Young People and Parenting Obligations of the State: Implications for Higher Education in Australia

This book explores how the increasing need for specific kinds of parental engagement impacts care-experienced young peoples' trajectories. Previous Australian studies have found that care-experienced young people demonstrate poorer outcomes in health, education, and the criminal justice system throughout their life course. However, this multi-layered case study is the first to specifically address barriers in obtaining higher education--an effective tool for social mobility. In particular, the authors unpack how university marketing relies on young people to have a parent who understands tertiary education transitions to help them navigate post-school pathways to careers or higher education, as well as how policies might fail to help students who do not have such a figure in their lives. The authors offer suggestions for policy change in Australia while providing a basis for global comparisons and recommendations for how care-experienced young people and their support networks can overcome present challenges.