‘The question is: will the street leave us?’ Care-leavers with a street-connected past

Abstract

This chapter is interested in the journey of young people who came off the streets into residential care and, instead of moving out into adult independent life, transitioned back onto the streets. Previous research in Bolivia found that 97 per cent of street-connected children who entered care programmes left care before reaching adulthood to return to the street for a variety of reasons. However, there has been no research on children who came into care from the street and then transitioned out of care at the age of 18 back onto the street, rather than towards independent living. This research, therefore, aims to understand what leads young adults with a street past to transition back onto the streets when they aged out of care. This chapter explores the factors that drove five street-connected looked-after young adults – three men and two women – back to the streets. In light of the findings, the author questions if there are real possibilities for social integration, after a street-connected and care history, for young adults who have lived for many years at the margins of society or within institutional walls.