Descriptive study on the emancipation of young people in foster care of SOS Children's Villages Spain

A descriptive study whose general objective was to evaluate the degree of emancipation and integration acquired by young graduates, men and women, who have been through foster care programs of SOS Children's Villages Spain is... [ view full abstract ]

A descriptive study whose general objective was to evaluate the degree of emancipation and integration acquired by young graduates, men and women, who have been through foster care programs of SOS Children's Villages Spain is presented.

The methodology used for collecting information was the “semi structured interview” confronted with objective indicators obtained through observation of each of the persons interviewed. From a potential population of 930 possible people being tracked, there have been a total of 607 interviews, conducted by technicians from the Youth Programs of the different territorial SOS Children's Villages in Spain during 2014. The young participants in the study had a mean age of 28.2 years and an average stay in foster care programs of the organization of around 8 years and a mean time of outflow of young people around nine years since leaving the SOS Children's Villages. The study presents detailed data by sex, age, and geographical origin etc.

The most relevant results obtained on these young people from the follow-up interviews and from collecting information on those variables that the Emancipation Observatory (Youth Council of Spain) estimates, in his report of 2014, as favouring the processes of transition to adulthood are exposed. The global indicators analysed in young people are: data about housing, income, work, education, socio-cultural integration, health and dependencies. The study was conducted with young people from 7 autonomous regions, namely Andalucia, Aragon, the Canary Islands, Castilla La Mancha, Cataluña, Galicia and Madrid.

The study concludes with a comparative analysis of the information obtained from young SOS Children's Villages’ graduates and data on normative values ​​provided by the Observatory of Emancipation and the National Institute of Statistics, on those variables that have been studied, It can be concluded that the young SOS Children's Villages of Spain’ graduates of both sexes, present a level of emancipation equivalent to other young people present today in Spanish society; having in some variables studied, a degree of emancipation above average.