Creating Life Stories: Facilitators and Barriers to Participatory Recordkeeping for Children in Out‐Of‐Home Care

ABSTRACT

Many young people in out‐of‐home care (OOHC) encounter difficulties when attempting to access their personal histories in the form of photographs, report cards and other key identity memorabilia. As a result of frequent placement changes, limited continuity of relationships and the administrative nature of case files, the personal narratives of care leavers are often fragmented, impacting their formation of a coherent sense of self. Participatory recordkeeping is an emergent concept that offers a solution to this disconnect. This article explores the current practices around, barriers to and opportunities for the implementation of participatory recordkeeping for a non‐government organization that provides OOHC services in Queensland, Australia. Drawing on two focus groups with service design staff and frontline practitioners, the findings use the ‘Now, Future, How?’ framework to identify both the facilitators and the barriers to participatory recordkeeping. The findings suggest that participatory recordkeeping will only be actualized if it is embedded within an organization's practice and supported by system infrastructure that recognizes the dual administrative and identity‐forming functions of records.