Help with the tran­si­tion from care to life

Imagine that your son or daugh­ter had to leave home at the age of 18 and were not allo­wed to return or ask their parents for advice. Young adults who have spent part of their child­hood in a care home or foster family have a simi­lar expe­ri­ence: When they reach adult age, they have to leave behind resi­den­tial youth welfare services. The ‘care leavers’ suddenly have to run their own lives. They have to look for housing, earn a living and apply for scho­lar­ships while coping with rela­ti­onship crises, exam fears and finan­cial worries on their own. The tran­si­tion to self-employ­ment is a chall­enge for most young people, but even more so for care leavers, as they do not have a stable social network. Former points of cont­act such as coun­sell­ors and social workers are no longer respon­si­ble for them after they move from youth to adulthood. 

No equal opportunities

This is compoun­ded by the fact that there is no Switz­er­land-wide law on child and youth welfare and the canto­nal provi­si­ons vary widely. While in the cantons of Zurich, Basel, Lucerne and Bern, it is possi­ble to remain in a care home until the age of 25 in order to complete initial trai­ning or educa­tion, it comes to an end at 18 in all other cantons. ‘There are no equal oppor­tu­ni­ties for care leavers,’ says Miriam Halter, Presi­dent of Care­leaver Switz­er­land, summa­ri­sing the situa­tion. Often, young people do not choose the kind of educa­tion or trai­ning they would like to under­take. Instead, they opt for whiche­ver allows them to earn money as quickly as possi­ble. And often the only route available to them is the one to the social welfare office, as their parents can’t or don’t want to make any contributions.

Care­leaver Switz­er­land aims to draw public and profes­sio­nal atten­tion to the chal­len­ging situa­tion for care leavers and the syste­mic gaps in care after resi­den­tial youth welfare services come to an end. The asso­cia­tion was foun­ded in 2021 as the result of a rese­arch project by the Univer­sity of Applied Scien­ces and Arts Northwes­tern Switz­er­land and the Zurich Univer­sity of Applied Scien­ces, in which seve­ral former resi­dents of care homes and people who had been placed with foster fami­lies took part. As a result, regio­nal networks were formed in the regi­ons of Zurich, Basel, Bern and Central Switz­er­land. These are now under the umbrella of Care­leaver Switz­er­land. ‘As the umbrella orga­ni­sa­tion, we handle the admi­nis­tra­tive work so that the regio­nal networks can focus enti­rely on their members,’ says Miriam Halter. The networks offer indi­vi­dual support on issues such as housing, finance and profes­sio­nal trai­ning. Regio­nal networ­king events are central to this. These allow care leavers to exch­ange ideas, share their expe­ri­en­ces and spend time together. 

Peers share their experiences

Miriam Halter, like all members of the umbrella orga­ni­sa­tion and the regio­nal networks, is a former care leaver hers­elf. ‘We are available as peers who can help based on perso­nal care expe­ri­en­ces. Some of us also have specia­list trai­ning, but this is not the main focus,’ says the 40-year-old. Most of the work is done on a volun­t­ary basis, along­side work and family. ‘In my expe­ri­ence, care leavers have a great need to help others,’ says Halter, who heads the network in Central Switz­er­land in addi­tion to her role as presi­dent. Nevert­hel­ess, Care­leaver Switz­er­land and the regio­nal networks find it diffi­cult to find people to commit in the long term. In addi­tion to time cons­traints, members also deal with emotio­nal strain, as they are confron­ted with their own past when provi­ding support: ‘I am always deal­ing with young people who tell me my own life story, so to speak. I some­ti­mes wonder when the legal impro­ve­ments from the past 20 years will be imple­men­ted in practice.’ 

Streng­thening Careleaver

The asso­cia­tion actually hopes to grow further, estab­lish new networks outside German-spea­king Switz­er­land and conti­nue projects such as Care­leaver Support, which will provide future care leavers with a star­ter package. Howe­ver, with current resour­ces, expan­sion is extre­mely diffi­cult, accor­ding to Halter. Moti­va­tion comes from the succes­ses the asso­cia­tion has notched up in the few years it has exis­ted: The Zürich regio­nal network now recei­ves subsi­dies from the canton; the other networks are finan­ced by foun­da­ti­ons. Basel-Stadt recently became the first canton to reco­g­nise care leaver status: This allows those affec­ted to submit appli­ca­ti­ons for funding or other state support without having to present docu­ments or signa­tures from their parents. Poli­ti­ci­ans have also reco­g­nised the needs of care leavers: In 2023, for exam­ple, SP Natio­nal Coun­cil­lor Sarah Wyss submit­ted a postu­late reques­t­ing propo­sals from the Fede­ral Coun­cil on how to improve funding for care leavers’ living needs during their trai­ning and educa­tion up to the age of 25. The postu­late was rejec­ted by the Natio­nal Coun­cil, but only by a very narrow margin of five votes. Despite the rejec­tion, this is a posi­tive sign that the need is reco­g­nised at all levels, accor­ding to Miriam Halter: ‘In the short time we have been present in Switz­er­land, we have achie­ved a great deal to alle­viate the stigma for care leavers. This work to raise aware­ness is very important to us: Many people still believe that child­ren in care homes and foster fami­lies are them­sel­ves respon­si­ble for their situa­tion due to beha­viou­ral issues. But it’s actually the parents who have the problems.’