Young people who spend unauthorised time away from care: A scoping review

Child protection systems in Australia and elsewhere are increasingly concerned about the safety and wellbeing of children and young people during time spent away from their out-of-home care (OOHC) placements without permission from their workers or carers. To better understand the nature of existing literature, we conducted a scoping review to identify the characteristics of children and young people who ‘self-place’, the reasons for them spending time away and their needs and experiences during such periods. Our review covered international academic and grey literature written in English and published between 2013–2023. A total of 24 peer reviewed studies and seven grey literature reports were included in the sample. The findings reveal that young people often spend unauthorised time away from their placement seeking safety, stability, connection and belonging and autonomy – needs which they believe are often compromised during their time in care. This paper contributes to understanding the needs and experiences of young people who spend unauthorised time away from their designated placement, while pointing to several systemic inadequacies that influence their decisions to leave and the types of response they receive while away. Challenging the simplistic ‘push-pull’ narrative, we suggest that spending time away from placement is ultimately a strategy utilised by young people to get their needs met and is often an act of resistance against a system that exerts control over their lives. The review highlights the importance of practices that improve young people’s experiences while in care, thus reducing their felt need to spend time away. It also advocates for a better understanding of the needs and experiences of young people whilst away and a consistency of service offerings to better meet their needs. Since literature recognises the value of engaging young people in designing and shaping the nature of research and its focus, further youth-informed studies are required to better understand their experiences.