From Cliff Edge to Foundation

When young people leave the care system in Wales, many face a brutal reality: on their 18th birthday, they may be required to present as homeless before accessing housing support. This “cliff edge” isn’t just a policy detail — it’s an experience that cuts to the heart of what it means to feel safe, to belong, and to call somewhere home.

I am also standing at the beginning of something new: the start of my PhD. This is a key change in my own life and work, and it feels fitting that my research will focus on the cliff edge of change for care leavers themselves.

Why Now

There is growing awareness in Wales about the cliff edge, but solutions have not kept pace. Too often, young people step into adulthood without the grounding of a safe place to live.

Elsewhere, different approaches exist. Finland’s Housing First model treats housing not as a reward for stability, but as the foundation for it. Housing is the starting point, not the end goal. This contrast is where my research begins.

Why Me

I come to this PhD as a practitioner who has worked alongside care leavers and in residential care. I carry their stories with me: moments of hope and resilience, but also the sharp pain of feeling unsafe or unwanted.

That makes the work deeply personal, but also deeply political. I want to bring practice and research together — building knowledge that is rigorous and useful for policy and practice.

The Research

Over the next three years, my PhD will explore:

How do care leavers in Wales and Finland experience home and belonging as they transition into adulthood?

What are the emotional and psychological impacts of the “cliff edge” in Wales?

How does Finland’s preventative approach compare, and what lessons might be drawn for Wales?

At its heart, this is about lived experience — the ways safety, belonging and home are felt or undermined — and about policy imagination: how systems can anchor young people, or push them into insecurity.

The Concepts I’m Carrying

Four ideas shape my starting point:

Home – more than bricks and mortar; a place of safety and recognition.

Belonging – being seen, valued, connected.

Safety – both physical and emotional.

The cliff edge – the rupture many care leavers face when formal support falls away too suddenly.

These aren’t abstract ideas; they are daily realities. My task is to ground them in evidence, theory and comparative policy analysis, while staying rooted in the voices of young people themselves.

Why This Matters

For policy makers, this research is a chance to listen differently. Wales could design care leaving policy that doesn’t force young people into crisis before offering support. By looking outward — to Finland and beyond — we can see that alternatives are possible.

For practice, it means reshaping transition: not as a moment when services withdraw, but as a time when stability and compassion are most needed.

And for young people, I hope this work contributes to change that is tangible. Research should not only describe problems — it should spark ideas, shift conversations, and help to build a fairer system.

Looking Ahead

Beginning a PhD feels like standing at the edge of something new. The path will involve deep reading, fieldwork, and more questions than answers. But the urgency of the issue — the voices of young people at the cliff edge — will keep me anchored.

Because for care leavers, home shouldn’t be a cliff edge. It should be the foundation.