Mentoring for Young People in Care and Leaving Care

Book excerpt: Mentoring for Young People in Care and Leaving Care offers a rich exploration of the theory, research and practice relating to youth mentoring as a means of essential social support. Brady, Dolan and McGregor ground their work on the premise that the informal social support provided through a high-quality mentoring relationship can help young people in care to sustain positive mental health, cope with stress and fulfil their potential through adolescence and into adulthood. It provides an up-to-date synthesis of research findings in relation to natural mentoring, formal mentoring and youth-initiated mentoring for children in care and explores the challenges and considerations relating to practice in this area. Illustrated with the details of original research with care-experienced young people, it offers much-needed insight into how young people interpret and make sense of their experiences in care and of mentoring. Written to be accessible by those with limited knowledge of youth mentoring, this timely publication will be essential reading for academics, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of adolescent development, social care, social work and youth work.