Out-of-Home-Care (OOHC) Digital Lives: A Collaborative Investigation into Digital Opportunities for the Personal Narratives of Young People in Care

It is well understood that the ability to capture and store personal records and memorabilia such as photographs, journals and memory boxes is critical for young people in Out-Of-Home Care (OOHC). These materials represent anchors in a young person's 'story of the self' and can be integral to ongoing life story work which aims to support positive identity, belonging and resilience for those in care by helping them document their personal histories. To date, most life story work has been oriented around hard copy systems that are reliant on carers to keep and maintain. This research explores the role a digital platform can play in supporting the collection and maintenance of a young person in care's personal archiving practices. Building on foundational studies that demonstrate the critical role of life story work in supporting a person in care's self-knowing, but which also acknowledge the challenges within the sector that can impede effective record keeping, it argues for the benefits of using digital formats in conjunction with more traditional methods for personal memory keeping work. Our report, Out of Home Care Digital Lives, documents and presents the findings from research undertaken between October 2018 and mid 2021 that canvassed a cross-section of issues that impact and shape the way life story work is undertaken in the sector and the opportunities for incorporating digital methods and platforms. It includes interviews and survey responses from a range of OOHC stakeholders, including young people, carers and agency staff, that examine the critical role of personal record keeping in fostering positive identity and self-understanding, and the conditions that are required to encourage the commencement and continuation of such practices, especially in times of chronic disruption. Critically, the report includes a case study analysis of stakeholders' experience of a well-known hard-copy life storying resource called My Life Story, developed by the NSW Department of Family & Community Services (formerly the Department of Families and Community Services) in 2004. It compares this to an Australian digital life story app called CaringLife (2019) developed by Victorian company Nautilus Media for young people in the OOHC sector. Life story books are seen as a product of wider life story work: while there is no single definition of life story work, it is based on theories of attachment and loss and aims to help children understand their time in care (Watson, Hahn and Staines, 2020). There is substantial variation across Australia in how life story work is undertaken, and variations within states (Campbell 2009; Harper, 1996; Willis & Holland, 2009). The report draws on interviews with people who have used My Life Story and CaringLife, including young people in OOHC and their case workers to show that the therapeutic benefits of life story work (Rose, 2012) can be extended to the digital sphere. Working in partnership with Nautilus Media, our work shows that digital communication tools oriented around memory keeping and life story work can ultimately help young people in OOHC experience ownership and self-efficacy, develop a greater sense of belonging and identity, and contribute to long-term mental health and social and cultural wellbeing. The digital depository can also improve service delivery for case managers and support practitioners by securing ongoing bonds of engagement and supporting better use of technology to promote resilience for young people in OOHC. The findings contribute to a growing body of theoretical and experiential knowledge about the positive impact of life-story record keeping on OOHC young people's experience and expression of agency, autonomy and identity. Our report concludes with a series of recommendations that aim to improve the outcomes and experiences of OOHC youth and provide the basis for an integrated and comprehensive response across all states and territories.