. Findings suggest HD patients and their caregiving youth need support for open EOL discussions, and could benefit from educational programs and support groups around EOL issues.     

The challenge of youth unemployment

This article was prepared as a contribution to the ILO's Action Programme on Youth Unemployment. It presents an overview of the youth unemployment problem and youth employment policy principally from a European perspective, although it is hoped that much of the comment and analysis is relevant to afar broader range of countries. In the first section, which considers the nature and causes of youth unemployment, it is shown that its basic cause is aggregate demand rather than high youth wages or the size of the youth cohort, and suggests that a successful strategy for dealing with the problem must take this into account. In the second section, dealing principally with the examples of Germany and the United Kingdom, a number of factors are identified which influence the effectiveness of youth employment policy. In particular, it is found that precise targeting of programmes and the involvement of employers' and workers' organizations, as well as government, in the design and implementation of policy are both important determinants of an effective policy. A third section attempts to set the analysis in a more general context.     

Leaving an Institution in Flanders (Belgium): A Road to Homelessness?

People living in an institution will leave this residential context one day and have to proceed to a stable independent way of living. This transition is not without difficulties as it turns out this socially vulnerable group runs an increased risk of becoming homeless. Research in Flanders (Belgium) has shown that a considerable share of the homeless population has previously stayed in an institutional setting, mostly in youth care (48.7%), psychiatric (34.4%) and penitentiary (33.1%) institutions. Moreover, the share of homeless people with a history in one of these institutions has increased in the past decades. Institution leavers, face at least three obstacles to a stable housing situation in Flanders: a lack of affordable housing, a lack of access to (non-residential) social assistance and personal difficulties in coping with living independently. Yet, there are several programs that support institution leavers and prepare them for the transition to an independent living situation and legal developments that strengthen their position in society and on the housing market. In this paper, we explore these initiatives and developments in three case studies (Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven). Based on in-depth interviews with “street-level bureaucrats” who work in these institutions (youth care, psychiatric and penitentiary settings), social support services and social housing organizations, we reconstruct the pathways of institution leavers to the housing market, the support they receive and the experienced difficulties.     

Integrating resilience and positive youth development for the promotion of positive health behaviours among ethnic minorities: a conceptual framework

Hong Kong, a traditionally ethnically homogeneous society, seems to fail encouraging positive development of ethnic minority young people. Studying resilient ethnic minority, young adults may provide insights into developing programmes and policies to encourage positive health behaviours. A pilot qualitative study of individual interviews with South Asian young minority adults was conducted to develop a conceptual framework by incorporating resilience and positive youth development. Based on the findings of this study, resilience and positive youth development contribute to young ethnic minorities’ positive health behaviours. This study may benefit culturally tailored research implications for young ethnic minorities.     

纳西族农村旅游经济发展与男青年消费行为——以云南省玉龙纳西族自治县海村为例

纳西族农村旅游经济的发展，客观上提高了当地村民的物质生活水平，也丰富了农村的精神生活。但是，经济收入的急剧增加和与游客形成的社会互动也是一把双刃剑，它会对当地农村男青年自我身份认同的重新建构起作用，从而使消费者社会的观念在农村男青年之中流行，影响当地农村经济和社会的可持续性发展。推动社区文化建设，重构农村生活世界的意义，社会主义新农村建设才能获得力量的源泉。     

把知青文化作为龙江文化建设的重要内容

文化是在历史发展中形成的 ,具有鲜明的地方特色。当年 ,几十万个知识青年下乡到北大荒 ,艰苦奋斗的经历和龙江文化的开放性造就了他们特有的文化性格。他们在北大荒度过了用热血和汗水写下的青春年华 ,在那里既有他们对神圣的解构 ,又为未来发展打下了基础。知青文化已成为龙江文化的重要内容。经济与文化一体化是 2 1世纪的一个明显趋势 ,因而必须重视知青文化建设 ,形成黑龙江发展的特殊优势     

Preparation of youth in congregate care for independent living

This paper reports on findings from a qualitative study that focused on the quality and adequacy of preparation of youth in congregate care for independent living. This study, conducted in New York, NY, USA, explored the extent to which youth feel prepared to leave care and the opportunities they are given to participate in planning and decision‐making regarding issues that personally affect their future. Interviews were conducted with professionals and young adults who had exited foster care after placements in congregate care settings. Both professionals and young adults stated concerns about the quality of independent living preparation. Many young adults stated that they were not ready to live independently and expressed concerns about failure of staff to begin preparing youth sufficiently in advance of their discharge dates. Young adults also reported limited opportunities to participate in the planning and decision‐making processes affecting them. Recommendations for improvement of independent living preparation are proposed.     

‘He told me to calm down and all that’: a qualitative study of forms of social support in youth mentoring relationships

The worldwide growth in formal youth mentoring programmes over the past two decades is partly a response to the perception that young people facing adversity do not have access to supportive relationships with adults and positive role models in their communities to the degree they once had. Formal mentoring programmes facilitate the development of a friendship or ‘match’ between an older volunteer and a young person, with the objective of supporting the young persons’ personal and social development. Drawing on 66 semi‐structured interviews with young people, parents, mentors and caseworkers associated with nine youth mentoring matches in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Programme in Ireland, this paper analyses the forms of social support evident in the mentor–mentee relationships and highlights how the mentoring relationship was perceived to have impacted on the well‐being of the young people participating. The findings reflect the consensus in the mentoring literature that close, well‐established mentoring relationships have the potential to bring about meaningful change in the lives of young people.