Herts and Minds: Supporting the Well-being of Looked After Children V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Herts and Minds: supporting the emotional well-being of looked after children in Hertfordshire
IRAS ID
180132
Contact name
Nicholas Midgley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Anna Freud Centre
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Background: There are almost 70,000 looked after children in England, over sixty percent as a consequence of abuse, neglect and maltreatment (SFR 36,2014). Forty-five percent of looked after children have mental health problems, but there is evidence to suggest that these children (and their carers) do not always get the support they need.
Aims: We plan to test a new approach to supporting foster children with mental health problems, and their carers. Our new approach has been developed to promote good communication between professionals, carers and children in care. It aims to support caring relationships, and to improve emotional well-being.
Design: Our longer-term aim is to do a larger study which would find out whether this new way of working improves the well-being of children in care. To prepare for this large study, we will firstly run a smaller study, based in Hertfordshire's Targeted Looked After Children team. This should give us the information we need to design the full scale study. Forty-two children, referred to the Looked After Children service in Hertfordshire, will take part in this study - half of them will be offered our new way of working, and half will be offered normal care.
Outcomes: The purpose of this study is to find out whether it is possible to conduct a large-scale study, and to identify any obstacles to doing so. We will share our findings with the families taking part in the study, and with managers who run NHS services, with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of life of children in care.REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0332
Date of REC Opinion
29 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion