The transition to adulthood and independent living is a challenging time for many young people. Thankfully, most have their families to fall back on when life doesn’t go exactly to plan. Young people who have grown up in public care usually don’t have that luxury. And too often state support is removed, or cut back when a young person turns 18. The consequences can be devastating not only for the young people involved but for society as a whole.

The availability of ‘aftercare’ - state support for young people who have left care - varies between and within European countries in terms of availability and quality. The COVID-19 pandemic and its containment measures have only accentuated the challenges these young people face.

Having postponed our conference earlier this year in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the CarePath partnership is happy to announce that our project’s final conference will once again go ahead, online, with a new date set for 13 October 2020. The conference, titled: “Aftercare for Care Leavers: Learning lessons from across Europe”, and will be hosted by CarePath partner Eurochild.

The CarePath partnership has launched the CarePath Integrated Service Provision Mechanism for stakeholders and professionals working with children leaving care. The Mechanism includes various types of organisations, including public authorities, non-governmental organisations, social services, child protection agencies, psychotherapists psychosocial support providers and healthcare professionals. The Mechanism lists these services in the four countries of the project: Italy, Belgium, Hungary and Greece.