A journey of ideas From theory to practice in leaving care

1. A journey of ideasFrom theory to practice in leaving care Mike Stein Research Professor

2. A journey of ideas: presentation • Setting the context • Why it is important to explore ideas as well as empirical studies of young people leaving care • The presentation will include a discussion of: • Social transitions • Attachment theory • Participation and children’s rights • Life course perspective • Social inclusion, universal and selective services • A resilience framework

3. A journey of ideas: setting the context • Main body of international research on young people leaving care are descriptive and empirical studies, using qualitative and quantitative data • Many of these studies are detached from theory: • in terms of setting the context – being transparent about the ideas which have informed the research • exploring ideas or concepts • contributing to theory building • This presentation will explore selected approaches and perspectives - not mutually exclusive; not the only possibilities – e.g. legal and human rights, globalisation • The presentation will draw upon these publications • Stein, M. (2006) Young people aging out of care: the poverty of theory, Children and Youth Services Review, 28 • Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 12, 2011, Special Issue, Young People’s Transitions from Care to Adulthood • Stein, M. (2012) Young People Leaving Care, Supporting Pathways to Adulthood, Jessica Kingsley

4. A journey of ideas: social transitions • Many care leavers have accelerated and compressed transitions to adulthood • Cope with major changes, younger and in less time than other young people • Stages and process of transition • disengagement – gradual leaving • transition – ‘space out’, exploration, reflection and identity search • re-integration – settling • Normative process • increasingly more complex • delayed • more forward and backward movement • Denied the psychological opportunity to deal with issues over time – which is how most young people cope (Focal Theory) • Policy and practice implications • Gradual transitions • Recognition of process and stages • Normative experiences

5. Voices of transition ‘If you live with you parents you have a choice whether you leave home or not. In care you get kicked out, you don’t feel you belong there once you have left’ ‘I want to get out of care but then I don’t want because I don’t have anybody outside’ ‘When we leave care why should they stop caring’

6. A journey of ideas: attachment theory • Maltreatment within families – attachment problems • Placement stability key mediator of positive adult outcomes • Compensatory attachment, stability and continuity • Further placement movement and disruption in care • Contribute to relationship difficulties • Increased detachment after leaving care and difficulties in settling down in adulthood – drift and ‘not belonging’ • Policy and practice issues • Attachment • Stability and continuity • Skilled social work practice

7. Voices of attachment ‘I’ve got a great big space around me which is mine and nobody enters, and why I don’t know - whether it come from care, having been let down so many times, or living with people for so many years and then going and you never see them again …. you build up a barrier to protect yourself … because you get hurt so many times … ‘People try and break it, to get in, and you don’t let them because you are so frightened that it is going to happen again … you’re going to get let down or hurt again, and that’s it with me you see. I never get to know people … when you do get someone you cling to them so much that you lose them … they can’t cope with the pressure you are applying on them’. ‘I’ve moved around all my life, so it was hard trying to settle down’

8. A journey of ideas: life course perspective • Sees young people’s lives as an integrated whole • Pre-care, in care, time of leaving care • Recognises inter-connected dimensions of young people’s lives • How accommodation, health and well-being, and careers are connected and reinforcing • Recognises the inter-relationship between personal biography, agency of young people and social and economic contexts • Policy and practice • Interventions across the life-course • Inter-agency response • Impact of social and economic factors • Involving young people in services • Challenge to single outcome measures

9. The life course and outcome measures ‘Ethnographic research, using life course theory to explore the transitions of young people leaving care reminds us of the complexities in evaluating outcomes and the limitations of using single normative measures at fixed points in time – such as educational attainment at 16 years of age … There is a need to recognise the different starting points of young people, given the diversity of their social and family backgrounds; their care experiences; the dynamic nature of ‘outcomes’ for young people – they often change between ‘official’ assessment periods; the separation of outcome measures from each other, even though they are often closely inter-connected … … and the normative assumptions often held about young people, whose lives have not been easy, achieving independence by 18 years of age’

10. A journey of ideas: participation and children’s rights • Right’s based approaches to children’s services • To uphold children’s rights and fulfil legal responsibilities • To improve services and decision making • To enhance the democratic process • To promote children’s protection • Involving young people in decisions that affect their lives at both an individual and policy level • Individual involvement through ‘leaving care’ pathway planning and review process • Policy involvement through young people ‘in care’ organisations and local authorities • Participation and advocacy activity embedded within culture of organisations – rights based approaches to children’s services

11. Examples of policy participation: LILAC, Children in Care Councils and Pledges ‘The Lilac project, (Leading Improvements for Looked After Children), organised by A National Voice, trained young people from care to become inspectors of children’s services – to see how well local authorities involve young people in their own care, in the planning and evaluation of services which shape their lives and how effectively they deal with complaints by young people … they also train young people to carry out assessments of how services involve young people in local areas, and deliver training on participation Young people are also represented on Children in Care councils to review policies and produce ‘pledges’ – commitments by local authorities to provide specific services

12. Social inclusion, universality and selectivity • Young people leaving care are first and foremost are young people • Their destiny is shaped in part by opportunities and policies common to all young people, e.g. youth unemployment • International research shows high risk of social exclusion for care leavers – but also differences between care leavers and between different groups of care leavers • Social inclusion, universal and selective services • Universal policies to tackle social exclusion important, ‘connects’ care leavers with other disadvantaged groups of young people. • But many remain high risk group – universal policies by themselves may have little impact • Selective or specialist policies needed as pathway by care leavers to access universal services • ‘Social investment model of support’ • Important young people not ‘trapped’ within specialist welfare projects

13. A journey of ideas: a resilience framework ‘Resilience is ordinary magic’ • Overcoming the odds, coping and recovery • Ecological perspective – individual development and social context • Gives coherence to ideas discussed above: • Promoting resilience through: • Attachment. stability, continuity; • Positive sense of identity • Promotion of education, health and welfare • Social transition – gradual and extended; • Supporting pathways to adulthood • Across the life course - in care, leaving and after care, and; • Through universal and selective services

14. Summary points: ‘the poverty of theory’ • There is a growing body of empirical research studies and these make an important contribution – more descriptive than evaluative • Many of these studies are detached from theory in terms of context, exploration of concepts and ideas and building theory • Different ideas, theoretical approaches and perspectives have been explored – and there are other possibilities • This presentation demonstrates that it is important to link empirical and theoretical work • This has the potential to enhance our understanding of leaving care issues, as well as the theoretical foundations of practice