Mentoring for young people leaving care

Abstract

Mentoring has evolved over the years to encompass a whole range of areas, from the workplace, to educational support, Probation, Youth Offending Teams and Children Looked after Teams. This report, 'Mentoring for young people leaving care', reflects and builds on research carried out by York University.Mentoring is a voluntary one-to-one relationship between the mentee and a supportive adult, being the mentor. It is important to emphasize the voluntary nature of this relationship for both parties; mentors are volunteers and mentoring works best when the mentee makes a voluntary commitment to have a mentor. Mentoring is more than befriending and aims to make constructive changes in the life and behaviour of the offender.All mentoring relationships require a high level of trust from both sides; welltrained mentors who work with mentees will have to demonstrate empathy and respect and will be positive motivators in the life of the individual. The relationship is person-centred and involves a holistic approach. The process of mentoring can and does make the difference in the life of the individual.In response to the vulnerability of care leavers, mentoring for young people who have experience of the care system, was set up during 1998 in partnership with the Prince's Trust, Camelot Foundation and National Children's Bureau. The research report specifically examined a two-year period of young people between the ages of 15 and 23, being mentored between 2000 and 2002.The research focuses on ongoing and long-term mentoring relationships lasting from the minimum of six months to the maximum of three years with young people leaving care. Focus for the mentoring relationship, was concerned with the experience of leaving care and establishing the young people within their own independent living environment. In carrying out the research, examining the experiences and outcomes of young people leaving care, interviews were conducted with young people, their mentors and project workers. A major strength of this report is that, throughout the research, the views and opinions of both the young people and the mentors were expressed.The mentoring relationships combined 'instrumental' mentoring which is linked to 'hard' outcomes, such as employment, education or training, or reducing offending behaviour, and 'expressive' mentoring linked to 'soft' outcomes, such as self esteem, confidence and personal development. The mentoring relationship was found to be important and influential in providing the young people with a different kind of support as they make a difficult transition. It was evident from the research that the mentoring relationship had a significant impact upon the mentors as well as the young people. Mentors felt that they had 'improved their skills and confidence in helping young people and, as a consequence, most wanted to work with young people' (p. 6).What was particularly interesting from the research and relevant to future mentoring projects was the suggested improvements from both the young people and the mentors ...

Thinking and rethinking the child protection system. Mentoring, an unexplored enough resource

“…The 'Big Idea' of mentoring originated from the United States where the early 'Big Brother, Big Sister' projects were pioneered and where belief in mentoring interventions has continued to fuel their expansion. In part influenced by these developments, mentoring has become a significant component of youth policies around the world, even though it has been subject to little conceptual interrogation or research into its effectiveness" (Dubberley, Stein, 2006). In the literature, mentoring is used to describe many "different types of relationships"there is no simple definition or classification.…”

“…In the literature, mentoring is used to describe many "different types of relationships"there is no simple definition or classification. However, different forms of mentoring have been defined by Dubberley and Stein, 2006: ▪ their origin, whether 'naturally' occurring within families or communities as distinct from 'artificial' or professionally promoted ▪ the type of mentoring relationship : one-to-one; one-to-group; peer mentoring ▪ the site of mentoring, for example, whether the mentoring takes place in a school, workplace, project or local community setting. Beyond these descriptive dimensions, studies have suggested different models or approaches to mentoring.…”

“…This may begin with 'instrumental' or 'engagement mentoring' linked to 'hard' outcomes, such as employment, education or training, or reducing offending behavior, and continue to more 'expressive' mentoring linked to 'soft' outcomes, such as self-esteem and personal development. Secondly, the process of mentoring can be located on a 'service-led' to 'participatory' continuum, identifying the extent to which goals are defined by the mentoring service (or project) or are initiated by, negotiated with and agreed by the mentored young person (the mentee) (Dubberley, Stein, 2006). Mentoring is an increasingly popular way of providing guidance and support to young people in need.…”

“…Recent mentoring research even indicates that a short-lived, less-than-positive mentoring relationship (a hallmark of programs that are not well designed) can actually have a negative impact on participating youth. Mentoring is very much worth doing, but it is imperative that programs implement proven, research based best practices if they are to achieve their desired outcomes 1 . Mentoring has evolved to embrace a wide range of activities in recent years 2 : from being allocated individuals who respond to queries that an individual has and give moral support, to schemes that border on counselling given the complexity of the needs of the mentee (Jowett, Shaw & Tarbitt, 1997).…”