Research: Foundations Toolkit: Mentoring and Befriending
Mentoring and befriending programmes support children and young people to build safe, supportive relationships with trusted adults to help them overcome adversity and trauma, and thrive.
This Practice Guide has been produced to help senior leaders, in local authorities and third sector organisations, to commission and expand the availability of evidence-based mentoring and befriending programmes that have been found to improve outcomes for children and young people.
It is based on findings from a systematic review, which brings together the evidence on different types of mentoring and befriending support for care-experienced children and young people and those at risk of entering care.
This Practice Guide recommends mentoring and befriending interventions and practices that are proven to be effective in improving outcomes for children and young people aged up to 25 years old who are care-experienced, considered at risk of being placed in care, or at-risk of poor developmental outcomes. Please note that where the authors refer to children and young people, it is this population group that they are talking about, and not all children and young people.
