Transitions From Care to Independence:
Supporting Young People Leaving State Care to Fulfil Their Potential
Routledge Advances in Social Work Series

This important book focuses on the critical role of educational achievement for the wellbeing and success of vulnerable youth in adulthood. It is concerned with three interconnected issues: the support which is or should be afforded to youth ageing out of state care to enable them to fulfil their academic potential; the interdependence of social aspects of ?care? and educational attainment for children growing up in state care; and the conditions which are pre-requisite for transition to fully autonomous adulthood, together with the implications of these for the state?s responsibilities to care leavers.

These issues are addressed through a review of international literature based on the educational outcomes and life-chances of youth graduating from state care, analysis of the findings of a three-year qualitative study following the educational transitions of young people, and the use of theoretical frameworks to explore the complexities of children?s experiences of the state care system. In doing so the book balances predominantly needs-based discourses with a children?s right perspective, focusing on competence rather than vulnerability and promoting the development of the skills needed for autonomous adulthood.

Reconceptualising Transitions from Care to Independence should be considered essential reading for researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of education, childhood studies and adoption and fostering services. Additionally, the issues addressed are of wider relevance to youth transitions to adulthood. Youth ageing out of care provide a particularly insightful case study into the broader cohort of young people entering the workforce in an era of a globalised economy and austerity.

List of Tables; Acknowledgements; Tables of Legislation/Statutory Instruments/International Instruments; Table of Cases; Table of Abbreviations;Chapter 1: Introduction, The Care Leavers’ Educational Transitions Study, Theoretical Perspectives, The Structure of the Book; Chapter 2: Alternative Care: The Systems, The Politics of Care: Social Context, Social Policy and Social Care, Alternative Care Regimes: The International Picture, Transitions to Adulthood, A Children’s Rights Approach to Leaving Care, Conclusion; Chapter 3: The Characteristics & Experiences of Children in State Care, Diversity in Vulnerability, Using Insights from Attachment Theory to Understand the Experiences and Needs of Children in Care, The Personal Histories of the Young Participants to the Empirical Study, Placement Stability, In the Care of Strangers: Young People’s Experiences of Care, The Interdependence of Care and Education, Conclusion; Chapter 4: Children of the State: Corporate Parenting in Principle and Practice, Introduction, Being in Care, Self-reliance, Risk and Resilience, Combining Insights from the Theoretical Perspectives; Chapter 5: Education, Care and Life Chances, The Importance of Education: from the Personal to the Global, The Educational Attainment of Children in State Care, Outcomes for Care Leavers, Conclusion; Chapter 6: Closing the Gap: Improving the Educational Outcomes of Care Leavers, Introduction, Initiatives to Support the Education of Children In and Leaving Care, Supporting Children in School: Findings from the CLET Study, Supporting Young People’s Post-16 Pathways, Conclusion: Chapter 7: From Care to Independence: Negotiating Multiple Transitions, Introduction, The Polarized Trajectories of Young People, Transitions in Multiple Domains of Young People’s Lives, Assessing Young People’s Resilient Adaptation, Leaving Care, Conclusion: Chapter 8: Reconceptualising the State’s Duties Towards the Children in its Care, Introduction, Using Insights from Foundational Rights to Evaluate Young People’s Care Outcomes, Corporate Parenting and the "Deserving"-"Undeserving" Schism, Corporate Parenting and Individual Children, Corporate Parenting and Education, A Holistic Approach: the Social Pedagogy Model, Conclusion: Chapter 9: Conclusion, Introduction, The Key Findings of the CLET Study, Theorising Care Leavers’ Transitions, Conclusion; Appendix 1; References; Index

Jennifer Driscoll practised as a Family Law barrister for over a decade, specialising in child protection, before moving to King’s in 2005, where she is Programme Director for the MA Child Studies and MA International Child Studies. Her academic interests cover the protection and rights of vulnerable children, in particular child protection systems; the education of children and young people in and leaving state care; ethical issues arising from research with vulnerable children and young people; and the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.​ Jenny is a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASPCAN).