Abstract
AbstractHistorically, care-experienced young adults have poor outcomes, and there is an ongoing need to provide better support for them. Despite this, there is not much research with regard to their transition to independent living accommodation.
This thesis aims to explore the experiences of care-experienced young adults living in independent accommodation without functional support. It seeks to uncover the challenges the young adults encounter, collect insights from leaving care practitioners about the policies they work with, examine the support care-experienced young adults receive and evaluate how these factors align with the local authority’s policy.
Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the views of eleven care-experienced young adults and eight practitioners, and the data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three leaving care policies were reviewed and evaluated to ascertain what the department has in place to support their care-experienced young adults to live independently.
Five themes and one subtheme were developed from the interview data, and two themes from the policy evaluation data. The research confirmed that care-experienced young adults’ transition into independent accommodation provided them freedom, whereas support felt like a threat to their independence. Their independent home was their place of safety and belonging; however, they had mixed feelings about living alone. Their varied experiences were shaped by personal, relational and organisational factors, including policies deemed unfit for purpose. Both the young adults and the practitioners had ideas for improving independent living. There was an absence of a housing assessment framework tool and pathway for care-experienced young adults. Additionally, joint working between children’s social care and other agencies was limited but identified as necessary.
This study contributes to the understanding of support for care-experienced young adults, highlights their strong values of freedom and home, their specific needs and systemic issues, including inadequate policies, that fail to address individual diversity.
Date of Award | 18 Dec 2024 |
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Original language | English |
Awarding Institution |
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Supervisor | Amy Drahota-Towns (Supervisor), Rebecca Stores (Supervisor) & Annabel Tremlett (Supervisor) |