The York Research Database

An exploration of longer term mentoring for young people leaving care.
This report describes young people's experiences of mentoring relationships and their outcomes. The researchers looked at on-going or concluded relationships that had lasted between six months and three years.
The report:
- outlines the participating projects, including the different types of mentoring relationships - traditional adult or peer mentoring,
- analyses 181 mentoring relationships, profiling the young people and their mentors, describing their planning and goal setting and the outcomes of mentoring,
- explores the mentoring process in-depth through interviews with 17 young people and their mentors, examining both the processes involved and what young people and their mentors saw as 'making a difference'.
Young people leaving care face the challenges of transition to adulthood, often without consistent support from their families. This report concludes that mentoring offers them a different style of supportive relationship but one which complements formal professional support.