Which transition concept is useful for describing the process of young people leaving state care? A reflection on research and language

ABSTRACT

The transition of adolescents from state care to independent living is receiving increased research attention in many countries. Despite this interest, the concept of ‘transition’, though central, still remains relatively undeveloped. One main issue in comparative work is how we use language to define concepts as well as use them to analyse our findings and shape practice. ‘Transition’ over the last decade has become a key concept in the research and practice field of social work with adolescents, therefore we need to reflect on its use, its possibilities and its limitations. This paper examines selected research literature on the transition from state care to adulthood. The paper suggests that more theorisation needs to be done within the field.

SAMMENDRAG

Overgangen for ungdom under barnevernets omsorg til et selvstendig liv får økt oppmerksomhet fra forskningsfeltet i mange land. Til tross for denne interessen, er fortsatt det sentrale begrepet ‘overgang’ relativt lite utviklet. Et hovedspørsmål i komparativt arbeid er hvordan vi bruker språket til å definere begreper, samt hvordan vi bruker dem til å analysere våre funn og forme praksis. ‘Overgang’ er i det siste tiåret blitt et sentralt begrep i forskning og praksis innen sosialt arbeid med ungdom. Derfor trenger vi å reflektere over bruken, dens muligheter og dens begrensninger. Denne artikkelen undersøker utvalgt forskningslitteratur om overgangen fra barnevernets omsorg til voksenalder. Artikkelen konkluderer med at det er behov for mer teoretisering i dette feltet.

KEYWORDS:

• Young people
• child welfare
• leaving care
• theoretical issues
• foster care
• residential care
• transition

NØKKELORD:

• Ungdom
• barnevern
• ettervern
• teoretiske problemstillinger
• fosterhjem
• institusjon
• overgang

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Natalie Reid and Michael Seltzer for language consulting and also Erica Burman and Michael Seltzer for useful comments on content.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Jan Storø is an Associate Professor at Oslo and Akershus University, Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Social Work. He has more than 30 years of practical experience from child welfare work in Norway, mostly as a leader of residential units for young people. His main professional interest for the last two decades has been leaving care issues. He has published five books and a number of articles on leaving care, social pedagogy and residential care.

ORCID

Jan Storø http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7735-9455

Notes

1. Downloaded 21 August 2015.

2. The papers in my material constitute a special issue of Children and Youth Services Review, 33 (2011). It contains 17 papers, whereas 16 were written by members of INTRAC; Transitions from Care to Adulthood International Research Group. The Editorial was also included in my material, written by three of the members, who were guest editors. It should be noted that I am a member of the network myself, and have co-written one of the papers. The idea to the present paper came after the Special Issue had been published.

3. One paper also focused on the parallel transition of the professionals (Anghel, 2011).

4. It should also be noted that the authors earlier have published a book where transition within different welfare regimes were a central issue (Stein & Munro, 2008).