ABSTRACT
The chapter investigates agency among young people who have lived in different forms of alternative care and transitioned to independent life in two regions of the Russian Arctic. The authors analyse the future expectations and orientations of young care leavers, relying on the concept of “subjective agency”, the self-understanding these young adults possess about their ability at a given moment to influence their own futures. The study discusses different-level factors, all of which impact subjective agency, such as social support systems (macro-level), regional infrastructures (meso-level) and the everyday interactions of young people (micro-level). The chapter concludes that the agency of the young adults in this study is restricted in many ways by external factors. On the other hand, it is found that support from significant adults can facilitate the self-understanding of young care leavers of their own ability to influence the course of their lives.
