Support on the way to adulthood: challenges in the transition between social welfare systems

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article was to investigate young people’s experience with leaving residential child care institutions in Norway and their desire for support during this transition period. We sought to clarify how the different logics of Child Welfare Services (CWS) and Social Welfare Services the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) have created challenges for young people as they transition into adulthood. The work is based on a qualitative study with semi-structured in-depth interviews with seventeen youth about their experiences, and a review of cases for 15 of them. The results Indicate that CWS transfer young people who need several years of continued support to NAV. CWS can follow up young people until they are 23 years old, but few received support after turning 20 years old. Youth are required to take more responsibility for their lives, even when unprepared to do so, when they are supported by NAV. The state needs to take more responsibility for young people during their transition to independent living, and to change institutional logics. The terms extended childhood and extended parenthood offer new ways to describe young people’s transition periods into adulthood.

SAMMENDRAG

Denne artikkelen belyser unge i barnevernet sitt ønske om støtte i overgangen til voksenlivet, og hvordan barnevernet og NAV sine ulike logikker kan skape utfordringer for dem. Artikkelen bygger på en kvalitativ studie med 17 ungdommer, om deres erfaringer med ettervern, og gjennomgang av barnevernsmappene til 15 av dem. I Norge kan ungdom i barnevernet få støtte frem til 23 års alder. Resultatene viser imidlertid at det er få som får støtte av barnevernet etter 20 års alder, og at de som har behov for videre oppfølging overføres til NAV. Når logikkene skifter ved overføring fra barnevern til Nav, kan det skape utfordringer for ungdommene på flere måter. De får blant annet et større og mer selvstendig ansvar for å følge opp tiltak og tjenester, noe ungdommene selv ikke var helt forberedt på. Det er behov for at det offentlige tar mer ansvar for disse unge i overgang til et selvstendig voksenliv. For å få til dette kan det tenkes at den institusjonelle logikken bør endres. Begrepene forlenget barndom og forlenget foreldreskap, tilbyr en nye måte å beskrive denne overgangsfasen til voksenlivet.

KEYWORDS:

• Child welfare
• transition
• social welfare
• extended parenthood
• residential care

NØKKELORD:

• Barnevern
• overgang
• NAV
• ungdom
• forlenget foreldreskap
• barneverninstitusjoner

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ingunn Barmen Tysnes

Ingunn Barmen Tysnes is associate professor at the Department of welfare and participation at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. She is a qualified social worker and has both master and PhD degrees in social work from NTNU. She has a degree in pedagogy. She has experience from Social services and in residential child care institutions for youth with behavioural and substance abuse problems. Her areas of research include child welfare, residential child care institutions, young peoples transition to adulthood and social services.

Riina Kiik

Riina Kiik is a professor at the Department of Social Work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She has a PhD in Public Administration and Social Policy from the University of Tartu in Estonia and a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Stockholm, Sweden. Her publications cover welfare services, the functioning of welfare institutions and user involvement. Issues regarding social housing and young peoples transition to adulthood are also topics that she has focused on in publications.