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Care leavers, ambiguous loss and early parenting: explaining high rates of pregnancy and parenting amongst young people transitioning from out-of-home care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 November 2020

Jade Purtell Open the ORCID record for Jade Purtell [Opens in a new window] ,
Philip Mendes Open the ORCID record for Philip Mendes [Opens in a new window]  and
Bernadette J. Saunders
Jade Purtell*
Affiliation:
Monash University, Social Work, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, Victoria3145, Australia
Philip Mendes
Affiliation:
Monash University, Social Work, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, Victoria3145, Australia
Bernadette J. Saunders
Affiliation:
Monash University, Social Work, 900 Dandenong Road, Caulfield East, Victoria3145, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Jade Purtell, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper is a narrative review examining the high prevalence of care leaver early parenting in the context of (i) key transitions from care studies taken from the last few decades, (ii) a structured review using Scopus of studies from 2015–2020 focussed specifically on young people transitioning from care and early parenting and (iii) Boss’s (2010) Ambiguous Loss theory. Young care leavers’ challenges, in general, put them at higher risk of protective interventions with their children and may contribute to the growing numbers of children being placed in increasingly over-stretched out-of-home care systems. Questions of surveillance bias for service-connected young people are examined in light of recent large-scale studies using administrative data sets. Serious oversights in responding to young people’s experiences of trauma and exploitation are identified. The relevance of sexual health programs for young people actively seeking pregnancies is discussed with emerging evidence that disengagement from schooling may have more of a role in explaining early pregnancy and parenting than previously thought. The authors test the relevance of Ambiguous Loss theory in understanding how removal from families of origin and placement experiences may affect young people and lead to ‘wanted’ pregnancies.

Keywords

Care leaverslossearly parenting
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 45 , Special Issue 4: Special Issue: Poverty and Child Abuse , December 2020 , pp. 241 - 248
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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