Co-production of Care Leavers' Transition Planning as Young Adults: An Analysis of Young People in California Foster Care

The co-production of transition planning (i.e. care leavers having opportunities to influence decisions about their lives) is recognised as an important process internationally. However, little is known about factors influencing care leavers' involvement in transition planning. This study uses a sample of care leavers in California (n = 423) and multiple data sources, including youth-worker matched data, to investigate predictors of transitional independent living plan (TILP) involvement. The outcome measures the mechanisms care leavers experienced during their TILP process, including worker-driven production (i.e. not aware of or not involved), youth-driven co-production (i.e. involved in and led) and youth-worker co-production (i.e. involved in but did not lead). Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine relationships between predictors measured at age 17 and TILP involvement mechanisms at age 19. Most youth led (44 per cent) or were involved in (43 per cent) TILP planning, but 14 per cent were not aware or uninvolved. Care leavers' opportunities to influence their TILP were shaped by their individual (e.g. personality and support networks), relational (e.g. caseworker's perception of youth's preparedness) and contextual (e.g. regional service availability) factors. Notably, youth served by specialised caseworkers were more likely to experience youth-worker co-production than youth-driven co-production. Implications for practice and research are discussed. Meaningfully involving care leavers in decisions about their future is an important human right that may ease the transition from foster care to adulthood. Although US policies mandate care leavers' involvement in their transition plan development, participation is not universal. This study included 423 care leavers in one large US state and investigated different factors that influence youths' involvement in transition planning. We found that most youth led their transition planning (44 per cent) or were involved in but did not lead their planning (43 per cent). Still, about 14 per cent of youth reported that they were uninvolved or unaware of their transition planning. Several factors were found to increase care leavers' involvement (led or involved) in their transition planning, such as having more social support, being perceived by their caseworker as being better prepared for the transition to adulthood and having a caseworker who specialised in serving older youth in foster care. More support services and training available for care leavers in their county was also a consistent predictor of increased involvement. Our findings underscore the importance of engaging youth early in their transition planning and draw attention to the role that specialised workers and robust support services play in their transition planning involvement.