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CHAPTER THREE: INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH REVIEW
Structure of review
This research review focuses on young people who are making a transition from being looked after to independent living. The cultural ideal-typical notion of 'independent living' involves arrangements in which young people successfully look after themselves and use their own income to pay for their housing and living expenses. But, as the previous section makes clear, there are many notions and degrees of 'independent living' and this review is concerned with the process of young persons moving to any arrangement beyond the housing and care received as a child from a parent or substitute corporate parent. It reviews research on policy and practice in Scotland but draws attention to relevant literature from elsewhere in the UK.
In order to take account of recent changes in legislation, regulations and guidance on young people leaving care, the review has been limited to the period 2001 to 2006 which covers the period prior to the implementation of the Scottish Executive's regulations and guidance on services for young people ceasing to be looked after by local authorities (2004b) and over two years after its implementation. The review draws on academic research as well as reports produced by organisations with an interest in this area.
Research which is relevant to this group of young people is wide ranging. It covers studies which consider young people's transitions to adulthood as well as those which focus specifically on the experience of young people who have been looked after, either at home or away from home in a residential setting or foster care. Specific attention has been paid to housing issues in line with the brief.
The research that is reviewed does not generally analyse the type of care provision in which young people were previously placed so it is difficult to identify if there were differences in how young people fared which could be attributed to whether they had been looked at home or away from home, or more specifically to different care settings such as foster or residential care. Other factors, such as stability and continuity of care, are more easily identified as being significant when moving on to independent living than where young people were placed when they were in care. This is an area that could usefully be explored in future research.
Young people's care experiences are not generally static and usually include a number of different placements over a period of time. A young person can therefore have had the experience of being looked after at home as well as being accommodated away from home. Some young people may have lived continuously away from home for many years, others may have had short term placements away from home or been placed in care away from home later in childhood during their adolescence. Some young people may have moved through a number of different residential placements including being placed in foster care, residential units or schools and secure care. Young people's care experiences are therefore diverse.
The review is structured in the following way. It summarises key themes arising from the review in the next section. It then provides an annotated bibliography which summarises key texts from academic and non academic literature. The literature is not prioritised but is organised alphabetically, and for ease of reference is split into Scottish research and other UK research. Longer sections on key findings indicate that this publication has a particular relevance for the scope of the review. A list of organisations who were contacted is included with, finally, a full bibliography of references and a list of useful website addresses.
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