Transition to adulthood. Learning from young adults through the exploratory use of multiple methods

This chapter discusses a study in Lombardy, Northern Italy, involving care leavers, i.e. young people who came of age while living in fosterage (children’s homes and/or foster families), and had experienced professional intervention in their lives (social workers, in-home assistants, special educators, psychotherapists, etc.). The research is based on the use of multiple methods (critical quantitative research, auto/biographical methods and cooperative inquiry) to explore the transition to adulthood in distressed lives and to interrogate the learning processes occurring amidst the foster care system.