Young adults who have lived in out-of-home care at some point during their childhood often struggle to build stable lives. This is not surprising: typically young care leavers not only have to overcome a difficult childhood, but also tend to receive less support during the crucial years of early adulthood than youth living with their parents.

Young adults who have lived in out-of-home care at some point during their childhood often struggle to build stable lives. This is not surprising: typically young care leavers not only have to overcome a difficult childhood, but also tend to receive less support during the crucial years of early adulthood than youth living with their parents. In response to their poor socio-economic outcomes, many agencies responsible for improving outcomes for young people are experimenting with transition programmes for young adults leaving care. This policy report identifies the key challenges that care leavers face and provides a range of good practice examples in OECD countries to promote cross-country learning, help strengthen the international evidence base and support countries to improve their policies for young people leaving their care.

An authoritative text highlighting the key issues affecting young people taking the step from leaving care to adulthood. Covers relevant research, policy and practice, and advises on how best to understand, prepare and support young people.

Growing up in care is not just a part of childhood, but can have ongoing impacts across a person’s life. Various inquiries have revealed accounts of abuse and neglect, and a fracturing of family relationships. Organised thematically to allow comparison of different initiatives, this book considers the range of responses to adult care leavers in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. Initiatives examined include public inquiries, symbolic acknowledgements, redress schemes, specialist support services, access to personal records and family reunification programs. Featuring detailed case studies and examples of good practice, this is an excellent international source book for practitioners and policy makers in social work and social care.

This important new book critically examines the complex policy and practice issues surrounding child protection, including the impact of theoretical orientations, contemporary debates, policy initiatives and research findings, and maintains an emphasis on the ethics and values underpinning child welfare interventions. The book introduces policies that are central to understanding the position and needs of children and young people, and how policy and practice have been influenced by developments including the children’s rights agenda. It also explores the most significant issues in child welfare. These include: the experience of maltreatment by children, the systems of child protection to safeguard them, the methods and challenges of risk assessment, and the wide range of policy and therapeutic interventions to respond to children’s needs. The book also examines family support to promote children’s wellbeing before considering provision for children and young people who are looked after in out-of-home care. There is also a final section that focuses on best practice in communicating and working with children and young people, drawing on participatory, rights-oriented and resilience-based approaches, and supporting foster and adoptive carers and biological parents. Contributing in a substantive and clear manner to a growing international conversation about the present function and future directions for child welfare in contemporary societies, this textbook will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate social work students and those from allied disciplines, and professionals who are engaged in child welfare services.

This important text will provide a critical analysis of contemporary developments in child care policy under New Labour and the resulting policy and practice implications. The authors will draw on sociological debates, the growing children's rights literature and wider developments within social policy in order to provide a thorough and balanced guide to contemporary developments in this rapidly changing field. Ideologies behind recent initiatives in a wide range of practice areas are explored, and the implementation of key developments are appraised. This will be primary reading for all students specializing in work with children and their families.