Care Leavers Into Parenthood: Support Needs and Effective Practice Approaches Through Transitions From Care

Abstract

There is significant local and international evidence to show that young people transitioning from care have children by age 21 at far higher rates than the general youth population. Intergenerational child protection involvement is also far higher for this group. Conducting research with care leaver parents is challenging because of parental fears of child protection involvement and removal of their own children. Without participatory and engaging research approaches, the evidence base overall can omit the valuable perspectives of hardly reached groups. This paper presents findings from a novel approach to participatory research with ‘hard to reach’ or ‘hardly reached’ groups and is co-authored by one of two ‘Lived Experience Consultants’ contributing to the study. Taking an ‘extrospective’ approach to inquiry, the lead author designed a data collection process that sought to increase the opportunity for Lived Experience Consultants to contribute to the project as subject matter experts, rather than research ‘subjects’. Care experienced parents' perspectives as Lived Experience Consultants in this research complemented findings from service providers reported elsewhere and illuminated critical practice-based issues, creating barriers to pregnancy prevention and parenting support in Australia.