Overgangen til den selvstendige tilværelsen for ungdom i barnevernet

Abstract

The goal with this thesis is to take a closer look at how youth, that has received aftercare from the child welfare system, experience the transition phase to the independent adult existence. I have chosen to conduct a literature study from the research done on aftercare in recent years. This subject has been widely debated both in politically, but also professionally in recent times.

The aim with this thesis is share some light on different sides and experiences from this important transition phase. The perspective of this study is from the youth side and focus is persons between 18 – 23 years old who’s has first-hand experienced it. The base for this literature study is relevant theory and some chosen papers from Nordic research articles which will be used to illuminate the issue in a satisfactory way. Both from recent and previous research it is clear that youth in the child welfare system is projected as a vulnerable group without a social network or family around them. There could be multiple reasons to why the youth in this group experience such an abrupt transition to adulthood.

The literature show that the youth has little or no sense of readiness to get the hold of this new role as an adult and therefore wish that they could have had prolonged follow-up in this phase. This thesis will focus on the meaning on relations to a support person in this transition phase as an independent adult. The reason for this is that a clear majority of youth points at the importance of such a support.