Exploring care leavers' transitions to independence: A qualitative study to be published on Socialcaretalk.org for prospective care leavers, educators, service providers and policy makers

Background The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 defines care leavers as young people who were in the care of their Local Authority for a period of 13 weeks or more spanning their 16th birthday. Pathway planning is the formal process to support the transition out of care, however, there are large variabilities in support needs, particularly from diverse and seldom heard groups such as ethnic minorities who may need help developing their cultural and racial identities, and former unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) care leavers who may have support needs related to their immigration status and experiences of trauma. The experiences of transition are associated with how successfully young people move on from care in the short and long term. We have limited knowledge of the support needs of diverse care leavers, with policy and research tending to approach care leavers as a homogeneous group. We propose to include a diverse range of care leavers experiences to bridge the information gap, understand specific needs, identify examples of practice and how services can be improved. Aims and objectives The aim of the project is to explore a diverse range of care leavers experiences and to use that understanding to develop information and support for young people preparing to leave care. We will also create experience-based resources to improve delivery of English social care services. The resource will be published on Socialcaretalk.org. The objectives are to: Conduct a scoping review of Local Authorities (LAs) service provision for the transition process out of care in England and a literature review around transition support, pathway planning and policy Explore the perspectives of care leavers and their experiences transitioning out of care Develop Socialcaretalk.org resources to inform and support young people through transition and guide improvements in the pathway planning process Invite stakeholders to assess the new resource on Socialcaretalk.org Methods We will review LA service provision in England to understand provision and gaps in support services. We will also conduct a literature review of leaving care services support to young people transitioning out of care (Objective 1). For Objective 2, we will invite around 40 care leavers to take part in a narrative interview, either audio- or video-recorded. Analysis and data collection will continue simultaneously, and 20-25 comprehensive analytic topic summaries from the themes will be prepared for Socialcaretalk.org (Objective 3) and made widely accessible after the new resource is assessed in focus groups with respective stakeholder groups (Objective 4). Timelines for delivery The study will take place over 20 months. Anticipated impact and dissemination We will work with the PPI lead, and Advisory Panel members on dissemination plans through social media, blogs and websites. Other relevant organisations such as the Rees Foundation (who support care experienced adults) and Catch 22 (who lead the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum that is made up of 121 Leaving Care Teams in England), have agreed to share our findings with their networks. We also anticipate two peer-reviewed academic publications, a literature review and a primary research article.