Care leavers: a legal framework

Care leavers are young people who, at the age of 18, no longer live with their family due to a decision taken by a judicial authority.

When we talk about care leavers and the range of definitions and situations that this label can cover, we are referring to all those children who, coming from particularly vulnerable environments, required protection and support from institutions and who, once they come of age, lose the right to be protected and supported by these institutions. Regardless of the state of their own personal development, the current status of the personal and family reconciliation process, and the educational and training objectives yet to be achieved, they are suddenly catapulted into the adult world, often without access to adequate resources that would give them an equal opportunity for integration into society and self-realisation.

These still vulnerable young adults are urging the institutions and the entire regional community in which they live to put in place new protective and support measures, ranging from educational backing to family support, economic support for scholarships, prescription charges, and rent, loans to help them get jobs in companies that are willing to reserve their jobs during childcare, the expansion of informal networks of solidarity, friendship, and community, to the establishment of special associations to which they can belong.