Widening the care gap? an international comparison of care-leaving in the time of COVID-19

Following COVID-19, young people who transitioned to adulthood from different types of alternative care (care-leavers) experienced an exacerbation of the challenges they had before the pandemic. The purpose of this international survey was to explore the range of policy and service responses that have or have not been implemented around the world to support care-leavers during COVID-19. Responses were collected from care-leaving researchers from 19 countries towards the end of 2020. Half of the participating countries reported that the state had issued directives about measures that should be taken to support care-leavers following COVID-19 outbreak, but only three reported actual changes in legislation. Additionally, NGOs in various countries took steps to guide and support care-leavers, while two thirds reported on special initiatives that were mounted. The most common change in practices during COVID-19 was the postponement of exits from care, and the second was an increase in contact from workers. These findings are critically discussed in relation to the impact of policy changes on an already vulnerable group. In particular, we indicate that there appears to be a widening care-gap: some countries with stronger leaving-care legal and policy frameworks pre-COVID-19 were more inclined to introduce additional supportive measures during the pandemic, whereas some with under-developed services tended not to increase support. By contrast, other countries used this crisis to develop services that were not available before. The creativity and flexibility in the services provided during the COVID-19 outbreak are required on an ongoing basis and thus should be implemented overall.