In this paper we approach youth transition from child protection system to independent adulthood as a social problem. Both youth from foster and residential care face different challenges when aging out of care. Many recent studies bring relevant data that regarding that these youth represent a vulnerable group in the society. We acknowledged the main difficulties youth encounter in the process and some possible solutions for changing the problem. We studied two groups directly involved in the problem – the youth’s and the carers’ opinions regarding difficulties (as a part of the problem) and required support (as a part of the solution). There were involved 85 youth from foster and residential care and 78 adults (foster carers/ parents). The first part of the paper addresses to the theoretical approach of social problems and the second part – the data collected from participants (using questionnaires and interviews). Possible suggestions for effective policies are presented.
Keywords: youth, transition, care, social problem
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