The National Centre for Healthy Ageing-led review, in partnership with Monash University, has explored key issues facing the more than 500,000 older care leavers who are transitioning into the aged care support system, underscoring the importance of incorporating the voices and diverse experiences of care leavers into research to inform policy and practice.
Older care leavers, sometimes referred to as ‘forgotten Australians’, are individuals who have spent parts of their lives in out-of-home care, including orphanages, children’s homes or foster care.
Through examining Australian and international literature on older care leavers’ perceptions of and experiences with aged care services, including their specific fears and anxieties about institutional aged care, the review found older care leavers would prefer to remain in and receive support at home, maintaining the familiar comforts of their own homes and reducing their levels of distress regarding the prospect of reentering institutionalised care environments.
:format():fill()){kind=logo}