Abstract
The article presents and analyses four images connected to autonomy and the pro spective of leaving care, which were produced in group discussions with young adults at the end of their stay in residential care. They represent a collective imaginative pattern of «landing under the bridge» or «ending up on the street». The article critically situates these images in the larger context of existing social and structural circumstances of child and youth welfare in which they appear mean ingful, and shows how these images, taken as a statement of future care leavers, could contribute to improve conditions and practices of transitioning from residential care to autonomy