Independence through a safety net: aftercare experiences of young adults with cross-cultural backgrounds in the child welfare services

This article explores how young adults with cross-cultural backgrounds experience aftercare support from the Norwegian child welfare services, and how such support shapes their transitions to adulthood. Drawing on the Capabilities Approach, the study applies reflexive thematic analysis to analyze in-depth interviews with ten young adults aged 19–23 who received aftercare. Findings show that accessible, responsive and context-aware aftercare, enabled engagement with the CWS, management of everyday life and the development of independence through a reliable safety net. Conversely, age-focused, bureaucratic or culturally inattentive support, contributed to uncertainty, distancing from services and precarious transitions. For participants with unaccompanied minor refugee backgrounds, ongoing settlement processes and new responsibilities following family reunification, further shaped system navigation and constrained capability development. Overall, the study highlights the tension between developing independence while maintaining accessible support, underscoring the need for flexible, culturally responsive aftercare that recognizes diverse life trajectories. From a capabilities approach perspective, such support is essential not only for facilitating successful transitions, but also for social justice by expanding cross-cultural young adults’ real opportunities to equitable and meaningful transitions to adulthood.