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Research shows that youth who leave foster care to live independently are often at risk of homelessness, less education, unemployment/poverty, and mental health issues. There are a number of reasons for this increased risk. A variety of aftercare services for youth leaving foster care are designed to help address these risks.
The purpose of this study was to examine trends in participation and understand the experiences of youth transitioning from foster care who were involved in the Iowa Aftercare Services Program. The authors examine trends in participation, services received,…
Young adults with histories of out-of-home care (OOHC) have poor early adult outcomes. Transitioning to adulthood takes preparation, coupled with support and resources. Few studies have examined these young adults’ perceptions of what helped them prepare for adulthood and how prepared they perceived they were to make the developmental transition to adulthood. This convergent mixed methods study builds knowledge surrounding preparedness among a sample of young adults with histories in OOHC (N = 204).
The study progressed in three phases. First, quantitative measures of preparedness…
This book sets out the case for Transitional Safeguarding, a new approach to protection and safeguarding designed to address the needs and behaviours of young people aged 15-24 who are falling between gaps in current global systems, with often devastating results.
While the book addressed the gaps in the current system in the UK, the lessons have global application and the authors outlines how the specific needs of young people can be met through this approach. Written by leading experts in this area with strong practice networks, it presents up-to-date evidence for its effectiveness, and…
Leaving a familiar environment can be daunting. Although previous studies investigated the experiences of youths who left care centres, few considered those who left during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this exploratory qualitative research study, the authors purposively recruited 12 African youths aged between 18 and 23, with at least two years’ experience of life in the care centres of Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality to investigate their experiences when they left such centres during the pandemic.
The data were collected through individual semistructured interviews, analysed according to…
Transition-age youth with foster care involvement (TAY) face significant risks for food insecurity and other hardships in early adulthood. Using representative survey data of youth transitioning out of foster care in California, the authors examine the prevalence and predictors of food insecurity. They find that about 30% of study participants were food insecure at ages 19, 21, and 23.
They also identify multiple risk and protective factors associated with being food insecure, such as TAY’s sexual identity and receipt of public benefits. The results of their study offer life-stage-specific…
There is a lack of research investigating the role of caregivers in the development and prevention of mental health issues and substance use among youth living in care. The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between caregiver characteristics, caregiver attachment and placement type on two dimensions of mental health and substance use among a sample of older youth living in care.
The data used for this study were collected as part of the Ontario Looking After Children project, which was developed to assess the needs and developmental progress of children and young people who…
European and North American notions of helping - or managing - poor and marginalised people have deep roots in religious texts and traditions which continue to influence contemporary social policy and social work practice in ways which many do not realise.
Bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship, Mark Henrickson argues that it is essential to understand and critique social work’s origins in order to work out what to retain and what must change if we are to achieve the vision of a truly global profession.
Addressing current debates in international social work about social…
Evidence suggests that providing out-of-home care to children is associated with high levels of compassion fatigue, possibly due to various work-related factors. This review examined the existing literature to determine the extent to which out of home care work results in compassion fatigue. To do so, it established which out of home care settings compassion fatigue has been measured in, how, and what factors contribute to developing compassion fatigue in this work.
The study conducted a comprehensive search of five electronic databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMED, and CENTRAL) for…
On Tuesday, March 19, 2024, from 8:30 to 10:00 am EST, the U.S. Government’s Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity (APCCA) secretariat and D4I will host a webinar on “Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity Learning Session –Strengthening the Social Service Workforce: Findings from a Cross-Country Assessment.” …
On 7 February 2024, the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance hosted a webinar to showcase the findings from their recently released 2023 State of the Social Service Workforce Report: A Decade of Progress, A Future of Promise. They dove into the report's insights, highlighting the significant progress that has been made to strengthen the social service…