Meeting the Challenge?: Young People Leaving Care in Northern Ireland Book

Preparation for leaving care and aftercare support have become increasingly important areas of interest for child care practitioners, policy makers and researchers within the UK. In addition to the practice imperatives for this development there is now a clear legal mandate for work in this area. The Northern Ireland study reported in this book has a contribution to make on both these fronts. Working in close relationship with English research, both theoretical material and empirical findings are explored. Key concepts relating to adolescence, child care careers and youth transition are integrated to provide a firm theoretical underpinning to a study of young people leaving state care in Northern Ireland. The study provides detailed information on an entire cohort of young people leaving state care - their personal characteristics, the main features of their care careers, their experience of leaving, aftercare support and their coping up to two years into aftercare. Through combining the theoretical and empirical material the book's conclusion details the manner in which a high quality leaving care service as a variation on the theme of how best to meet the general challenge of youth transitions in contemporary Britain.Read More