'What happens after leaving care? - The experience of young people with a disability - Selected findings from an Irish study.'

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other recent developments have raised awareness of the needs and rights of this group within society. There remains, however, gaps in knowledge about the... [ view full abstract ]

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other recent developments have raised awareness of the needs and rights of this group within society. There remains, however, gaps in knowledge about the experiences of significant minorities of people with disabilities. One example is the case of children with disabilities in the child welfare / care systems. This presentation is based on an exploratory study of the care and leaving care journeys of 8 young adults with disabilities in Ireland who had spent significant time living in the child welfare / care system (as opposed to the care of disability services). The study group consists of 6 young adults with an intellectual disability and 2 young adults with a physical disability. This small pilot study represents one of the first attempts to provide very preliminary evidence based on the in-care and post-care experiences of young adults with a disability.
Findings will be presented relating to the sample of 8 young adults and their experiences of education, training and work, as well as other aspects of their care and post-care experience. They come from a wider study of a cohort of care leavers of whom these 8 young adults are part - and some contextual / comparative data from the wider study will be included in the presentation. (Selected findings from the wider study were presented at EUSARF - 2014). Data was gathered by case file analysis and interviews with Aftercare workers/Disability Support staff approximately 5 years after the young adults had left care.
Findings will highlight the need for services to be more 'disability aware' as well as the necessity to provide a coordinated and consistent approach in meeting the needs of this group. It will be argued that the results of the study justifies the case for a fuller study of the needs, experiences and outcomes of young people with disabilities in the child welfare / care system.