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No Home Away from Home: A Qualitative Study of Care Leavers' Perceptions and Experiences of ‘Home’
Citation
Natalier, K and Johnson, G, No Home Away from Home: A Qualitative Study of Care Leavers' Perceptions and Experiences of Home', Housing Studies, 30, (1) pp. 123-138. ISSN 0267-3037 (2015) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2014 Taylor & Francis
DOI: doi:10.1080/02673037.2014.943698
Abstract
This paper explores the cultural and biographical specificity of home by examining the
connections between young people’s experiences of out-of-home care and their definitions of home.
The paper draws on 77 in-depth interviews with young people who had lived away from their families
in the Australian out-of-home care system. The paper applies a psycho-social conceptualisation of
‘home’ to argue that home was a crucial symbol through which these young people imagined a less
challenging future and claimed identities of ‘being normal’. The majority remembered their time in
out-of-home care as a time of instability and insecurity in terms of both housing and relationships;
they did not feel at home in these contexts. These histories informed young people’s experiences and imagining of home and their sense of identity within and after out-of-home care, as they defined
home as fundamentally different from out-of-home care. Their definitions incorporated shelter,
emotional well-being, control, routine, caring relationships and stability.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | Home, out-of-home care, foster care, placement instability, ontological security |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Sociology |
Research Field: | Sociology not elsewhere classified |
Objective Division: | Health |
Objective Group: | Other health |
Objective Field: | Other health not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Natalier, K (Dr Kristin Natalier) |
ID Code: | 97286 |
Year Published: | 2015 (online first 2014) |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 6 |
Deposited By: | School of Social Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2014-12-10 |
Last Modified: | 2018-04-06 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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