The Transition to Adulthood From the Child Welfare System: The Experiences of Youth in Alberta

Abstract

The transition to adulthood has become prolonged in recent decades because of sociocultural and historical changes, such as the impact of the shift towards a knowledge economy on the school-to-work transition. It is now taking longer for young adults to achieve the traditional milestones of adulthood, such as marriage and parenthood. Research on the transition to adulthood has largely focused on the experiences of White middle-class populations with less focus on under-represented groups, such as youth in child welfare. The extended transition to adulthood is particularly concerning for this population because they are obligated to transition at age 18 and research has demonstrated that they tend to experience more negative outcomes, such as homelessness, poverty, incarceration, dependence on social services, early parenthood, and mental health and substance use issues. The present study investigated the transition experiences of youth in care to gain a better understanding of how to improve their experiences from their perspectives. A multiple case study design was used in which data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Participants included six youth aged 18 to 22 years and three service workers aged 28 to 46 years that were bounded into seven cases. A thematic analysis was completed in three stages to interpret the data. The analysis identified three overarching themes and 10 sub-themes. The themes revealed several key findings regarding their transition experiences: youth are not receiving enough direct support, they feel like the transition is sudden, they feel moderately prepared, they do participate in planning and decision making, and transition services are important for developing life skills. Based on these results, this study provided five recommendations to improve the transition experiences of youth in care.