Saki Nagano

The paper explores disparities faced by youth leaving foster care, emphasizing the importance of relational permanence and their right to participate in life decisions. It highlights the challenges in accessing education and healthcare and the impact of these disparities on their identity formation and societal integration. This paper focuses on the living conditions of youth, especially those needing foster care. The living conditions of young people who have left foster care have been largely unknown until the 2020 national survey in Japan－the situation “after” leaving foster care that is becoming clear points to disparities in “Life Chances”. Life Chances, a concept defined by Ralf Dahrendorf, are determined by the interrelationship between options and ligatures. This paper details options and ligatures for young people who left foster care. For example, in terms of disparities in options, the rate of public assistance receipt among youth who have experienced foster care is about 18 times that of their peers, and there are also disparities in the rate of entrance to university and other higher education. The percentage of university graduates is only ２％ . Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted food security and access to medical care. In the face of such a dire crisis, young people who have grown up in foster care find it challenging to turn to their biological families or former caregivers for support. This lack of connectedness can be seen as a constraint in their chances of life. The need to ensure relational permanence is becoming increasingly urgent in the foster care system. Moreover, the identity of young people in foster care is often profoundly shaken, making it difficult for them to form connections with others and society, potentially leading to isolation. It is of utmost importance that they are given the right to voice their concerns and actively participate in decisions that shape their lives.

To reveal supervisory structures, we conducted a questionnaire survey with the directors or administrators of 40 children's residential homes in the Kanto district. The obtained data were summarized, and free descriptions were analyzed using the Jiro Kawakita (KJ) method. From these results, partial supervisory structures were revealed. In particular, the two structures were" rigid" and" flexible," but there were also possibilities of various combined forms. Moreover, supervision in a residential home for children might demonstrate aspects differing from the model of other professionals. However, we could not sufficiently discuss the many functional aspects of supervision. Overall, this research reports the new subject of supervision research in welfare facilities.

It has been important to follow up former youth in care. Recently, four studies, aimed at understanding care leavers' living conditions, were conducted by municipalities in Japan. This study subjected these studies to secondary analysis, and we conducted two original surveys in order to determine the condition of more care leavers. As a result of these analyses, care leavers who received public assistance are more than 18 times than the average of the same age. Some care leavers had judicial or/and mental health problem and needed public interventions. It is suggests that there were some deprivations in the lives of former youths in care. We hypothesize that these deprivations occurred in a particular subgroup of care leavers, because of differences in the chances of going onto higher education and of employment status. In particular, youth who had left care at the age of less than 18 tended to have difficulties with both living and jobs. Child social care systems must research care leavers living conditions and should guarantee LIFE CHANCES of youth in and out of care.

The ratio of those who go on to higher education from foster care homes is far lower than that of those from general families. This study aims to clarify the reasons for disparity between them. Interviews were conducted with those who had left foster care homes, and the results were analyzed through a qualitative approach. As a result, the three categories "motivation", "social conditions" and "care worker's attitudes" were generated. The category system demonstrated that care worker's attitudes affect both motivation and social conditions of care leavers in leading to successful entrance into higher education, although the 3 factors affect each other. The combination of factors was examined in relation to the result of going on to higher education. Generally, the care leavers of smooth entrance had favorable support from care workers, advantageous social conditions as well as care workers' positive approach, whereas those who abstained from higher education didn't enjoy these advantageous conditions. In conclusion, images of care leavers had a vital role in generating strong motivation for higher education and economic assurance provided the basis of their choice. It was also suggested that the care worker's attitudes had great influence to their motivation and economic assurance.