Young People and Parenting Obligations of the State: Implications for Higher Education in Australia (1st ed. 2023)

By: Emma Colvin and Elizabeth Knight

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Synopsis: 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.