“I Still Need Help”: Stories of Unacknowledged Loss and Missed Opportunities Among Middle-Aged Adults Who Aged out of Group Home Care

Background and Purpose:
Research on adults with histories of out-of-home care often emphasizes early transition outcomes such as housing, education, and employment. Far less attention has been paid to experiences in middle and later adulthood, including whether individuals feel emotionally recovered from family- and youth protection-related hardships. Guided by life course and trauma-informed perspectives, this study examines perceived emotional recovery and ongoing support needs among adults who aged out of group home care.

Methods:
This mixed-methods study drew on survey data from 41 adults aged 30 and older who had aged out of group home care in childhood. Sixteen participants also completed in-depth qualitative narrative interviews about their care histories and current well-being using a strengths-based peer interviewing approach conducted by a lived-experience scholar. Survey analyses examined self-reported emotional recovery and current support needs. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically and interpreted through a life course framework.

Results:
A majority of participants (53%) reported that they do not feel emotionally recovered from family and/or youth protection-related hardships. Among reported current support needs, psychotherapy (61%) was the most common, followed by financial support (41%) and health-related supports (39%), and parenting support (15%); only a minority (20%) reported needing no support. Qualitative narratives described healing as nonlinear, partial, and frequently reactivated across adulthood. For some participants, parenthood, intimate relationships, post-care experience of violence, reproductive experiences, and health concerns reopened unresolved wounds. Participants also described missed opportunities for intervention while in care, including inadequate therapy, medical neglect, limited preparation for adult life, and institutional environments in which they did not feel seen, heard, or cared for.

Conclusions and Implications:
Findings highlight that the impacts of group care extend well beyond the transition to adulthood and into midlife. They challenge the assumption that recovery naturally follows aging out or adult role attainment. For many participants, healing remained an ongoing process shaped by earlier institutional failures and present-day access to support. Social work practice and policy should move beyond short-term transition planning and invest in sustained, relational, trauma-informed supports accessible across the life course.