Living on the Edge: Innovative Research on Leaving Care and Transitions to Adulthood

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY licence. Young people transitioning out of care towards independence, work and adulthood are on the edge of these phases of life. Considering previously neglected groups of care leavers such as unaccompanied migrants, street youth, those leaving residential care, young parents and those with a disability, this book presents cutting-edge research from emerging global scholars. The collection addresses the precarity experienced by many care leavers, who often lack the social capital and resources to transition into stable education, employment and family life. Including the voices of care leavers throughout, it makes research relevant to practitioners and policymakers aiming to enable, rather than label, vulnerable groups.

Front Matter --; Contents --; List of figures and tables --; Notes on contributors --; Acknowledgements --; Foreword --; Introduction: Moving towards the edge --; Groups of care-leavers living on the edge --; Unaccompanied migrant youth leaving care in Spain: how their journeys differ from those of other care-leavers --; 'The question is: will the street leave us?' Care-leavers with a street-connected past --; Care-leavers' reflections on resilience processes acquired while living on the street prior to coming into residential care in South Africa --; LGBTQIA+ foster-care-leavers: creating equitable and affirming systems of care --; Methods of care-leaving research --; Institutional ethnography: linking the individual and the institutional in care-leaving research --; Methodological issues when interviewing disabled care-leavers: lessons learned from South Africa, Norway and Northern Ireland --; Trauma-informed research with young people transitioning from care: balancing methodological rigour with participatory and empowering practice --; Care foundations: making care central in research with care-experienced people --; Theory and conceptualisation of leaving care --; Stability in residential out-of-home care in Australia: how can we understand it? --; Living an unstable life: exploring facets of instability in the lives of care-leavers in Denmark --; Understanding the risk of suicide among care-leavers: the potential contribution of theories --; Getting by and getting ahead in Australia: a conceptual approach to examining the individual impact of informal social capital on care-leaver transitions --; Conclusion: Going over the edge --; Index