Moving on, surviving and struggling: opportunities and obstacles to promoting the agency of young people during transition

This paper has two objectives: first, to describe three outcome groups, drawing on research studies of care leavers carried out between 1980 and 2015; second to explore, how young people’s experiences of care and transition,... [ view full abstract ]

This paper has two objectives: first, to describe three outcome groups, drawing on research studies of care leavers carried out between 1980 and 2015; second to explore, how young people’s experiences of care and transition, who fall into these three groups, either provide opportunities or barriers to promoting their agency.
The first outcome group includes those young people successfully ‘moving on’ from care. This group welcome the challenge of independent living and gaining more control over their lives. They see this as improving their confidence and self-esteem. In general, their resilience has been enhanced by their experiences of living in and leaving care. They have been able to make good use of the help they have been offered, often maintaining contact and support from former carers and having supportive social networks.
The second outcome group, the ‘survivors’, have experienced more instability, movement and disruption while living in care than the ‘moving on’ group. They are also likely to experience further movement and problems after leaving care, including periods of homelessness, low-paid casual or short-term, unfulfilling work and unemployment. They are also likely to experience problems in their personal and professional relationships through patterns of detachment and dependency.
The third group of care leavers, the ‘strugglers’, is the most disadvantaged. After leaving care they are likely to be long-term unemployed, become homeless and have great difficulties in maintaining their accommodation. They are also highly likely to be lonely, isolated and have mental health problems, often being defined by projects who work with them as ‘young people with very complex needs’. Support by leaving care services is not always able to help them overcome their very poor starting points and they also lack or alienate professional and personal support.
In meeting the second objective the paper will explore agency in the context of resilience – as distinct from identifying it as a separate or independent quality. This will include discussing the opportunities and obstacles in promoting agency both within care and during transition. The former will focus on: the quality of care and placements provided; educational opportunities; and, health and well-being. The latter will consider: young people’s transitions from care; and, support for young people on their main pathways to adulthood; education, employment and training; accommodation; and achieving good health and positive wellbeing. It will be suggested that a better understanding of the differences in how young people cope and the progress they make – and what can assist young people during their journey, as well as the barriers they face – has important policy and practice implications for how the agency of young people can be promoted during their journey from care to adulthood.