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Multiple organisations support young people, with Child Protection and the residential provider consistently involved, yet role responsibility is interpreted variably. Transition planning is treated as a task-oriented process focused on housing, basic needs, and life skills. Variation in documentation shapes implementation, and young people generally leave at 16–17 with limited long-term pathways. Findings recommend strengthening role clarity, building shared understanding of core components, and aligning processes with developmental readiness, with further research 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data sources were used in this mixed-methods study?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"The study used 46 interviews, 105 surveys, and 95 transition plan documents.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"Which organisations were consistently involved in transition planning?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"Child Protection and the residential care provider were consistently involved from the perspectives captured.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How was transition planning conceptualised and implemented in practice?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Transition planning was conceptualised as a task-oriented process focused on securing housing, meeting basic needs, and developing life skills, with implementation shaped by system-driven documentation and additional tools.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},240791,1789165720,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,88,93,98,103,108,113,118,123],{"id":84,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":89,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":94,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":99,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":104,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},16,"Social 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2025  \nVolume 47 Issue 2  \nHISTORY  \nRECEIVED: 5 March 2025  \nREVISED: 13 August 2025  \nACCEPTED: 14 August 2025  \nExploration phase: Improving transition planning in residential out-of-home care  \nHayley Wainwright 1 *  \nHelen Skouteris 1  \nAngela Melder 1,2  \nSarah Morris3  \nNick Halfpenny4  \nHeather Morris 1  \nAffiliations  \n1 Health and Social Care Unit, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia  \n2 Present address: Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld 4059, Australia  \n3 Department of Social Work, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3073, Australia  \n4 MacKillop Family Services, Melbourne, Vic. 3205, Australia  \nCorrespondence  \n* Hayley Wainwright [hayley.wainwright@monash.edu](hayley.wainwright@monash.edu)  \nCITATION: Wainwright, H., Skouteris, H., Melder, A., Morris, S., Halfpenny, N., & Morris, H. (2025) . Exploration phase: Improving transition planning in residential out-of-home care. Children Australia, 47(2), [3054.](3054. doi.org/10.61605/cha_3054)[ doi.org/10.61605/cha_3054](3054. doi.org/10.61605/cha_3054)  \n© 2025 Wainwright, H., Skouteris, H., Melder, A., Morris, S., Halfpenny, N., & Morris, H. This work is licensed under the terms of a  \nCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence  \nAbstract  \nThis mixed-methods study explored how transition planning is implemented in Victoria, Australia, from the perspectives of young people, residential out-of-home care staff and cross-sector staff. Data were collected from 46 interviews, 105 surveys and 95 transition plan documents. The study explored who participates in transition planning, how it is conceptualised and implemented in practice and differences across demographic contexts. Findings revealed that young people receive support from multiple organisations, with Child Protection (the government agency responsible for child welfare) and the residential care provider consistently involved. However, interpretations of who holds primary responsibility varied across the workforce, and young people’s participation typically occurred indirectly through informal conversations rather than through formal goal-setting processes. Transition planning was conceptualised asa task-oriented process focused on securing housing, meeting basic needs and developing life skills, with significant variation in how it was understood across demographic contexts. Implementation was shaped by system-driven transition plan documentation, supplemented with multiple documents and bespoke tools to address young people’s diverse needs. Young people typically exited residential care between the ages of 16 and 17 years, with limited long-term pathways out of care. Their readiness to leave residential care was determined by the Child Protection agency, which holds legal guardianship of young people in residential care to age 18. The  \nfindings highlight the need for policy and practice improvements to: (1) strengthen role clarity; (2) develop a shared understanding of core transition planning components; and (3) align transition planning processes with young people’s developmental readiness. Further research is needed to explore how transition planning can be enhanced to better meet young people’s diverse needs.  \nKeywords:  \ncare leavers, innovation, out-of-home care, plan, residential care, transition from care.  \nIntroduction  \nIn Australia, approximately 45,000 children and young people are in out-of-home care (OOHC), with 4,300 residing in residential care, which is a group home composed mostly of young people aged 12–17 years (AIHW, 2024). Young people must leave residential care no later than their 18th birthday because their child ","cbCaif14Ct0Hpvql","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaif14Ct0Hpvql","pdf",672020,19,"English","# Introduction\n## Out-of-home care and the need for transition planning\n## Factors supporting successful transitions from care\n## Relational and system factors influencing transitions","[{\"question\":\"What data sources were used in this mixed-methods study?\",\"answer\":\"The study used 46 interviews, 105 surveys, and 95 transition plan documents.\"},{\"question\":\"Which organisations were consistently involved in transition planning?\",\"answer\":\"Child Protection and the residential care provider were consistently involved from the perspectives captured.\"},{\"question\":\"How was transition planning conceptualised and implemented in practice?\",\"answer\":\"Transition planning was conceptualised as a task-oriented process focused on securing housing, meeting basic needs, and developing life skills, with implementation shaped by system-driven documentation and additional tools.\"}]","Exploration phase - Improving transition planning in residential out-of-home care | PDF",7]