“I'm Going to Have That White House with the Picket Fence”: Formerly Homeless Youth Overcoming Systemic Disadvantage in the Transition to Adulthood

Background and Purpose: Youth who experience homelessness have high rates of involvement in the child welfare system and also frequently have educational difficulties. Both of these factors can render systemic disadvantage during early adulthood. Due to disrupted adoptions, conflictual relationships with parents, and/or aging out of foster care, these youth typically have limited caregiver support as they enter this critical stage of development. Moreover, their low educational achievement affects their employment and financial prospects. Little research has explored the housing, education, and employment experiences of these youth in emerging adulthood. The purpose of this study was to address this gap by answering the following questions: (1) In emerging adulthood, what are the housing, employment, and educational goals of young people who experienced homelessness, child welfare system involvement, and educational difficulties in childhood? and (2) What supports do young adults access as they pursue these goals?

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of emerging adults (age 18-24) who had experienced homelessness, child welfare system involvement, and educational difficulties prior to age 18. Participants were recruited through partnerships with community-based organizations. Three coauthors with expertise in homelessness, child welfare, and education independently coded the first three transcripts, using open coding to inductively identify themes emerging from the data. After reaching consensus on a list of primary codes, the remaining transcripts were coded by a single researcher. The first author reviewed all transcripts and synthesized themes from the open coding. Concepts from developmental theory on emerging adulthood, resilience theory, and social capital theory informed the themes.

Results: The sample (n=20) was diverse with regard to race, ethnicity, and gender. Two major themes emerged regarding participants’ goals and support for the transition to adulthood. The first was an expressed desire for stability, contrasting with the instability of participants’ upbringings, as well as with the more common sense of instability articulated in developmental theory on emerging adulthood for the general population. Participants’ visions of stability included specific goals for housing, relationships, education, and employment. Most participants were taking active steps toward pursuing these goals, such as working with service providers to find housing or enrolling in courses to pursue career paths, such as teaching or culinary arts. The second theme indicated challenges regarding participants’ support networks and was summarized in the quotation “we’re going to start empowering ourselves.” In the absence of caregiver support, participants expressed a strong sense of self-reliance. Participants were able to access social support through relationships with friends, siblings, romantic partners, and program staff, but most lacked relationships with adult role models who could help guide their transitions to adulthood.

Conclusions and Implications: Despite educational difficulties and childhood instability, the findings highlight the resilience of formerly homeless youth navigating the transition to adulthood, through setting goals and developing support networks to help them obtain independent housing and employment. Results can inform the provision of developmentally appropriate services and policies to help formerly homeless youth develop the supportive adult connections they need to ensure equal opportunity in emerging adulthood.