The educational progress of young people in out-of-home care

The educational outcomes of children in out-of-home-care (OOHC) continue to be a major concern in all the countries in which relevant data are collected (e.g., Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2015; Courtney, Charles, Okpych, Napolitano, and Halsted, 2014; Flynn, Tessier, and Coulombe, 2013; Pecora, 2012; Rutman and Hubberstey, 2016). The concerns extend beyond education since it is well established that educational outcomes are strongly linked to subsequent employment (Hook and Courtney, 2011), housing (Davison and Burris, 2014), mental and physical health (Dixon, 2008) and offending (Cusick, Havlicek, and Courtney, 2012). More positively, Okpych and Courtney (2014) have demonstrated that better educational outcomes predict higher earnings and greater likelihood of employment in youth transitioning from care. What are less clear are the factors that facilitate or limit educational progress for these young people. This paper discusses the implications for practice of the findings of a major study in England that linked care and educational factors (Sebba et al., 2015).