Avslut och utsluss : - ungdomars behov och socialtjänstens insatser när vård i familjehem avslutas

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to highlight the situation for youths leaving foster care and entering adult life. The study examines the services provided by the social service in the Stockholm area when a youth is leaving foster care, and if a recent change in the legislation has had any impact on the operating procedures of the social service. The study includes interviews with youths who recently left foster care, as well as information collected from social service offices through a survey, supplemented by interviews with practicing social workers. All the assembled data have been analyzed using Ecological Systems theory with focus on the child perspective and the term significant others. The study shows that the respondent youth have trouble identifying the formal ending with social services, as well as the support they received or were offered. As assembled from the survey, the few supporting services that are being arranged in connection with leaving care are similar between different social service offices. The general opinion is that they offer the required extra support that the new legislation aims to strengthen. The majority of the social service offices has therefore not changed their existing leaving care procedures. In this process, a lot of responsibility tends to be delegated to the foster homes, and due to insufficient resources social workers feel inadequate in those cases were the youth’s need for help is not met by the former foster home.