Leaving Alternative Care and Reintegration

It is important to support children who are preparing to leave care.  This includes helping young people as they ‘age out’ of the care system and transition to independent living, as well as children planning to return home and reintegrate with their families.  In either case, leaving care should be a gradual and supervised process that involves careful preparation and follow-up support to children and families.

Displaying 1 - 10 of 972

Stephan Sting, Georg Streissguertl , Julia Weissnar,

This article examines how care leavers navigate their relationships with biological mothers and fathers. It is based on a qualitative study from Austria, which focused on social networks and family relationships of 18-to 27-year-old care-experienced youth.

Maria Groinig, Martina Pokoj,

This article presents the Care Leaver Statistics (CLS) study, the first nationwide panel study in Germany focused on young people leaving out-of-home care, like foster or residential care. It follows about 1,500 youth aged 16–19 over several years to understand their life transitions, including education, employment, housing, health, social networks, and societal participation. The study also emphasizes ethical research practices, diversity sensitivity, and participatory methods that can empower care-experienced youth.

B. J. Newton, Paul Gray, Kathleen Falster, Ilan Katz, Kyllie Cripps,

This article examines why reunification rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in New South Wales, Australia remain so low, despite being the preferred permanency option. Drawing on insights from practitioners, it highlights the need for culturally grounded approaches and a redefinition of reunification that centers ongoing family and community connections.

Sarah Elizabeth Neville, Joanna Wakia, John Hembling, Beth Bradford, Martin Kiandiko, et. al,

This study examined how disability status affects the well-being of children in Kenya who were reunified with families after living in residential care. It found that children with disabilities reported lower well-being and life satisfaction compared to their peers without disabilities, highlighting the need for targeted support during reunification.

Richmond Opoku, Natasha Judd, Katie Cresswell, Michael Parker,

Out-of-home care entry can have profound effects on families, society, and a child’s development and wellbeing. This review synthesised evidence on the factors contributing to initial entry and re-entry into out-of-home care during childhood (<18 years), as well as those that protect against these outcomes.

U.K. House of Commons Education Committee,

This report makes a series of recommendations on issues affecting all types of care, including foster care, adoption, kinship care, children’s homes, and support for disabled children in the UK.

Changing the Way We Care,

This one-page English-language synopsis of the full report in Romanian titled, “Ce putem învăța de la tinerii cu experiență trăită în sistemul de îngrijire din Republica Moldova?” (What can we learn from young people with lived experience in Moldova's care system?), offers a compelling peer-to-peer perspective from 56 young people who transitioned out of Moldova’s care system.

Changing the Way We Care Moldova and Youth & Experience,

Acest raport prezintă rezultatele unui studiu participativ realizat de rețeaua Youth & Experience (Y&E), fondată de tineri cu experiență trăită în sistemul de îngrijire din Republica Moldova, realizat în perioada septembrie - decembrie 2024 cu participarea a 56 de tineri.

Berni Kelly, Adrian D. van Breda, Kwabena Frimpong-Manso,

This article uses Nancy Fraser’s social justice framework to examine the experiences of youth leaving care in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, drawing on interviews with 45 care-leavers conducted by peer researchers. Findings reveal how intersecting injustices—such as stigma, exclusion, and lack of resources—undermine their transition to adulthood, underscoring the need for stronger aftercare services, recognition of diverse identities, and greater youth participation in shaping policy and support.

Yujie Zhao, Jacinta Waugh, Philip Mendes,

This scoping review analyzes 31 studies on young women leaving residential care worldwide, highlighting their unique gender-specific challenges such as early pregnancy and gender-based violence. Despite recurring patterns across contexts, research on this group remains limited, especially as they are often treated as a subset of broader studies, pointing to the need for more focused investigation.