‘It Was Like Starting to Walk all Over Again’: Navigating Transitions in Care Among Caregivers and Their Family Members With Intellectual Disability—An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

People with intellectual disabilities often move from their family home to residential care in mid to later life. Although research on ageing within this population exists, later‐life transitions remain an underexplored area. Evidence on residential moves among people with intellectual disabilities remains limited. Notably, the voices of families of people with intellectual disabilities are largely absent from the evidence base. In response to this gap, this paper explores transitions from the perspective of family caregivers focusing on the factors that led families to seek residential care for a family member with an intellectual disability. To address this aim, an interpretive phenomenological approach was adopted. A purposive sample of seven caregivers was recruited from a waiting list for a permanent residential placement for a family member. Separate individual interviews were conducted, with concurrent analysis focussing on participants’ experiences and interpretations. The findings identified what precipitating experiences influenced families’ decision to seek residential care. Caregivers had adapted to multiple life transitions, such as bereavement, health and growing older, while adapting to increasingly demanding caregiving roles. These transitions represented both losses and gains as families worked to meet changing needs. The findings also spotlighted how family dynamics and constrained statutory services shaped this transitional period. The study highlights a lack of policy and service provisions which support families to navigate the daily or extraordinary challenges that could initiate a residential transition. Limited community supports and residential spaces are leading to crisis‐driven rather than planned and person‐centred transitions. Immediate macrolevel engagement is required to plan for future demands and reduce unplanned, crisis‐led relocations into residential care.