Housing after care: understanding security and stability in the transition out of care through the lenses of liminality, recognition and precarity

Abstract

There is a well-documented association between histories of state care and housing instability. This paper examines care leavers' experience of securing housing during the transition out of care through the lenses of liminality, Recognition theory, and precarity. Conducted in Ireland, sixteen care-experienced youth were recruited to a qualitative longitudinal study. The findings demonstrate how aftercare policies and a lack of affordable housing combined to create precarity for many, which also had implications for their feelings of recognition as young people. For those who remained in their foster care placements or transitioned to supported lodgings, housing stability engendered feelings of being cared for by creating a liminal space where growth was supported. Those, on the other hand, who left their foster care placements at the age of 18 or were forced to leave time-limited aftercare housing were pushed into precariousness, placing them at high risk for homelessness and housing exclusion. These young people felt misrecognised and disrespected by the state and the aftercare system. The findings highlight the deleterious consequences of time-limited aftercare supports for care leavers' sense of security and their ability to achieve valued life goals. The implications of the study's findings for leaving care and aftercare policies are discussed.

What Matters and Who Matters to Young People Leaving Care

“…7 Hung and Appleton, 2016. 8 Archer, 2003, p 162. 9 andRogers, 2020;Sekibo, 2020;van Breda and Frimpong-Manso, 2020;van Breda, Munro et al, 2020;Glynn and Mayock, 2021;Taylor, D.J. et al, 2021;Harrison et al, 2022;Mendes et al, 2022;Stubbs et al, 2022;van Breda, 2022;Alderson et al, 2023;Okpych et al, 2023;Schelbe, 2023.…”

An exploration of young people’s experiences relating to stability and permanence throughout their care journey

“…Young people’s transition to independence is a risky period when they experience smaller safety nets and numerous adversities and challenges. Liminality theory explores how young people in care can firstly become ‘stripped’ of their previous status and identity at point of transition and exist in a ‘marginal state’ of uncertainty in which they must also learn to adapt to new social circumstances (as cited in Glynn, 2021).…”