Who Influences the Career Choices of Young People in Care?

Young people who grow up in care constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Many of them enter care during adolescence, a critical time for development, when they form their identities, set their future aspirations and make education and career choices, usually with support from their family. In the absence of family support and influence, the risk of young people leaving care to end up not being not in education, employment or training (NEET) is much higher than in general population and only a small proportion of them go into higher education. In this episode, Dr Neagu discusses findings from interviews with 12 young people (over 18) who spent their teenage years in foster or residential care, and three professionals who work with young people to support them with education and employment. The research focussed on how the young people had decided what to do in the future, and who or what influenced and supported them.

The Deanery Digest (a plain language summary) of this research can be viewed and downloaded here: https://www.education.ox.ac.uk/oxford-education-deanery/digest/who-influences-the-career-choices-of-young-people-in-care-vocational-identity-formation-in-the-absence-of-family-support/

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