Voices of 65 Young People Leaving Care in Sweden: “There Is So Much I Need to Know!”

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine young care leavers’ experiences of supportive and nonsupportive factors after leaving care. Telephone interviews were conducted with 65 young people, between 18 and 26 years old, who had left care in Sweden within the previous 3 months to 3 years. The care-leaving process was in many cases described by the young people as badly planned and compressed. Some interviewees received support from the formal network (social services, foster carers, residential homes, contact persons) for housing (37) and financial matters (36), but few received support from the formal network concerning employment (14) and education (11). Emotional support was mainly provided by partners and friends. Altogether, the results suggest that access to support is a helpful factor for young people leaving care, but also that many of our interviewees had no such access, from neither formal nor informal networks.

本研究意在研究脱离看护的年轻人经历的支持性和非支持性因素。我们对瑞典65位年龄在18到26岁之间的年轻人做了电话采访，他们在过去3个月到3年的时间里脱离了看护。许多年轻人用乱和紧来描述脱离监护的过程。一些受访者得到了正式网络（社会服务机构、养护人、住所、联系人）的住所（37）或经济（36）上的支持。但较少的人从正式网络那里得到就业（14）和教育（11）的支持。情感支持主要来自伴侣和朋友。研究结果显示，获得支持对于青年人脱离看护是非常有利的因素，只是许多受访者得不到这样的支持，无论是从正式还是非正式网络那里。

Keywords:

• Transition
• Leaving Care
• Young People
• Social Capital
• Support