Wellbeing and mental health support in schools and colleges for care experienced children and young people: a mixed-methods study of delivering and receiving support

Background: The mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people is a public health and social care priority, and there is evidence of higher rates of mental health disorders, poor subjective wellbeing, and suicide attempts within this group when compared to the general population (1-3). Schools are a key site for supporting mental health and wellbeing, but whilst governments continue to make significant progress in school-based provision (4-6) there are limited services specifically for care-experienced children and young people (7). This is despite policy directives stating that ‘vulnerable’ populations must have equal access to high quality provision (8, 9). Addressing this is challenging, as there is a paucity of evidence on the effectiveness of interventions for this population (7, 10) and a dearth of understanding as to how the educational system might work with health and social care systems to implement evidence-based approaches, particularly at key educational transition points, such as the transition to post-16 education (11). This presentation will introduce initial findings from an empirical research study which aims to understand experiences of delivering and receiving mental health and wellbeing provision for care-experienced children and young people in secondary schools and Further Education (FE) Colleges in Wales, in order to develop recommendations to enhance service quality and ensure equitable access. Methods: The study draws on mixed research methods across three phases of work. Firstly, a series of consultation events with care-experienced children and young people, foster carers and adoptive parents, and practitioners from social care, education, and health, identify particular difficulties or perceived gaps in support systems and services from the perspectives of different stakeholder groups. Secondly, analysis of data from the School Health Research Network (SHRN) survey provides quantitative insights into mental hea