The Experience of Loneliness for Former Youth in Care in Adulthood

Background & Purpose:  The phenomenon of loneliness among youth in care is an understudied area of research.  The impact of this for clinical training and preparation of students in social work and other disciplines for competent service provision in child and youth work, including counselling, are significant for facilitating healthy and effective transitions into adulthood as former youth in care. This paper presentation will contribute to this much-needed area of knowledge in child welfare practice by presenting the stories of loneliness experienced by adults who were formerly in care in Canada’s child protection system. 

Methods: Thirteen indepth interviews (4 men, 9 women, 19-43 years old) were conducted with adults who were former youth in care and past participants in an Independent Living Program (ILP) in a midsized city in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.  These interviews were conducted in the second phase of a mixed-methods study designed to learn about the impact of the ILP in the experience of transitioning from care (ageing out of care) in adulthood.  The first phase of the mixed-methods study consisted of a secondary data analysis of a random sample (n = 250) drawn from 970 closed ILP client files from 1998 to 2013 at a community agency in a mid-sized Canadian city.  The second phase of the study sought to obtain an understanding of the impact of the ILP on the lives of youth in care and the ILP’s impact on preventing homelessness after they left government care (Chau, 2015).     

Findings: In the course of telling their stories of transitioning as emerging adults from the ILP in the Canadian child protection system, an unexpected but important theme emerged from each of the participants about the presence of loneliness in their lives when they were in care.  The participants described their experiences and methods of coping with loneliness as often misperceived and misunderstood as “partying” when they were seeking companionship because being alone was unbearable.  Many of the participants also shared that at the time they were unable to describe to their caregivers (e.g., workers, mentors) their feelings as they were unable to talk about their experience of loneliness.  As adults, they were able to describe their experiences of social isolation as former children/youths in care and that the experience of loneliness became clearer to them through the gains and losses of social and romantic relationships, often some time after leaving care.  Also, men and women participants described gendered experiences of loneliness and coping methods as adults, as well as identified, in hindsight, the barriers within the care system that maintained their isolation and subsequent experiences of loneliness.

Conclusion & Implications: Participants offered solutions to reduce social isolation and loneliness among youths in care and how to help them in adulthood as they establish their lives as people with the capacity to find love, be loved, have romantic relationships and the potential to start a family, and one day, become parents.  These findings are important for social workers to help transition to  adulthood successfully.