Resilience, Transitions, and Youth Leaving Care

This chapter discusses resilience in the lives of care leavers. Youth transitions can be especially challenging for young adults who face major adversity in their lives as they negotiate early encounters with adult life. One such group is young people leaving out-of-home care at the official age, in many jurisdictions, of 18 years. Young people leaving care often do not have the luxury of extending the timing of their transitions, as may be the case for their peers not in care; circumstances force them to make early transitions and, typically, without the level of support their more fortunate peers may be able to call on. Yet many young adults leaving care do quite well; they manage to display resilience. They find resources in their social ecology which help them to manage the process of their transitions. This chapter explores the background to such displays of resilience and how former caregivers and other concerned adults may help to stimulate and sustain such resilience. It also argues that support from concerned adults in arenas such as education and work may be especially helpful in promoting resilience to adversity among youth transitioning to adulthood from care.