MH-CAT: A longitudinal survey of the mental health of children in State Care in England through the COVID-19 pandemic

目前新冠肺炎大流行对在国家托儿所长大的弱势儿童群体的影响尚不清楚。这项研究旨在通过前瞻性的纵向调查，就新冠肺炎疫情对国家托管所儿童心理健康的影响建立新的信息。这项研究紧随英国《新冠肺炎》倡议确定的优先事项--对弱势群体产生社会和心理影响。在英格兰，任何时候都有近8万名儿童受到国家的照顾。托管所儿童是社会上最脆弱的儿童群体，其中60%以上的儿童有遭受虐待或忽视等严重虐待的历史。与总人口中12%的儿童相比，50%的关爱儿童有可诊断的心理健康问题，研究进一步表明成人心理健康状况较差。尽管如此，关于精神健康的纵向模式和大流行情况对托管所儿童的影响的知识仍然缺乏。这项研究旨在通过新冠肺炎大流行，在18个月的时间内，通过直接从11-18岁的关爱儿童那里收集信息来填补这一知识空白。研究结果涵盖了广泛的实践和政策相关问题，涉及儿童的心理健康以及他们的安置、教育、社会工作支持、支持网络的实力以及他们与出生家庭的联系的影响，将有助于地方一级的管理人员、从业者和国家一级的政策制定者做出关于关爱儿童的关键决策。

The impact of the current Covid-19 pandemic on the vulnerable group of children growing up in State Care is unknown. This research, which maps on to the UKRI Covid-19 priority of establishing 'social and psychological impact upon vulnerable groups', aims to establish new information on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health of children in State Care through a prospective, longitudinal survey. At any given time in England, there are nearly 80,000 children being looked after by the State. Children in Care constitute a most vulnerable group of children in society, with more than 60% of these children having histories of severe maltreatment such as abuse or neglect. Fifty percent of children in Care have a diagnosable mental health concern, when compared with 12% of children in the general population, with research further indicating poor adult mental health outcomes. Despite this, there is a dearth of knowledge on the longitudinal patterns of mental health and the impact of a pandemic situation on children in Care. This research aims to fill this gap in knowledge with information collected directly from children in Care aged 11-18 years, over an 18-month period, through the Covid-19 pandemic. The results, covering a wide range of practice and policy relevant questions about children's mental health and the influence of their placement, schooling, social work support, strength of support networks and their contact with birth families, will be useful to local-level managers, practitioners and national-level policy makers in making key decisions about children in Care.