The EXploring Innovation in Transitions to adulthood (EXIT) study aims to improve understanding of the enablers, barriers and the factors that are important for implementing, sustaining, scaling up and evaluating innovations for care leavers in the UK. Our goal is to build an evidence base of how ‘meaningful’ (evidence-based) innovation for care leavers can best be supported to scale up and become part of widespread practice; moving from what we know about what works, to what we do in practice. The four-year research project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and brings together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the University of Warwick, the University of Bedfordshire, University of Birmingham, and Newcastle University. The objectives of the study are to: • Explore what innovations currently exist for young people leaving care; • Identify what helps or hinders how meaningful innovation is implemented, sustained and scaled up; • Explore how innovation is adapted as it moves from one site to another and with what effect; • Critically examine how the success of innovation is ‘measured’; • Discover how the wider spread of innovation that works can be better supported so innovation makes a difference to more care leavers. The EXIT research plan involves four work packages (WP) that aim to explore the contemporary innovation context, practices, projects and processes that support care leavers’ transitions to adulthood in the UK. WP1: We have conducted two literature reviews of the academic literature and grey literature which identified over 80 innovations, with some occurring at multiple sites and at national level. The focus of the innovations related to different areas of transition for care leavers including education, employment and training, housing and support for the development of relationships. WP2: We have conducted 30 interviews with key policy and practice stakeholders, to explore some of these innovations in detail and through this preparatory stage, we identified six innovation case studies to include in WP3. WP3: We aim to conduct six innovation case studies to explore the innovation journey, from development to implementation, adaptation, scale up and diffusion. WP4: We aim to synthesise the findings from the individual case studies, with a specific focus on outcomes.Young people leaving care often experience complex social and emotional needs alongside reduced life outcomes compared with their non-care peers. Faced with these challenges and barriers, young people leaving care deserve a system in which both policy and practice supports them. Initiatives such as Corporate Parenting and NICE recommendations are continually being rolled-out. However, these may not produce improved outcomes for young people. The purpose of this research is to investigate and build an evidence base for innovation in services and processes designed to improve outcomes for care leavers. We then support the translation of study findings into professional and organisational practice. Innovation is dynamic and beyond simply a good idea at the local-level, needs to spread and be adopted more widely. This is challenging because spread of innovation is influenced by social and professional networks, groups and practices, alongside broader context. Sometimes, innovations can be hollow, taken up as an act of faith because they're seen as desirable or easy to implement yet make minimal difference. Meanwhile, promising innovations sometimes fail because they're employed too rigidly and not adapted to the context. Leadership can be a key factor for innovation success along with engagement of different professional groups and service users. In this study we (1) explore what innovations are already in place for young people leaving care (2) identify what helps or hinders how those innovations are put into practice. We then (3) find ways about how the wider spread of innovation across care systems can be better supported so innovation makes a difference to young people. Following which, we (4) evaluate outcomes of innovation across leaving care processes in four ways: how it spreads; how it is adapted; how it affects young people leaving care; implementation costs. Finally, (5) we ask what adaptations are necessary for an innovation to spread and the effect of this on outcomes. To answer these questions, we bring together literature and empirical methods across different fields such as organisation science and health research. Our overall research strategy is informed by comparative case study design and qualitative interviews with care professionals and care leavers. Examples are taken from 3 areas: West Midlands, Newcastle and Tyneside and Bedfordshire.

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