Strangers and estrangement: young people’s renegotiations of birth and foster family relationships as they transition out of care and the implications for the state as parent^*

* This article is based on research reported in “Transitions from care to independence: supporting young people leaving state care to fulfil their potential” (Driscoll, J., published by Routledge in 2018). Permission to reproduce material from the book was given by UK Book Permissions at Taylor and Francis on 15 September 2017 (reference 9781138122932).

ABSTRACT

Many young people ageing out of state care continue to experience very poor life outcomes. Based on research following 21 care leavers aged 15–18 over three years, this article charts how children’s experiences in troubled birth families are often compounded in care by multiple placement moves, the gradual disintegration of sibling units over time and troubling relationships with the adults charged with their care. It considers the effects of living with strangers and of transient relationships with carers and professionals, and explores young people’s feelings of rejection by, and responsibility for, their birth families. The capacity of the ‘corporate parent’ model to ensure adequate attention is paid to relationships in young people’s lives is questioned. Hollingsworth’s theory of foundational rights, incorporating considerations of relational autonomy, is utilised to reconsider the state’s obligations towards children for whom it has taken on the parental role, both during and beyond their legal minority.

KEYWORDS:

• Care leavers
• relational autonomy
• transitions
• family
• child–adult relations
• rights-based approach

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Jennifer Driscoll is Senior Lecturer, King’s College, London. Jenny practised as a Family Law barrister for over a decade, specialising in child protection, and was a founder member of Coram Chambers in London. Her academic interests are at the intersection of children’s rights and child protection. Current research projects include an ESRC-funded project with the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King’s on the role of schools in safeguarding and a Leverhulme-funded project on child protection arrangements in Africa. Jenny was an academic adviser for the NGO Alternative Civil Society Report submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2015 in response to the UK Government’s report on implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASPCAN).

Notes

* This article is based on research reported in “Transitions from care to independence: supporting young people leaving state care to fulfil their potential” (Driscoll, J., published by Routledge in 2018). Permission to reproduce material from the book was given by UK Book Permissions at Taylor and Francis on 15 September 2017 (reference 9781138122932).

1 For a detailed account of the methodology and issues encountered, see Driscoll (2012).

2 Evidence as to the prevalence of maltreatment in foster care and in kinship care is limited, particularly in the UK, but there is some cause for concern that thresholds for the identification of maltreatment are lower in relation to foster carers than birth families and/or that the ‘rule of optimism’ creates barriers to professional acknowledgement (Biehal 2014a, 58).

3 Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010 paragraphs 3.139–3.146 as amended by the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review and Fostering Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013.