ABSTRACT
The social and political drivers of social policy and child welfare/protection systems provide a context for consideration of the experiences of children in care and outcomes for care leavers in later chapters. Trends in alternative care provision are briefly set out together with a summary of the potential contribution of a social pedagogic approach to the care of maltreated children. Insights from these sections are used to address the complexity in evaluating alternative care regimes and to highlight the implications for child welfare of alternative care as a measure of last resort. To inform analysis of the challenges facing children ageing out of state care, the developmental tasks of adolescence are explored through the lens of Coleman’s focal model of adolescence. Care leavers’ transitions to adulthood are compared with those of their peers in an era of ‘emerging adulthood’, in which young people remain dependent on their families for longer than previously. Recent developments in state support for care leavers in recognition of this trend are set out. In conclusion, the responsibilities owed by the state to children for whom it has taken on a parenting role are conceptualised through a children’s rights perspective, using Hollingsworth’s theory of foundational rights.
