The shaping of mental health and the mechanisms leading to (un)successful transitions for care-experienced young people

每30名英国儿童中就有一名在18岁生日前被送往托儿所、寄养家庭或被领养。被逐出家庭的儿童是一个非常脆弱的群体。许多人经历了滥用和其他困难，比如看到暴力和吸毒。一旦被照顾，他们经常与兄弟姐妹分开，并与许多不同的照顾者生活在一起。我们知道，这些经历会对年轻人产生巨大影响，这种影响会持续到他们成年后很长一段时间。与其他年轻人相比，那些接受过护理的人出现心理健康问题的可能性是其他年轻人的五倍，比如焦虑或抑郁。他们也更有可能被学校拒之门外，被剥削，成年后没有工作和无家可归的比例更高。有护理经验的年轻人过早死亡的可能性也是普通人的两倍，尤其是自杀。但是，这些类型的结果并不一定要如此普遍--一些年轻人在照料中或在被收养后茁壮成长。我们几乎不知道为什么一些年轻人与心理健康问题作斗争，而另一些人挣扎得较少，另一些人做得很好。我们的项目解决了这一差距，并将提供可用于改善这一群体生活的重要信息。我们研究的目的是了解哪些过程与有护理经验的年轻人的心理健康有关，以及他们如何在两个关键时期(“过渡”)进行管理。它们是：从小学到中学，再到成年。具体地说，我们有兴趣了解以下因素的作用：(A)看护前的经历(他们在来看护之前的经历)；(B)服务水平问题(例如，他们在看护和学校的经历)；以及(C)个人的心理和社会过程(例如，他们如何看待自己和他人，管理情绪，以及他们对来自朋友和家庭的支持的感受)。如果我们能够了解什么过程是重要的，以及它们对这些年轻人的福祉意味着什么，我们就可以帮助社会工作者、教师和精神卫生工作者更好地识别可能需要帮助的人，并设计更好的预防和干预方案。更有效的支持可以使被照顾的年轻人对自己感觉更好，并充分发挥他们的潜力。我们会在四年内完成三项研究。在一个项目中，我们将把英格兰和威尔士14,000名有护理经验的年轻人的国家数据联系起来。利用护理史、心理健康和学校方面的数据，这项研究将帮助我们理解“成功”和“不成功”的转变是什么样子，以及哪些因素与成功过渡到成年有关。在接下来的两项研究中，我们将确定服务水平和心理过程的作用，这些过程被认为塑造了心理健康和过渡“成功”。为此，我们将招募两个小组，每组300名年轻人。一组年龄为10-13岁(进入中学)，另一组年龄为17-18岁(进入成年早期)。他们将回答两次问题，每隔一年。我们还将与30名儿童(10-11岁)和30名年轻人(17-18岁)和他们的照顾者进行两次交谈，以更多地了解他们在搬家前后的希望和担忧，以及他们得到和希望得到的支持。我们是来自社会政策、心理学、社会工作、教育和医学的研究人员，得到了领先的慈善机构：领养英国和科拉姆之声的支持。由有护理经验的年轻人(11-14岁；17-25岁)和被收养的年轻人(13-21岁)组成的三个小组将为研究的每个阶段做出贡献。我们还将为至少四名有护理经验的年轻人提供在我们大学的工作经验。与有护理经验的年轻人和我们的合作伙伴一起，我们将通过文章、博客、采访、学术论文和研讨会与服务机构、寄养照顾者和养父母以及教育部等政策制定者广泛分享我们的调查结果。

One in 30 UK children are taken into care before their 18th birthday and placed with foster carers, in residential care, or are adopted. Children who are removed from their families are a very vulnerable group. Many have experienced abuse and other difficulties, such as seeing violence and drug use. Once in care, they are often separated from brothers and sisters and live with many different carers. We know that these experiences can have a big effect on young people, that lasts long into their adult life. Compared to other young people, those who have been in care are five times more likely to have a mental health problem, like anxiety or depression. They are also more likely to be excluded from school, be exploited, and during adulthood have higher rates of not having a job and being homeless. Care-experienced young people are also twice as likely to die early, particularly by suicide. But, these types of outcomes do not have to be so common - some young people flourish in care or after adoption. We know little about why some young people struggle with mental health difficulties, while others struggle less, and others do well. Our project addresses this gap and will provide important information that can be used to improve the lives of this group. The aim of our research is to learn what processes are linked to the mental health of care-experienced young people and how they manage at two key periods ('transitions'). These are: moving from primary into secondary school and moving into adulthood. Specifically, we are interested in understanding the role of: (a) pre-care experiences (what they experienced before they came in to care); (b) service-level issues (e.g., their experiences in care and in school); and (c) individual psychological and social processes (e.g., how they see themselves and others, manage emotions, and their feelings about support from friends and at home). If we can understand what processes are important and what they mean for these young peoples' wellbeing, we can help social workers, teachers, and mental health workers better identify those who might need help, and design better prevention and intervention programmes. More effective support could enable young people in care to feel better about themselves and reach their full potential. We will complete three studies in four years. In one, we will link national data in England and Wales on 14,000 care-experienced young people. Using data on care histories, mental health, and school, this study will help us to understand what 'successful' and 'unsuccessful' transitions look like, and what factors are linked with successful transitions through to adulthood. In two further studies we will identify the role of service-level and psychological processes that are thought to shape mental health and transition 'success'. To do this we will recruit two groups, each of 300 young people. One group will be ages 10-13 (moving into secondary school) and one will be ages 17-18 (moving into early adulthood). They will answer questions twice, 1-year apart. We will also talk twice to 30 children (10-11yrs) and 30 young people (17-18yrs) and their caregiver, to learn more about their hopes and worries before and after the move, and the support they received and would have liked. We are researchers from social policy, psychology, social work, education, and medicine supported by leading charities: Adoption UK and Coram Voice. Three panels of care-experienced young people (11-14yrs; 17-25yrs) and adopted young people (13-21yrs) will contribute to every stage of the research. We will also offer work experience in our universities to at least four care-experienced young people. Alongside care experienced young people and our partners, we will share our findings widely via articles, blogs, interviews, academic papers, and workshops with services, foster carers and adoptive parents, and policy makers such as the Department for Education.