COUV ACTES - Psychologie communautaire

Community Psychology: Common Values, Diverse PracticesTransition to adulthood: a study in Franceby Marie Plagès 1 and Didier Drieu 2There’s little known about leaving care in France, youth can be under care from 0 to 21 maximum. A first studyrun on the institutional files of 2 cohorts of youth who have been in care has shown that most of them leave careat age 18. But we don’t know where they are after 18. Most of the studies which focuss on this topic are based onretrospective data collected among people who have left care for several years. Besides some memory andreconstruction biases, this kind of approach tends to leave out the most and the less integrated people.The INED (Institut National des Etudes Démographiques) studies this period, we are currently working on thefeasibility survey. It consists in a specific study about transition to adulthood. The objective of ELAP project is toovercome theses limits following up a representative sample of youth from care settings to autonomy. In order toevaluate the feasibility of this quite challenging project, we are currently implementing a feasibility survey.A come back on the context shows that several elements indicate a high risk of social exclusion. In fact,qualitative studies shed light on difficult years following leaving care : a quantative survey among young users ofemergency services & housing for the rehabilitation of homeless shows that 1/3 of them have been in care. So, itexist, a strong social demand to know more about this issue. From the government: Appointment of a highcommissioner for active solidarity against poverty (in 2007) and for young people (in 2009) ; from theprofessionals: children juges, social workers, educative team ; from the youth in care themselves!The ELAP project is a longitudinal prospective survey, based on a representative random sample of 1000 youthdrawn from the Child Welfare database.The are 3 waves of data collection:(From age 17, when youth are still in care to age 23, when the most criticalperiod is over, with several contacts in between). Focusing on youth’s leaving care, conditions of living, transitionto autonomy (Access to residential autonomy and employment, family and social networks, access to healthservices…). At the end of 2010, we hope begin the longitudinal study.In France we try to think about the links between institutions, we notice a lack of link around these youths. I thinkthe reason can be the institution’s history.- In Medico social institutions, the foundations have a history of social hygienism: and we observe an absence ofmediating links between family, institutions and youths.- In Psychiatric institutions, there was a lack of speciality services for teenagers before 2005. Psychiatry wasisolated from the medico social institutions.1psychologue clinicienne au Centre Médico-Psychologique de Pont-Audemer, chercheur (CERReV, INED)2Maître de conférences en psychologie clinique et pathologique, CERReV, Université de Caen – Psychologue psychanalyse de groupeCentre de Guidance ACSEA325