| 1. |
- Bengtsson, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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Teaming up or struggling alone from care to occupation – A study of young Swedish care leavers’ occupational trajectories
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Employment is crucial for independence and integration into society, but few studies have focused on care leavers’ own experiences of the transition to working life. This study presents longitudinal data on 14 young Swedish care leavers’ occupational trajectories from out-of-home care (OHC) towards working life. The first interview (T1) was conducted when the respondents were still in OHC but on the verge of leaving care, the second (T2) when the majority had left care, and the third (T3) when they had been out of care for some time. The aim was to study occupational trajectories from out-of-home care among young Swedish care leavers. What are the main features of their trajectories? How do they handle this transition? The thematic analysis generated three different occupational trajectories, recognized as “teamwork,” “lone wolf,” and “tug-of-war.” The theoretical concepts of structure and agency were used to understand these trajectories over time. “Agency enabled by structure” outlined the teamwork trajectory and seemed to imply a successful pathway towards working life. The lone wolf trajectory represented “agency perceived as free from structural constraint” and meant a successful “self-made” trajectory, however, at the expense of vulnerability, and the tug-of-war trajectory represented “agency hindered by structural constraint” as well as individual adversities.
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| 2. |
- Höjer, Ingrid, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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Procedures when young people leave care : Views of 111 swedish social services mangers
- 2011
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Ingår i: Children and youth services review. - : Elsevier BV. - 0190-7409 .- 1873-7765. ; 33:12, s. 2452-2460:33, s. 2452-2460
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In western societies, there is a general tendency towards a protracted transition to adulthood for young people, who thereby may become increasingly dependent on support from family. Young people leaving a placement in out-of-home care often lack such support, and will thus have a disadvantageous position compared to their peers. With the purpose of looking into the procedures when young people leave a placement in out-of-home care, telephone interviews were performed with 111 managers of social service units in two Swedish regions (West Sweden, and Stockholm Region), using a structured interview schedule. Answering rate was 99.1%. Only 6% of the managers had information of the young people's whereabouts once they had left care. 86-88% had general support programmes for all young people concerning housing, employment etc. but only 2-4% had specific programmes for young people leaving care. A majority of the managers were attentive of the difficulties the young people leaving care may encounter, but displayed little awareness of the consequences of a prolonged transition to adulthood, and the need for continued support after leaving care. Several managers referred to the general support of the Swedish welfare state, meaning that young people leaving care had the same access to support as all other young people in Sweden. Consequently, young people leaving care are at risk of being invisible in the welfare system and facing a compressed transition to adulthood.
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| 3. |
- Backe-Hansen, Elisabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Out of home care in Norway and Sweden – similar and different
- 2013
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Ingår i: Psychosocial Intervention. - : Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid. - 1132-0559 .- 2173-4712. ; 22:3, s. 193-202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An overview of the current situation in the out-of-home care in Norway and Sweden is presented in this article; also the development in later years is described and discussed. Socially, politically and culturally there are few differences between Norway and Sweden. Child protection and out-of-home placement of children and young people are integrated parts in the welfare state that are shared by the Nordic countries. It is a model that builds on principles of universalism and decommodification of social rights. The welfare model presupposes high public legitimacy for a high level of social expenditure. However the idea of marketization and privatization has also affected the welfare model in Sweden and Norway. Although there are more similarities than differences between the two countries' child protection systems, the article discusses some differences, for example the after care services, new groups of children and young people in the out-of-home care, like young unaccompanied asylum seekers. There are also some differences when it comes to privatization, the introduction of evidence-based methods in the child protection system and the tension between general and residual services for children and young people in the child protection system.
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| 4. |
- Bengtsson, Mattias
(författare)
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Att lämna en placering i samhällsvård : En studie om ungas övergång från samhällsvård till vuxenliv
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The focus in this thesis is young peoples’ (aged 17–20) experiences of leaving out-of-home care (OHC) and making the transition into adulthood. Prior research shows care leavers as a vulnerable group making the transition to adulthood at younger age, in shorter duration and with less support than their peers. The overarching aim is to gain knowledge of how young care leavers experience and handle their transition from OHC to adulthood, and how their experiences and strategies change over time. The study design is longitudinal with three waves of interviews: when still in care (T1), 6–11 months later when most of them had left care (T2) and another 10–19 months later (T3). Article I focuses the informants’ (n=15) expectations for their future and how these are changing over time (T1–T2). The participants’ short term expectations are characterized by worries (T1) and ambivalence (T2) – their long-term expectations are more optimistic (both T1 and T2) and tend to be guided by normative developmental patterns. The aim of article II is to study care leavers’ (n=20) strategies for handling adversities during their OHC transition. The results show that the participants over time (T1–T2) develop externally oriented strategies by navigating towards available resources, and internally oriented reflexive strategies for re-negotiating the meaning of their earlier experiences. Departing from an agency perspective article III focuses care leavers’ (n=14) transitional patterns of leaving care (T1–T3). Three patterns are identified: one stable long-term future oriented, one unstable short-term future oriented and one ambivalent pattern shuttling between long- and short-term future orientations. The aim in article IV is to study occupational trajectories, i.e. care leavers’ (n=14) paths into education and employment from a theoretical framework of agency vs. structure. The results show three ideal types of trajectories where agency is: (1) facilitated by structure, (2) perceived as free from structural constraints, and (3) hindered by structural constraints. The longitudinal design provides an original contribution the field of study by uncovering how care leavers’ expectations for their future is changing during the process of transition, how increasingly successful strategies are developed over time, and how transitional OHC patterns are influenced by the agents’ time horizons as well as by structural forces. A conclusion from the study is that societal support targeting young care leavers is deficient and needs to be developed and strengthened. Furthermore, the transition could be facilitated by extending the duration of the transition process, by including care leavers as active participating agents in the planning process of their passage out from OHC, and by strengthening the maintenance of care leavers’ relationships to supportive members in their formal and informal network. ”Independence” as the ultimate goal for young people leaving OHC is criticized based on the results showing that interdependent relationships to significant others is an integrated part of care leavers’ perception of adult life.
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| 5. |
- Bengtsson, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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Transitional patterns when leaving care – Care leavers’ agency in a longitudinal perspective
- 2020
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Ingår i: Children and youth services review. - : Elsevier. - 0190-7409 .- 1873-7765. ; 118
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on three waves of semi-structured interviews, this longitudinal qualitative study aims to understand the transition from out-of-home care (OHC; foster care, residential care) to independent adulthood, for a group of Swedish care leavers aged 16–20 years (n = 14). What are the main patterns in their transition process? How is agency reflected in these processes? The first interview (T1) was conducted when they were all still in OHC but on the verge of leaving, the second (T2) when the majority had left care and the third (T3) when they had been out for some time. Average time from T1 to T3 was 21 months, ranging from 17 to 28 months. By directed content analysis and an abductive approach, three transitional patterns were identified: From care to societal insiders, From care to societal outsiders and From care to societal in-betweeners. These patterns were connected to different dimensions of agency. Agency with long-term goals was shown to be connected to a stable transition from care, facilitating the emerging identification as independent “insiders” of society. Agency oriented towards the short term instead seemed to be connected to unstable transitions with a growing perception of being left as “outsiders” of society. Shuttling between those agentic positions, trying to apply long-term agency but experiencing the need for instant and pragmatic decisions, implied a halted transition “in-between” OHC and independent adulthood.
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| 6. |
- Bengtsson, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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‘Well, it’s up to me now’ – young care leavers’ strategies for handling adversities when leaving out-of-home care in Sweden
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nordic Social Work Research. - : Routledge. - 2156-857X .- 2156-8588. ; 8:sup 1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AbstractThis qualitative longitudinal study of 20 young Swedish care leavers investigates their subjective experience of and strategies for handling adversities when being in the process of leaving out-of-home care. The empirical data is based on two sets of interviews, the first conducted at time 1 (T1) when they were still in care but the moving out process had begun, the second (T2) 6-10 months later when the vast majority had left care. The thematic analysis based on resilience theory showed that the majority of the informants over time developed process-oriented strategies, which in our categorization emanated either from the inner world of the informants (e.g. through re-framing of experiences and an emerging self-reliance) or from their outer contextual world (e.g. through a restructuring of the social network). The results are discussed from a resilience theoretical perspective in which the informants' strategies are illustrated by the conceptual pair of 'navigation' and 'negotiation', used to make sense of their inner and outer world-oriented strategies.
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| 7. |
- Bengtsson, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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Young care leavers’ expectations of their future : A question of time horizon
- 2018
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Ingår i: Child & Family Social Work. - : Wiley. - 1356-7500 .- 1365-2206. ; 23:2, s. 188-195
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates young care leavers’ expectations of their future after discharge from care. The results are based on qualitative longitudinal data where 16- to 21-year-old care leavers (n = 15) were interviewed twice, first when still in care but planning for their discharge (T1) and the second time 6–9 months later (T2). The analysis using a general inductive approach showed that their expectations were dependent on the time horizon and that there was an obvious difference between the young informants’ short- and long-term expectations. Their short-term expectations consisted of worries connected to their approaching discharge (at T1) and how to cope with challenges of everyday life after discharge from care (at T2). These results seem to echo negative outcomes shown in previous quantitative research. However, the informants’ long-term expectations provide a different picture, being mainly positive in both interviews (T1 and T2). The results are discussed from a life course perspective, where the informants’ visions of their future are framed and understood in terms of the different stages of their transition process.
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| 8. |
- Högdin, Sara, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Leaving home in early youth : Influential factors in running away from home or being thrown out
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nordic social work research. - Philadelphia, PA : Routledge. - 2156-8588 .- 2156-857X. ; 2:1, s. 39-58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The main objective of this article is to investigate the extent to which youth in Sweden run away from or are thrown out of their homes. A further aim is to determine what conditions lead up to and triggers such a break-up and to see what takes place during the break-up process itself. In our results roughly one in ten of youth in Sweden (≈11%) had experienced a difficult break-up from home by running away or being thrown out. Over 30% of those placed in foster families or institutions had run away from home or been thrown out. By our results, only a minority of runaways do so for the excitement or the fun. The majority made clear that their running away was a flight from the family rather than to something exciting and adventurous. It is also obvious from the results that young people who have run away three or more times are more severely at risk than those who have experienced only one or two break-ups from home. For some of these young people, a breakaway from home is the start, however premature, of an independent adult life. This vulnerable group of young people should be entitled to support from the social welfare system during their transition to adulthood.
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| 9. |
- Högdin, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Tillfälligt uppbrott : om ungdomar som rymmer och kastas ut hemifrån
- 2009
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I den här studien undersöks ungdomars uppbrott i form av att de rymmer och/eller blir utkastade hemifrån. Det är den första nationella kartläggningen av sitt slag. Studien avser att ge en bred bild av problematiken med unga som rymmer och/eller kastas ut hemifrån.Ett övergripande syfte med den här studien är att kartlägga hur vanligt det är att ungdomar i Sverige rymmer och/eller kastas ut hemifrån. Ytterligare ett syfte är att undersöka de omständigheter som kan utlösa och ligga bakom uppbrott hemifrån och vad som händer ungdomarna under tiden för själva uppbrottet.Denna studie visar att det är vanligt förekommande att ungdomar är med om uppbrott hemifrån. Att så många som 11 procent av alla ungdomar har rymt och kastats ut hemifrån kan vid en första anblick verka vara en hög andel. Men vid närmare eftertanke förefaller resultatet vara lågt räknat. Att en så stor andel av ungdomarna som går i gymnasiet har erfarenhet av uppbrott hemifrån är allvarligt och ger en viktig signal om att uppbrott hemifrån är en vanlig utväg och överlevnadsstrategi för ungdomar som lever i en riskfylld uppväxtmiljö och har negativa relationer till sina föräldrar.
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| 10. |
- Höjer, Ingrid, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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Att stå på egna ben - om övergången från samhällsvård till vuxenliv
- 2011
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Ingår i: Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift. - 1104-1420 .- 2003-5624. ; 18:1, s. 24-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Artikeln behandlar hur övergången från ung till vuxen ter sig för en sårbar grupp av unga, de som varit i samhällsvård. Vilken roll spelar vården, socialtjänsten och den biologiska familjen för dem? Vilken betydelse får den förlängda ungdomstiden för ungdomar vars sociala nätverk är resurssvaga?
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