ListenEditorial Comments are provided by the writer in their personal capacity and without prior sight of journal content.
At Udayan Care, our three-decade long journey in child and youth welfare has consistently reminded us that transitions into adulthood are never defined by education and employment alone. They are equally shaped by the invisible threads of relationships, belonging, and identity. Yet, when it comes to care-experienced youth, these threads are often frayed or absent, leaving them to navigate adulthood without the safety net of family.
In India, where marriage and family formation remain deeply embedded in cultural and social life, the experiences of care leavers in these domains have been overlooked for far too long. Udayan Care is honoured to present India’s first systematic inquiry into the marital and family lives of youth with care experience. While global research on care leavers has traditionally emphasized education, employment, housing, and mental health, relational wellbeing, particularly marriage and parenting, remains strikingly underexplored. Without the safety net of families, these youths confront unique vulnerabilities in navigating adulthood. Marriage, a culturally significant milestone, often becomes a pathway to housing, social acceptance, and identity formation, yet it is fraught with challenges of trust, communication, stigma, and economic dependence.
Using a mixed-method design, we engaged 55 married care leavers through participatory tools co-developed with youth themselves. Quantitative analysis explored relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), marital outcomes, and parenting stress, while qualitative narratives highlighted lived realities of stigma, partner choice, and relational coping. Ethical safeguards including informed consent and counselling referrals were integral to the process.
Findings revealed a complex interplay of resilience and vulnerability. Demographically, most participants were in their mid-adulthood and employment was reported by 71%, though gender disparities persisted, with women facing higher unemployment. Partner selection reflected both agency and constraint where 73% youth married non-care leavers, with women more likely to do so, suggesting need and desire for social acceptance and stability. Love marriages were notably more common among women (51%) than men (13%), underscoring gendered dynamics in autonomy and emotional connection.
Accommodation patterns highlighted that most of the youth with care experience don’t have stable homes of their own, which makes their living situation fragile: only 22% lived in owned housing, while the majority resided in rented or extended family homes, reinforcing the link between marriage and housing security. ACE scores revealed that nearly one in four care leavers had endured seven or more adversities before age 18, with parental loss, violence, and neglect most prevalent. These early traumas echoed into adulthood, shaping trust deficits, emotional regulation difficulties, and heightened parenting stress. Theoretical mapping enriched these insights, where attachment theory depicted how disrupted early bonds hinder intimacy and marital stability. Social exchange theory contextualized the heightened costs of relationships amid financial insecurity and the marriage market theory explained constrained partner choices due to stigma and limited social capital. Together, these frameworks underscored how structural disadvantages intersect with personal histories to shape marital trajectories.
Despite challenges, marriage was often described as a turning point, a chance to rewrite narratives, build emotional bonds, and create nurturing environments for children. The findings clearly suggest that sustaining these aspirations require systemic support. Current legal frameworks, emphasize education and employability but somewhere don’t focus much on relational scaffolding. Our findings call for integrating trauma-informed counselling, marital preparation, parenting workshops, and housing support into aftercare policies.
This editorial underscores that care leavers’ journeys into marriage and family life are not peripheral but central to their transition into adulthood. By amplifying their voices and bridging research with practice, we advocate for a holistic aftercare system, one that recognizes relational wellbeing as foundational to dignity, stability, and empowerment.
