Mentoring for young people in care and leaving care : theory, policy and practice / Bernadine Brady, Pat Dolan, and Caroline McGregor.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction and overview -- Children in care and leaving care: issues and challenges -- Natural and youth-initiated mentoring -- Formal youth mentoring for children in care and leaving care -- Introducing the current study -- Young people's perspectives on the benefits of mentoring -- Youth perspectives on relational dynamics and quality in mentoring relationships -- Mentoring for young people in care: messages for policy and practice.

"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 fulfill 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"--Provided by publisher.