Abstract
AbstractCare-leavers – those transitioning from alternative care towards young adulthood – are widely recognized as a vulnerable population, yet child protection legislation seldom applies to them because they have reached adulthood. Despite this, little internationally comparative research on care-leaving policy and legislation has been conducted. This paper maps multinational policy and legislation and its impact on the services to care-leavers and the challenges they experience. An online survey was conducted with key informants in 36 countries and analysed by a multinational team of care-leaving scholars. Findings reveal that few countries have well-developed care-leaving legislation. Most countries provide little aftercare beyond the age of 18, even when legislation provides for it. Within the context of suboptimal social policy and limited aftercare services, findings also reveal high vulnerability among care-leavers. Recommendations for policy development, global dialogue, further research and advocacy are proposed.
Highlights
Care-leavers constitute a population of young people aged about 18 to mid-20s – roughly equivalent to Arnett’s (2019) stage of Emerging Adulthood – who are or have transitioned out of alternative care placements, including kinship care, foster care and residential care
Participants were recruited through two international associations: the International Federation of Educative Communities (FICE) and the Africa Network of Care-Leaving Researchers (ANCR)
We report on the extent of legislation in relation to the provision of care and aftercare among the 36 countries, to provide an understanding of international policy framework within which young people leave care
Summary
Care-leavers constitute a population of young people aged about 18 to mid-20s – roughly equivalent to Arnett’s (2019) stage of Emerging Adulthood – who are or have transitioned out of alternative care ( termed out-of-home) placements, including kinship care, foster care and residential care. The capacity of the state to facilitate the transition of care-leavers into productive adult living – typically defined by markers such as employment, financial independence, home ownership, marriage and children – is dependent on national policy and legislation that addresses the unique needs of this population. 88), “social policy provides the necessary scaffolding and strategic direction to enable appropriate and cost-effective service delivery during the transition from out-of-home care towards adulthood. Services without enabling policy are vulnerable to lack of coherence and direction, fragmentation and under-resourcing.”
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