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.

The transition from alternative care to independent living can be challenging for young people. While some departures from care may be well planned, others may be sudden or unexpected, leaving young people emotionally and financially ill-equipped to cope with change. Without adequate preparation for leaving care and support during the aftercare phase, young people may face risks such as long-term unemployment, substance abuse, involvement in criminal activities and homelessness. Studies indicate that the biggest barriers to transitioning children out of care includes the absence of supportive relationships, educational challenges, housing instability and economic challenges (unemployment).

Reducing these risks involves working with children to plan for life after care and adulthood– including helping them to determine the most appropriate living environment, develop necessary life, financial management and job skills, and ensure that they have a reliable support system in place. Once children leave care, they should be encouraged to maintain contact with their previous care givers and friends, have access to basic services and quality housing with financial assistance, and be supported to follow educational, vocational and employment opportunities. Above all, evidence indicates that young people who benefit from gradual, extended and supported transitions from care have better outcomes than those who leave early and abruptly.

Girls and boys who leave care to return home can also benefit from a gradual process of reintegration with their families – both before and after the event. Initially this should involve a comprehensive assessment of whether the problems that led to family separation (such as poverty or social problems) have been adequately resolved, and whether a return home is in a child’s best interests. If so, the child, family and alternative caregivers should be supported to prepare and plan for reintegration – which may involve increasing the frequency and duration of children’s family visits before the final return, helping to build parenting skills, assessing families’ financial, practical and emotional support needs and developing a care plan to address them.

Once children are reunited with their families, ongoing support and supervision can play a critical role in ensuring that reintegration is lasting. For example social or community workers can provide counselling support, facilitate families’ access to social protection benefits and make sure that children have the academic support required to catch up at a new school. In some cases, children’s extended family and the broader community can also be encouraged to provide emotional or practical support.

This section contains literature on children leaving alternative care in non-emergency settings. This includes lessons learned and best practices regarding family reintegration, as well as guidance for supporting young people as they leave the care system and transition to independent living.

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Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Adults: Transitioning from Foster Care to Adulthood (Dissertation)

Regina Lawson - Capella University , 01 Mar 2017

A case study approach was utilized to investigate individually and as a group, the aging out process of nine sexual minority adults, specifically, lesbian, gay and transgender (LGT) adults who transitioned from a Mid-Atlantic foster care system to adulthood.

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Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Adults: Transitioning from Foster Care to Adulthood

Regina Lawson - PhD Dissertation, Capella University, 01 Mar 2017

This dissertation by Regina Lawson, submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Capella University, utilizes a case study approach to investigate the aging out process of nine sexual minority adults, specifically, lesbian, gay and transgender (LGT) adults who transitioned from a Mid-Atlantic foster care system to adulthood. It also explores the extent to which this group of youth, and LGBT youth, perceive their sexual orientation or gender identification impacts their experience of aging out of foster care into adulthood.

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Stories of Leaving Care in India: Struggling, Moving On and Surviving

Udayan Care, 2017

The case studies outlined in this publication draw upon earlier work, which suggested that young people leaving care may broadly fall into one of three groups: those successfully ‘moving on’ from care; those who are ‘survivors’; and those who are ‘strugglers’.

Growing up in Kinship Care: Experiences as Adolescents and Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Sarah Wellard, Sarah Meakings, Elaine Farmer and Joan Hunt - Grandparents Plus, 2017

The aims of the study were to examine the experiences and outcomes of young adults, aged 16-26, who had lived, or continued to live, in kinship care in the UK.

Kinnected Myanmar- Hani and Thari

ACCI Missions & Relief, 2017

This video shares the story of two siblings reintegrated from an orphanage in Myanmar through the ACCIR Kinnected Program.

Action Plan for improving child care with the target of safely returning 30 per cent of children in residential care to their families 2016-2018

Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation - Kingdom of Cambodia, 2017

This Action Plan for improving child care, with the target of safely returning 30 per cent of children in residential care to their families 2016 - 2018, was developed to support the implementation of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) Work Platform 2014–2018 and the Sub-Decree 119 on the Management of Residential Care Institutions, which was endorsed on 11 September 2015.

The development of possible selves and resilience in youth transitioning out of care

Bond, Susan Jane; Van Breda, A.D., Prof. - University of Johannesburg, 2017

This study contributes to the emerging body of South African literature on care leaving, as it explores the future selves and resilience factors of young people who are still in residential care and who are about to exit the statutory system.

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Backward Progress Toward Reinstating Parental Rights

LaShanda Taylor Adams - N.Y.U. Review of Law and Social Change, 2017

This article examines the legal inadequacies of reinstatement statutes in the US which "often punish parents who opposed the termination of their parental rights and reward those who voluntarily signed relinquishments."

Ending the criminalisation of children in residential care: Briefing one

The Howard League for Penal Reform, 2017

This is the first in a series of briefings to be published alongside a programme of research and campaign work to end the criminalisation of children living in residential care. The project builds on from research published in March 2016, which found that children living in children’s homes in the UK were being criminalised at much higher rates than other children, including those in other types of care.

Action Plan for improving child care with the target of safely returning 30 per cent of children in residential care to their families 2016-2018 (Khmer)

Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation - Kingdom of Cambodia, 2017