Young People's Experiences of Out‐of‐Home Care as Conveyed by Video Vlogs

ABSTRACT This article examines the experiences of young people in out‐of‐home care through video vlogs published on YouTube. YouTube is popular among young people as a communication channel where they can use videos to express their opinions and share hobbies or life experiences through diary‐like vlogs. The research group consists of Finnish‐speaking young people ( n = 47) and the study employed narrative analysis as this method is appropriate for exploring video narratives. We identified several key storylines in these young people's vlogs concerning both their experiences before entering out‐of‐home care and their time within it. Like other young individuals, young people in out‐of‐home care have hopes and dreams. However, they have also experienced child welfare processes and life outside the home, raising different issues in their stories. In their vlogs, young people talk openly about their experiences, making vlogs an authentic opportunity to see and hear young people's uncensored opinions about out‐of‐home care. However, the use of vlogs as data in child welfare research is still rare.