Investigating ‘care leaver’ identity: A narrative analysis of personal experience stories

Abstract

People who spent time in public care as children are often represented as ‘care leavers’. This paper investigates how ‘care leaver’ is discursively constructed as a group identity, by analyzing 18 written personal experience stories from several charity websites by people identified or who self-identify as care leavers. Several approaches to narrative analysis are used: a clause-level analysis based on Labovʼs code scheme; the identification of turning points; an analysis of ‘identity work’; and an analysis of subject positions relative to ‘master narratives’. The findings from each of the methods are then combined to reveal how intertextual, narrative-structural, and contextual factors combine to constitute a common care leaver discourse. This forms the basis for a characterization of ‘care leaver’ group identity as ‘survivors of the system’. The findings also reveal how ‘care leaver’ as type, including stereotype, influences how identity is constructed in the personal experience narratives.

Insights into turning points from the perspective of young people with out-of-home care experience: events, impact and facilitators of change

“…Viewed in this way, rather than contributing to an unhelpful discourse (Evans 2019), notions of turning points may serve to counter pervasive stereotypes of a homogenous, traumatized group of children and young people, destined for poor outcomes (Bakketeig et al 2020;Evans 2019).…”

“…Offering an important critical consideration of turning points is Evans’ (2019) analysis of biographical writings produced by care leavers ( n = 18) for publication in charity reports or websites. Evans concluded that turning points were a recurrent feature of the stories, in which young people typically depicted positive change resultant from the intervention of others.…”

“An Active, Productive Life”: Narratives of, and Through, Participation in Public and Patient Involvement in Health Research

“…In medical sociology, narrative approaches have been widely employed for understanding experiences of illness ( Thomas, 2010 ) and treatment ( Vindrola-Padros & Johnson, 2014 ), and how identities are constructed through narration of ongoing relationships between the “body, self and surrounding world” ( Hydén, 1997 , p. 51). Narratives have also proved valuable for exploring the representation of experiences and identities among marginalized groups such as care-leavers ( Evans, 2019 ). This reflects something of the origins of narratives in medical sociology, as a mode of giving voice to experiences that lie outside the dominant structures of biomedicine ( Hydén, 1997 ).…”

“…First, the researcher read closely the transcripts and reflections from each interview, to draw out and map by hand a chronological story for each participant, relating to PPI and their broader lives, structured loosely as “starting point,” “progression,” “current position,” and “future.” Second, the story was interpreted to elicit which personal identities were being presented and how, and the meaning attached to these through their narration. Third, the story was further interpreted to identify how the participant situated themselves and their experiences in relation to broader social and political stories, what Evans (2019) describes as “master narratives”: “cultural storylines” that constitute shared understanding between narrator and listener (p. 32).…”

“…Narratives have also proved valuable for exploring the representation of experiences and identities among marginalized groups such as care-leavers (Evans, 2019). This reflects something of the origins of narratives in medical sociology, as a mode of giving voice to experiences that lie outside the dominant structures of biomedicine (Hydén, 1997).…”