Understanding interdependence in early adulthoods: Learning from care experienced young people who participated in Lifelong Links

哲学家朱迪思·巴特勒（Judith Butler）写道：“只有在有足够的支持来行使自由的情况下，自由才能得到行使。”这一观点支撑着这个令人兴奋的博士机会的焦点。我们生活在这样一个时期，年轻人在向成年早期过渡的过程中面临越来越多的挑战和不确定性，涉及教育、住房和就业等领域。对于年轻人来说，如果他们有能力的话，依靠家庭在情感、实际和经济上的支持已经变得越来越普遍。与此同时，当家庭生活困难时，年轻人往往在提供照顾和支持方面发挥关键作用。当代社会的这些模式对接受护理的年轻人有着特别尖锐的影响，他们在离开护理后往往面临着突然和加速的向独立的过渡。迫切需要更好地理解对有护理经验的年轻人的相互依赖和支持，以及随着时间的推移，日常生活中正式和非正式支持来源相互交叉的方式。这是博士课程的重点，它采用混合方法来研究年轻人生活中的相互支持、关怀和联系。该项目与国家组织家庭权利组织合作，为进行全额资助的博士学位创造了独特的机会，除了津贴外，还提供相关的带薪工作经验。这项计划中的研究建立在一个名为“终生联系”的项目上，该项目是由家庭权利组织开发的，目的是确保被照顾的儿童有一个积极的支持网络。项目目的和目标本研究的首要目的是了解经历过护理的年轻人在成年早期生活中相互依赖的本质。该项目将采用混合方法。最终的研究设计将由成功的候选人与他们在苏塞克斯和家庭权利组织的导师一起完善和发展，但这项工作将解决三个核心目标：1。通过进行政策和文献审查，确立政策背景并为研究建立理论和概念框架；2. 通过分析一个终身链接区域内的地方当局数据，定量记录与终身链接合作的年轻人的路径；, 3。通过对参与终身联系的年轻人样本进行深入访谈，阐明对相互依赖和关系自我的理解。

'Freedom can only be exercised if there is enough support for the exercise of freedom', wrote the philosopher Judith Butler - an idea that underpins the focus of this exciting PhD opportunity. We live in a period when young people face increasing challenges and uncertainties in their transitions into early adulthoods, spanning areas including education, housing and employment. It has become more common for young adults to rely on family for emotional, practical and financial support, if they are able to do so. At the same time, when families are living in difficult circumstances, young people often play a key role in providing care and support. These patterns in contemporary society have particularly sharp implications for young people who have been in care, who often face abrupt and accelerated transitions into independence after leaving care. There is an urgent need to build better understandings of interdependencies and support for young adults with care experience, and of the ways in which formal and informal sources of support intersect in everyday lives over time. This is the focus of the PhD, which takes a mixed methods approach to studying mutual support, care and connections in young adult lives. This project creates a unique opportunity to conduct a fully-funded PhD, with linked paid work experience in addition to the stipend, in collaboration with the national organisation Family Rights Group. The planned research builds on a programme called Lifelong Links, which was developed by Family Rights Group with the aim of ensuring that children in care have a positive support network. Project aims and objectivesThe over-arching aim of the research is to understand the nature of interdependency in the lives of care experienced young people as they navigate early adulthoods. The project will employ a mixed methods approach. The final research design will be refined and developed by successful candidate, working with their supervisors at Sussex and Family Rights Group, but the work will address three core objectives: 1. Establishing the policy context and building a theoretical and conceptual framework for the research, by conducting a policy and literature review; 2. Documenting quantitively the pathways of young adults who have worked with Lifelong Links, through analysis of local authority data within one Lifelong Links area; and,3. Illuminating understandings of interdependency and relational selves, by conducting in-depth interviews with a sample of young adults who participated in Lifelong Links.