scholarly journals Response to Ainsworth and Holden's Review of ‘Weighing Up the Evidence and Local Experience of Residential Care’

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-174
Author(s):  
Susan Tregeagle
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Allocation Of Resources ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Local Experience ◽  
Protection Systems

Debate on Australian policy and practice about residential care is to be welcomed as it has important implications for the care and wellbeing of vulnerable young people, as well as the allocation of resources to care and protection systems. I therefore welcome the commentary provided by Ainsworth and Holden on the arguments offered in ‘Weighing Up the Evidence and Local Experience of Residential Care’. Whilst these reviewers of my Practice Commentary have accepted many of the points made, I wish to take this opportunity to reinforce my arguments in light of their critique.

Weighing Up the Evidence and Local Experience of Residential Care

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 240-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Tregeagle
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Shift Workers ◽  
Healing Environment ◽  
Safe Environment ◽  
Local Experience ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cost

Therapeutic residential care is currently seen as an answer to managing the increasing disruption experienced by many young people in care. Yet the history of residential care in Australia is problematic and the international evidence for the efficacy of therapeutic approaches is very poor. The author's own agency's experience of providing residential care also indicates that caution is needed before increasing the numbers of residential ‘beds’. Problems include young people's dislike of residential options and the stressfulness of an environment that involves shift workers and multiple transient relationships. Further, residential care can be a financial drain on child welfare budgets (being tendered to non-government agencies at over seven times the cost of community care), and has the potential danger – when beds are empty – of being used for young people who do not need this level of care. Residential care may appear to be the only option for a handful of adolescents no longer suited to foster care; but before developing therapeutic residential care further, government must be able to guarantee, at a minimum: a safe environment, a nurturing and healing environment, continuity of care, and the capacity to meet young people's developmental and permanency needs. These standards must be met, not just now, but over the long term.

scholarly journals Preserving and memorialising relationships: exploring young people’s experiences of foster care through the lens of social capital

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Gain Access

This article presents findings from research into how young people growing up in foster care in the UK manage the relationships in their social networks and gain access to social capital. It is a concept that highlights the value of relationships and is relevant to young people in care as they have usually experienced disruptions to their social and family life. Qualitative methods were used and the findings show that despite experiencing disruption to their social networks, the young people demonstrated that they were able to maintain access to their social capital. They achieved this in two ways. Firstly, they preserved their relationships, often through what can be seen as ordinary practices but in the extraordinary context of being in foster care. Secondly, they engaged in creative practices of memorialisation to preserve relationships that had ended or had been significantly impaired due to their experience of separation and movement. The article highlights implications for policy and practice, including the need to recognise the value of young people’s personal possessions. Furthermore, it stresses the need to support them to maintain their relationships across their networks as this facilitates their access to social capital.

What Does International Research Identify as the Best Practice Housing Pathways for Young People Transitioning from Out of Home Care?

2021 ◽  
pp. 234930032110643
Author(s):  
Jacinta Chavulak ◽  
Philip Mendes
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Transition Planning ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Extended Care ◽  
Care Leavers ◽  
Housing Pathways

Young people transitioning from out-of-home care (often called care leavers) are globally a disadvantaged group who can be particularly vulnerable to experiences of housing instability and homelessness. This article presents a scoping review of international scholarly literature pertaining to housing pathways for care leavers from 2015–2020. The 15 publications identified were analysed according to location, methodology, sample accessed, key findings regarding housing pathways and outcomes, and recommendations for policy and practice reform. Our findings suggest that good transition planning, continuing support from responsible adults, the availability of safe and affordable housing and extended care till at least 21 years should enable more positive housing transitions.

scholarly journals Exploring experiences and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young racially minoritised people in the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle Ann Burgess ◽  
Nancy Kanu ◽  
Tanya Matthews ◽  
Owen Mukotekwa ◽  
Amina Smith-Gul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Young People ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Significant Research ◽  
The Impact

Within high-income-countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted people from racially minoritised backgrounds. There has been significant research interrogating the disparate impact of the virus, and recently, interest in the long-term implications of the global crisis on young people’s mental health and wellbeing. However, less work explores the experiences of young people from racialised backgrounds as they navigate the pandemic, and the specific consequences this has for their mental health. Forty young people (age 16-25) from black, mixed and other minority backgrounds and living in London, participated in consecutive focus group discussions over a two-month period, to explore the impact of the pandemic on their lives and emotional wellbeing. Thematic analysis identified seven categories describing the impact of the pandemic, indicating: deepening of existing socioeconomic and emotional challenges; efforts to navigate racism and difference within the response; and survival strategies drawing on communal and individual resources. Young people also articulated visions for a future public health response which addressed gaps in current strategies. Findings point to the need to contextualize public health responses to the pandemic in line with the lived experiences of racialised young people. We specifically note the importance of long-term culturally and socio-politically relevant support interventions. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

scholarly journals Governance of the table: Regulation of food and eating practices in residential care for young people

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-108
Author(s):  
Deirdre Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
External Regulation ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Government ◽  
Eating Practices

Abstract This paper explores how food and eating practices are governed in residential care for young people and who or what governs the table in residential care centres. The governance of everyday food and eating practices in residential care is multifaceted and conducted on multiple levels by external and internal authority and regulation. This paper draws on Coveney’s 2008 theory on ‘the government of the table’ that builds on the Foucauldian perspective of governmentality to explore the interplay between internal and external regulation, which in turn highlights the tensions between institutional and homely aspects of residential care. The approach taken involves an exploratory, sequential mixed-methods design of focused ethnography in five centres, a survey of ninety-two social care practitioners working in the field and a review of Health Information and Quality Authority inspection reports.

scholarly journals Social Inclusion, Participation and Citizenship in Contexts of Neoliberalism: Examples of Adult Education Policy and Practice with Young People in the UK, The Netherlands and Ireland

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-78
Author(s):  
Nathalie Huegler ◽  
Natasha Kersh
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Young People ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Economic Perspectives ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThis chapter focuses on contexts where public discourses regarding the education of young adults have been dominated by socio-economic perspectives, with a focus on the role of employment-related learning, skills and chances and with active participation in the labour market as a key concern for policy makers. A focus on ‘employability’ alone has been linked to narrow conceptualisations of participation, inclusion and citizenship, arising in the context of discourse shifts through neoliberalism which emphasise workfare over welfare and responsibilities over rights. A key critique of such contexts is that the focus moves from addressing barriers to participation to framing social inclusion predominantly as related to expectations of ‘activation’ and sometimes, assimilation. Key target groups for discourses of activation include young people not in education, employment or training (‘NEET’), while in- and exclusion of migrant and ethnic minority young people are often framed within the complex and contradictory interplay between discourses of assimilation and experiences of discrimination. These developments influence the field of adult education aimed at young people vulnerable to social exclusion. An alternative discourse to ‘activation’ is the promotion of young people’s skills and capabilities that enables them to engage in forms of citizenship activism, challenging structural barriers that lead to exclusion. Our chapter considers selected examples from EduMAP research in the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland which indicate that as well as framing the participation of young people as discourses of ‘activation’, adult education can also enable and facilitate skills related to more activist forms of citizenship participation.

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