How Do Care Leavers Estimate Their Own Transition into Adulthood? Findings from a Panel Study from SOS Children Village Germany

SOS Children Village Germany runs a long-term-study since 2014 in order to get more information on the life situation of SOS-care leavers. In a mixed methods design quantitative as well as qualitative data are taken into account. Leaving care is an enabling process longing from youth to mid of the twentieth. Many care leavers succeed on their pathway to independent living and others under comparable conditions do not. The overall question is, how young people learn to cope with challenges in life even if they grow up in unprivileged circumstances.

Main findings will be presented, according to e.g. self-efficacy, affiliation and social networking, sense of coherence and education. Those young adults who learned to cope well with developmental tasks or other challenges in life and who have stable relationships to a group or single persons have demonstrably higher degrees of well-being. This is linked to how they estimate their life situation: They aggree more often with their transition, feel prepared for it and foresee into future quite confindential. Broad opportunities for participation help them developing self-efficacy as an essential resource for personal development. At least implications will be discussed on how caregivers in the youth welfare system can support them.