Young People's Experiences of Receiving Individual Packages of Care in South Australia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the role that professional foster care – and specifically Individual Packages of Care (IPC) in South Australia – plays in providing an alternative care option for young people who are unable to live with their birth parents due to issues of abuse or neglect, but who also, due to behavioural concerns, are not well suited to a traditional foster care placement. Participants in the study were nine young people who had previously lived in an IPC placement. The findings highlight participants’ experiences of living in the context of an IPC placement, experiences that were at times challenging, but which also provided opportunities for growth and positive change that may not have been possible in a traditional foster care placement.