Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood

The transition to adulthood is a longer and more complex process than it was just a few decades ago, and a growing number of youth and young adults experience significant challenges in the establishment of an autonomous and independent lifestyle when compared to previous generations. Successful high school graduation followed by employment is no longer the inevitable trajectory for young people, especially in the current socio-economic context where jobs are less accessible and more demanding in terms of specialized skills and higher academic qualifications. Unable to rely on family for emotional and financial support, vulnerable youth, who grow up in substitute care, are especially effected by the lengthening of this transition to adulthood. The dismal outcomes for youth growing up in care are by now well-documented, and more recently, a range of models have been proposed to help advance our understanding of these outcomes and how to forestall them. However, the literature on leaving care has long suffered from the absence of theory that could guide meaningful intervention. In response to this gap, Leaving Care and the Transition to Adulthood offers a comprehensive overview of the newest contributions to this area in relation to theory, in addition to the Theory of Emerging Adulthood, while also featuring cutting-edge research and best practices that support adjustment across a range of domains for this population. International in scope, this book focuses on bringing together major advances that span the literature on transitioning to adulthood within the care system, offering a unique and important contribution to the field.

Varda R. Mann-Feder is Professor of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia University and the founding Program Director for the Graduate Diploma in Youth Work. Dr. Mann-Feder is known for her research on aging out of care and her advocacy on behalf of youth in placement. She worked for many years as a consulting Psychologist in the Anglophone Child Welfare System in Montreal where she provided intervention training to front line workers in a range of domains, including group work and the assessment of Parental Capacity. Martin Goyette is Professor at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP), Montreal, Quebec, Canada and a holder of the Canada Research Chair in Evaluating Public Actions Related to Young People and Vulnerable Populations (CREVAJ). His research interests are situated in the area of young people's transition to adulthood with a focus on care leavers, more specifically, exploring the dynamics of social inclusion/exclusion and social network analysis. He was the Principal investigator of over thirty studies, notably four longitudinal studies about the future of youth in care.