Abstract
This study was motivated by Mike Stein’s 2006 critique of care-leaving research as
reflecting a ‘poverty of theory’. A scoping review of care-leaving journal articles was
conducted for the nine-year period from 2015 to 2023. 252 articles met the inclusion
criteria, including that theory must be explicitly mentioned. 133 theories were used
across these publications, with resilience theory being used in 24% of articles, life
course in 10%, emerging adulthood and attachment in 8% each, social capital in 6%
and ecological theory in 4%. Over half of the publications were driven by theory (from
conceptualisation, through research design, to interpretation of findings), while a fifth
were informed in parts by theory and a quarter alluded only briefly to theory. Three
quarters of the articles utilised theory to formulate practice recommendations for
care-leaving services. Only two theories could be identified that were constructed to
explain care-leaving. Although most theories considered the care-leaver within their
social environment, there was little use of structural, systemic, critical and rightsoriented theories. The study concludes that Stein’s original concern has been somewhat addressed over the past several years. Other studies find that around a quarter
to half of care-leaving publications use theory. This study confirms that, of those
studies that make at least some use of theory, most weave theory firmly into the
study and mobilise that theory to make recommendations for practice. Nevertheless,
research should become yet more theory-driven, contextual, systemic, rights-oriented
and critical theories should be used more frequently, and more needs to be done to
build theory for care-leaving.