They’re Just Doing It for the Money

Digital Life Story Work: Linking Identity and Security for Young People in Out-of-Home Care

“…In Australia, there are over 46,000 children and young people in Out-Of-Home Care (OOHC) who are unable to live safely with their families (AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare), 2023). The key obstacles faced by these young people during and after placement are trauma, placement instability, separation from siblings, high caseworker turnover, and later, difficulties transitioning out of Care into independent life (Musgrove and Michell 2018). While the system aims to resolve family issues so individuals can return to their birth families, in practice, those problems can be difficult to overcome, resulting in many children and young people remaining in care for extended periods, often with multiple foster families (Kontomichalos-Eyre et al 2023).…”

“…The sector, as a whole, widely acknowledges the importance of LSW (Rose 2012;Hammond et al 2020). Yet despite commitments from organisations to integrate LSW into Care plans, efforts continue to be compromised by placement instability, the loss of personal belongings and a de-prioritisation of personal record-keeping during times of crisis (Rose 2012;Musgrove and Michell 2018;Deitz and Burns 2022). It is also well understood by both practitioners and scholars working in OOHC that while LSW remains an effective narrative tool, there is a persistent need to improve and innovate on current approaches, especially in light of the ever-growing body of research that demonstrates the impact of disruption.…”