Provision of Mental Health Services for Care Leavers: Transition to Adult Services. LGA Research Report

Resumen de los autores

The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 was designed to address the wide variation in local authority provision for care leavers and to promote a more multi-dimensional approach to the process of leaving care. Care leavers are likely to be at greater risk of mental health difficulties than other young people and the transitional period from leaving care is felt to be a phase during which care leavers experience additional stresses and may not have the continuity of support. This report examines the extent to which developments since the Act have improved outcomes for young people leaving care, particularly those with mental health difficulties. Perhaps the strongest finding to come out of the research is the crucial role of the leaving care team and, in particular, personal advisers, for ensuring the needs of care leavers with mental health difficulties are addressed. The findings suggest the personal adviser role has been fully implemented and is leading to positive outcomes for care leavers, including those with mental health difficulties. The value of the leaving care team and personal advisers is strongly voiced by the young people involved in the research. Overall, this research has highlighted that there are gaps in the support offered to care leavers with mental health difficulties. A larger-scale look at the situation would be beneficial and would assess the extent to which the points highlighted in this research are experienced nationwide. Six appendices are included: (1) Detail of the methodology; (2) The case-study local authorities and young people; (3) The audit template; (4) Service providers participating in the research; (5) Examples of the services accessed by young people; and (6) Examples of approaches to measuring outcomes. (Contains 4 tables.)

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Cómo citar (APA 7)

Lamont, E., Harland, J., Atkinson, M., & White, R. (2009). Provision of Mental Health Services for Care Leavers: Transition to Adult Services. LGA Research Report. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED508562