Young People's Lived Experiences of Care Relationships in Finnish Out‐Of‐Home Care

ABSTRACT

This study explores how young people who have lived in out‐of‐home care in Finland experience their relationships with caregivers and how these experiences can be interpreted through the lens of care ethics. The focus is on everyday practices in out‐of‐home care, where relational care and professional responsibilities intersect. The research is grounded in a hermeneutic‐phenomenological approach, and the data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Ten young adults who experienced out‐of‐home care participated in the research. The findings identify five elements of ethical care: relational continuity, consistency, attentiveness, responsibility and relationality, which reveal both enabling and vulnerable aspects of care. A model of ethical care in out‐of‐home care was developed based on this to define the moral and relational principles required for ethical out‐of‐home care. The model offers practical guidance for developing relationally grounded practices that strengthen the ethical quality of care work in out‐of‐home care.