Across Europe young people in public care are around five times less likely to attend tertiary education than those who have not been in care. This book provides a comprehensive account of why this shocking discrepancy exists and outlines ways to address the imbalance.

Drawing extensively on a substantial three-year long European Union funded research project led by the authors, this book examines the participation of young people in care in further and higher education in Europe. It provides a historical and legislative overview of the topic and in-depth national case studies look at the situation in England, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Hungary. The authors set out clearly what we can learn from these cross-national comparisons and how to create more equal opportunities for children and young people in care.

This important book will be essential reading for researchers and policy makers working on child welfare or young people in care, including government and local authority policy-makers, managers of children's and education services, school governors, and academics working in the fields of education, sociology, psychology, social work and social policy.