Relevance of the social support network for the emancipation of young adults leaving residential care

Abstract

Introduction: This work studies the situation of young people after leaving residential care when they become of age. We have analysed, specifically, one of the most relevant factors for the emancipation: the perception of the social support network.

Method: This is a descriptive quantitative study. To this end, a questionnaire (C4) was created and validated with experts, it has open and closed questions distributed in eight dimensions: housing and accommodation, family, social and affective relations, health, training, labour integration and economic management and residential life. The participants of the study are included in the Preparation Plan for Independent Living of the Community of Madrid and are equivalent to the 70% of the total population.

Results: The results show that the social network comes from the centre and other care institutions, followed by friends from the neighbourhood and schools and high schools; there are some cases of social isolation. In regard of the social support that they identify, they perceive help from educators and friends, to a lesser extent from the family, whose support is mainly material, and from the couple; both being valued as unstable sources of help. New networks appear with the creation of a new family through maternity, considering that it undermines their autonomy much more than it facilitates it. The quality of the relationships with those who live with them has special relevance in their subjective well-being evaluation.

Discussion or Conclusion: Young people look up for figures who have a real interest in their lives, people who listen to them and accompany them with relative independence of the context from which they come: family, community, school, residential, etc. Therefore, with regard to educational intervention, facilitating interdependence and working towards the attainment and maintenance of a social network, even if it is made up of only one or two people, are guarantees of a satisfactory intervention that favours their well-being.