Agency and flexible support in transition from care: learning from the experiences of a Norwegian sample of care leavers doing well

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the role that the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS) can play in assisting care leavers with their transition to adulthood. Our point of departure is that timely and effective aftercare services must be understood from a relational perspective centred on the quality of the relationship between young adult and caseworker. The paper analyses in-depth interviews with 16 Norwegian young adults aged 20–32 who were either students or in stable employment at the time, and thus considered to be doing well according to common indicators in studies of care leavers’ outcomes. Two kinds of relationships between the young adults and CWS were identified: those who thought that CWS had recognized their needs and provided services accordingly and those who had either not been offered support or had been offered inadequate support. Our analysis indicates that a positive relationship between young adults and their caseworker facilitates both agency on the part of the young adult and provision of flexible support according to their needs. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Aftercare
• positive transitions
• child welfare services
• agency

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for providing their constructive and useful comments on this paper. In addition, we wish to thank Tonje Gundersen, Jeanette Ødegaard and particularly Janet Boddy for their inspiring discussions and insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Regulations

Q13/2011 - Rundskriv om tiltak etter barnevernloven for ungdom over 18 år. Oslo: Barne- og likestillingsdepartementet. [Administrative regulations about measures in accordance with the Child Welfare Code for Youth over 18].

Notes

1. Source for all statistics presented: Statistics Norway.

2. The cross-country research team consisted of one lawyer, two psychologists, one social worker, and two sociologists, all with PhDs using qualitative methodology.

Additional information

Funding

The project (Against all odds) was funded by the Norwegian Research Council (project number 236718) and NOVA.