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Care leavers are disadvantaged in many countries and in many ways in terms of their participation in society. Compared to the population as a whole, they have a lower level of education and are more often unemployed or precariously employed and less well paid. They are more likely to experience poverty and poor health, and their life satisfaction is lower. Previous research has focused primarily on the “leaving care” phase and related challenges in the transition to independent living. This paper is the first to analyze the socio-economic status and living situation of care leavers between…
ABSTRACT
In 2017 the Danish Parliament considered introducing baby hatches in Denmark and asked the authors to investigate the extent and causes of child abandonment and various practices and services in relation to prevention of child abandonment in Denmark and other high-income countries. We conducted a literature study and interviewed experts from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Austria, the UK, and the US. In addition, this article presents original data on child abandonment in Denmark based on a media search and information from…
Abstract
Background
The RIC (Risk Indication in Child sexual abuse) and its screening version (RIC:SV) are actuarial risk assessment instruments, developed at the Austrian Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual Offenders and designed for child protection services to assess the likelihood of sexual recidivism in male contact child sexual abusers who still or again live within a family including children.
Objective
The RIC was designed to require a minimum of forensic information, with the RIC:SV completely…
Introduction
Out-of-home care, especially treatment residential care programs (TRC) are often described in the media, and even in some professional studies, as obsolete social structures (Consensus Statement, 2014). Residential care settings are out-of-home facilities such as educational youth villages and educational, therapeutic, or rehabilitation residential treatment centers (Grupper, 2013). Their aim is to provide education, treatment, rehabilitation or protection for children and youth, including those at risk and others, to protect these young people and work toward making a…
Abstract: Findings from youth research have shown that, due to the development of the transitional phase of “emerging adulthood”, the family has become increasingly significant for young adults as a source of support and as a safety net. In contrast, care leavers are confronted with a relatively abrupt transition to independent living. However, international studies have shown that the family also plays a significant role during the status passage of leaving care — as an arena of concrete social relationships, as a normative model and ideal, as a biographical experience and memory, as a…
The two-year project ‘Leaving Care – An Integrated Approach to Capacity Building of Professionals and Young People’, has aimed to build the capacity of professionals working with children and young people who are leaving care as well as to strengthen support networks for young care leavers. The project has been coordinated by SOS Children’s Villages International and implemented in cooperation with SOS Children’s Villages’…
Abstract
The education of children in care is seen differently by teachers, caregivers in residential homes, and by the children themselves, and differences may be evident and highly significant with the impact that this entails. A pilot project aimed at improving the school-based learning of children in residential care was conducted within the framework of a European Project together with 5 Organizations working in Austria, Croatia, France, Germany and Spain. Program assessment included pre-post design and, on analysing pretest data, we established the objective of finding out more about…
The context:
Numerous studies have highlighted that in Europe people with care experience are amongst the most socially excluded groups and are at greater risk of poor outcomes in education, health, employment, criminality, mental health and social functioning in general as compared to the wider population.
Leaving the formal alternative care system is an important phase for both young people and the service providers responsible for their care and development. All the efforts and investments made throughout the child’s alternative care path risk being rendered futile if the preparation…
Abstract
This article is written as part of the FORUM project (FOR Unaccompanied Minors: transfer of knowledge for professionals to increase foster care), an EU funded project which sought to enhance the capacity of professionals to provide quality foster care for unaccompanied migrant children, primarily through the transfer of knowledge. The article aims to contribute to this transfer of knowledge by bringing together literature which is of relevance to professionals developing or enhancing foster care services for unaccompanied migrant children (such as social workers), other…
Abstract
The increasing importance of higher levels of formal education and training leads to an extended transition phase to adulthood while care leavers are confronted with new disadvantages and with a lack of political and societal attention in Austria. Despite the absence of educational support by parents and the limited support by child and youth care workers relating to the early end of youth welfare service some of the interviewed care leavers are striving for long-standing educational pathways. Educational aspirations and achievements of care leavers seem to be linked to…