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The pilot was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and run by Rainer in a strategic partnership with the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation and the Prince’s Trust to deliver a 12 month national mentoring pilot for looked after children.

Some of the key findings of the pilot related to the process to building relationships between potential referrers and those involved in mentoring provision. Relationship building with foster carers was also a key feature as many felt wary of the provision and potential overlap with their own roles. 

The young people were predominantly positive about their experiences of mentoring as part of the pilot as were many of the providers who had not worked with this service user group previously. 

Positive outcomes included:

• Most of the young people reported that all areas of their schooling had improved as a result of the mentoring relationship

• Most said they were more likely to stay out of trouble

• Several young people specifically mentioned that it was the mentor who had made the difference for them
  
  Areas of significant learning in terms of good practice included:

• The competence and people skills of the mentoring co-ordinator
• Training that is sufficiently detailed to cover the complex needs and potential demands of this service user group
• Effective partnership working
• Consistency of mentoring contact
• Structure to the mentoring sessions
• Effective evaluation and service user feedback

The Final Evaluation Report and related documents are available here