Care leaver*

Care leavers* - needs and requirements in the transition to adult life

Project management: Prof. Dr. Torsten Linke, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences

Collaborators in the project: Sarah Preusker, Jule Baumgarten, Paul Enke, Nicola Barth

Accompanying experts: Jessica Böttger, Christoph Jo Metzler, Toni León Feldmann

Definition of research object
"The term 'care leaver' is used to describe adolescents or young adults

who have grown up at least temporarily outside their family of origin in institutional

institutional care or in foster families 'and from there begin their journey

into adult life' (Thomas 2013, p. 12)." (Sting & Groinig, 2020, p. 2)

Stephan Sting and Maria Groinig (2020) refer to the fundamental circumstances and challenges for care leavers*:

depending on the reasons that led to the out-of-home placement, a generally complicated and/or strained relationship with the family of origin;

depending on the relationships that still exist (or do not exist) with the family of origin, the transition to adult life takes place at a distance from the family of origin or must be managed entirely without them;

existing disadvantages in terms of material, financial and social resources compared to the average for the population of the same age and, as a rule, limited development opportunities and educational opportunities as young adults as a result;

not only the vulnerable phase of transition but also the sensitive development phase as young adults (post-adolescent phase up to the age of 25-30) must be managed with little or no support from the family of origin;

Extensive independence is expected by the age of 18 and is set as a goal to be achieved by youth welfare services, with a focus on the ability to live alone. In contrast, other young adults usually receive further (material, financial, social, emotional) support from their families;

the transition to adulthood takes place from youth welfare institutions, whereby the young people are dependent on the professionalism of the specialists and on the support of state institutions (ibid., p. 2f.).

Project title	Care leavers* - needs and requirements in the transition to adult life
Project management	Prof. Dr. Torsten Linke, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences
Project staff	Sarah Preusker, Jule Baumgarten, Paul Enke, Nicola Barth
Research interest	Subjective experiences of adolescents and young adults in residential youth care, experiences and needs during the transition from care in youth care to an independent life
Research question	What experiences have adolescents/young adults had in residential youth care and during the transition to an independent life? How do these experiences affect their future lives? (e.g. on their educational and professional development, their relationships, their family planning, their well-being) What are their needs? What structures, practices, skills and resources are required in youth welfare to provide young people with appropriate professional support during the transition phase?
Field and field access	Care leavers, young adults with experience in residential youth welfare, field access via gatekeepers in youth welfare and youth work
Accompanying experts	Former care leavers*, support and involvement in all project phases (participatory orientation: providing information, obtaining opinions and expertise, enabling co-determination and changes, e.g. questions in the guidelines, interpretation and presentation of results). Possibility of collaboration as co-researchers (depending on interest and resources)
Survey period and region	05/2022-12/2022, Saxony
Structure and development of the sample	Theoretical sampling (based on n = 1, oriented towards theoretical saturation of the categories)
Survey	Guided semi-structured interviews
Recording and transcription	Digital recording, complete transcription with f4 software
Evaluation	Coding method according to grounded theory
Research ethics basis	DGSA Code of Research Ethics, Bonn Declaration of Ethics
Funding	This measure is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the members of the Saxon state parliament.

Material research

Research process
Poster 1
Poster 2
Bibliography
Literature (selection)

Focus of research (care leavers* and youth welfare)

Ahmed, Sarina; Rein, Angela & Schaffner, Dorothee (2020): Care leavers research leaving care. Project results and professional recommendations. Available online: https://www.careleaver-info.ch/forschungbericht-care-leaver-erforschen-leaving-care/ (01.04.2022).

Groinig, Maria; Hagleitner, Wolfgang; Maran, Thomas & Stephan Sting (eds.) (2019): Education as a perspective for care leavers? Educational Opportunities and Educational Pathways of Young Adults with Child and Youth Welfare Experience. Opladen, Berlin & Toronto: Barbara Budrich. Available online: https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2020/19408/pdf/Groinig_Hagleitner_et_al_2019_Bildung_als_Perspektive.pdf (01.04.2022).

Klein, Joachim & Macsenaere, Michael (2019): "Care Leaver - residential youth care and its sustainability" - Summary of key findings. Available online: https://www.bvke.de/projekte/care-leaver/care-leaver (01.04.2022).

Klein, Joachim; Macsenaere, Michael & Hiller Stephan (2020): Care Leaver. Residential youth care and its sustainability. Freiburg: Lambertus

Linke, Torsten (2021): Trustful working relationship [online]. socialnet Lexikon. Bonn: socialnet. Available at: https://www.socialnet.de/lexikon/Vertrauensvolle-Arbeitsbeziehung (01.04.2022).

Linke, Torsten (2020): Sexual education in child and youth services. The importance of young people's concepts of trust for talking about sexuality in educational contexts. Psychosozial-Verlag Giessen. Open Access available at: https://www.psychosozial-verlag.de/7681 (01.04.2022).

Merkel, Alexander; Redmann, Björn; Thurm Elsa & von Wölfel, Ulrike (2020): Participation workshop with careleavers ... because youth welfare can do more! Scientific documentation. IGFH. Available online: https://igfh.de/publikationen/broschueren-expertisen/weil-jugendhilfe-mehr-kann (01.04.2022).

Preusker, Sarah (2021): How are care leavers doing with the current corona lockdown? Forum Erziehungshilfen, Issue 3, Year 2021, Page 184-186. Available online: https://careleaverzentrum.de/unterseite-artikel-sarah (01.04.2022).

Sting, Stephan & Groinig, Maria (2020): Care leavers and family. In: Ecarius Jutta & Schierbaum Anja (ed.) Handbuch Familie. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. S. 1-19. Available online: https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-658-19861-9?page=1#toc (01.04.2022).

Sievers, Britta; Thomas, Severin & Zeller, Maren (2015): Youth welfare - and then? On shaping the transitions of young adults from residential educational support. Frankfurt a. M.: IGFH. Available online: https://igfh.de/publikationen/fachbuecher/jugendhilfe-dann (01.04.2022).

Focus on research methodology and ethics

Ackermann; Timo (2020): Users as co-researchers?! Process, challenges and strategies of participatory research approaches. A. van Rießen and K. Jepkens (eds.): Benefits, non-benefits and utilization of social work. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. S. 89-103. Available online: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-23250-4 (01.04.2022).

Breuer, Franz, Muckel, Petra & Dieris, Barbara (2019): Reflexive Grounded Theory. An introduction for research practice. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Available online: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-22219-2 (01.04.2022).

German Society for Social Work - DGSA (ed.) (2020): Research ethical principles and scientific standards for social work research. Research ethics code of the DGSA. Available online: https://www.dgsa.de/forschungsethik/forschungsethikkodex (01.04.2022).

Equit, Claudia & Hohage, Christoph (ed.) (2016): Handbook Grounded Theory. From methodology to research practice. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.

Lochner Barbara (2017): "Kevin just can't be called Paul either." Methodological considerations on the anonymization of names. Journal for qualitative research, 18(2), 283-296.

Poelchau, Heinz-Werner; Briken, Peer; Wazlawik, Martin; Bauer, Ullrich; Fegert, Jörg M. & Kavemann, Barbara (n.d.): Bonner Ethik-Erklärung. Available online: https://www.bmbf.de/bmbf/shareddocs/downloads/files/ethikerklaerung-1.pdf?__blob=publicationFile& v=1 (01.04.2022).

Helfferich Cornelia (2011): The quality of qualitative data. Manual for conducting qualitative interviews. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Available online: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-531-92076-4 (01.04.2022).

Strauss, Anselm L. (1994). Basics of qualitative social research. Data analysis and theory formation in empirical sociological research. Munich: Fink.

Unger, Hella v. (2014): Participatory research. Introduction to research practice. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Unger, Hella v. & Narimani, Petra (2012): Ethical reflexivity in the research process: Challenges in participatory research. Available online: https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/70197 (01.04.2022).

Unger, Hella v.; Narimani, Petra & M''Bayo, Rosaline (2014): Research ethics in qualitative research. Reflexivity, perspectives, positions. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
General information on the Internet (selection)

Saxony

https://www.careleaverkollektiv-leipzig.de/

https://www.jugendhilferechtsverein.de/

https://careleaverzentrum.de/startseite

Germany

https://www.careleaver.de/wer-sind-careleaver/

https://careleaver-online.de/

https://www.careleaver-kompetenznetz.de/

https://igfh.de/thema/careleaver

https://ombudschaft-jugendhilfe.de/ombudsstellen/

https://www.jugend-hilfe-studiert.de/home.html

https://www.klueckskinder.de/

Austria

https://careleaver.wien/

https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/gesundheitsleistungen/gesundheitsfoerderung/care-leaver

Switzerland

https://www.careleaver-info.ch/

https://www.careleaver.ch/

https://leaving-care.ch/
Publications

Barth, Nicola/Baumgarten, Julia/Preusker, Sarah/Linke, Torsten/Enke, Paul: Care Leaver* - Bedarfe und Erfordernisse beim Übergang in das Erwachsenenleben. Focus: Experiences with participation in youth welfare, Discourse Childhood and Adolescence Research / Discourse. Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research, 3-2023, pp. 407-412. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v18i3.10

Barth, N., Baumgarten, J., Preusker, S. & Linke, T., and M. von Enke, P. (2023). Care Leaver* - Needs and requirements in the transition to adult life. Focus: Experiences with participation in youth welfare. In Discourse on Childhood and Youth Research, Issue 3/2023, pp. 415-420.

Barth, N. & Enke, P. (2023). Care leavers* - needs and requirements in the transition to adulthood - on participatory aspects of (research) work with young people. In CORAX, 1/2023, pp. 39-41.

Schubert, L. & Linke, T. (2023). Perspectives on queer-inclusive action in youth welfare. In CORAX, 3/2023, pp. 40-42.

In progress: Linke, T. & Schubert, L.: Sexuelle Bildung in der Heimerziehung. Experiences and needs of adolescents.

In progress: Linke, T., Preusker, S., Baumgarten, J. & Barth, N. and M. von Enke, P.: "Durch ganz viel Glück" - Sichtweisen junger Menschen auf die erfahrene Unterstützung in der Heimerziehung beim Übergang in die Selbstständigkeit.

Bachelor theses on the research topic by student assistants in the project:

Baumgarten, J. (2023). Importance of social networks in and after residential youth care from the perspective of care leavers. Mittweida University of Applied Sciences

Preusker, S. (2023). How did care leavers experience participation in residential child and youth services? University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz

Kühnemann, Madlen (2022). Building social networks in residential youth care - an insight from care leavers. Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences

Poster on the research project:

Barth, Nicola (2023): Care leaver* research project. Needs and requirements in the transition to adult life. Results. HSZG. Görlitz.

Enke, Paul (2022): Research project Care-Leaver* - Needs and requirements in the transition to adult life. Research design. HSZG. Görlitz.