Most families continue to support their children when they turn 18. They provide ongoing accommodation, money, food, clothing, health care, assistance with the cost of education or employment training, and emotional support.
In contrast, young people leaving state out-of-home care are expected to transition to virtually instant independence with little if any ongoing support from their state parents.
Leaving care is formally defined as the cessation of legal responsibility by the state for young people living in out-of-home care. But in practice, leaving care is a major life event and process.
Care leavers are not a homogeneous group. But compared to most young people, they face particular difficulties in accessing education, employment, housing and other developmental and transitional opportunities.
I first came across this problem as a young social work graduate working in child protection in the late 1980s. Young people living in residential care were often subjected to a regimented rule structure which limited their individual choices and development of life skills, and encouraged dependence. Even going to a friend's house to stay overnight required a formal letter signed by a manager from head office.
Yet when these young people turned 17 or 18, they were suddenly informed that their care order had finished, and they had gained their independence.
Some welcomed their newfound freedom and moved successfully into mainstream society. But others had limited skills in areas such as reading and writing, finances, cooking, and sexual knowledge. Many ended up homeless. Others developed severe mental health issues or drug and alcohol addiction, became involved in crime or street sex work, or gave birth to children at a very young age, who also ended up in state care.
But care leavers in those days enjoyed some advantages over contemporary young people. There was at least a limited youth labour market. I remember one young man with a slight intellectual disability who was placed in an apprenticeship with a leading department store. He was not bright, but he was strong and had a good work ethic.
Affordable housing was more readily available, and there were greater resources to prepare young people for the transition to adulthood. Perhaps this reflected the much smaller numbers of children in care in the 1980s.
Care leavers today seem to have it tougher. Many of the 20 care leavers interviewed for a Monash University study by Badal Moslehuddin and myself have experienced housing instability, poor educational