This report presents findings from the Australian Research Council Linkage Project, A Home-Centred Approach to Support Children and Young People in State Care, a collaboration between Flinders University, Department for Child Protection, Anglicare SA and Life Without Barriers. The research explored what home means for children and young people in Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) and how carers and workers are able to support and sustain home.
Drawing on interviews with 30 young people and 24 carers and workers across foster care, kinship care, residential care and Supported Independent Living Services (SILS), the research reveals that home mattered deeply, yet it was neither guaranteed nor simple. Home was ‘not a given but a creation’ (James, 2013, p. 326), an experience that was developed and altered over time and as relationships and OOHC contexts changed. Common elements described by young people across OOHC types included connecting with others (including pets), feeling emotionally and physically safe and having a space of one’s own. Carers’ and workers’ understandings of home aligned with those of young people and they were aware of the challenges to achieving and maintaining home. They saw home as a relational and practical achievement, requiring sustained effort and negotiation within institutional systems.
