A major new study has revealed a devastating mental health crisis among teenagers who have spent time in the UK's care system, with one in four having attempted to end their own life.
A Stark and Unacceptable Disparity
The research, conducted by academics from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, analysed data from the millennium cohort study, which tracks 19,000 people born in the UK between 2000 and 2002. It is the first to precisely quantify the elevated suicide risk faced by young people with experience of foster, residential, or kinship care.
The analysis found that more than one in four (26%) of 17-year-olds with care experience had attempted suicide. This staggering figure stands in stark contrast to the rate among teenagers with no history of being in care, which sits at just 7%, or one in fourteen. This means care-experienced adolescents are four times more likely to have tried to end their lives.
A Cascade of Negative Outcomes
The study uncovered a pattern of multiple, severe mental health challenges for this vulnerable group, far exceeding those faced by their peers. Alongside the dramatically higher suicide attempt rate, the research highlighted other alarming trends.
Almost six in ten (56%) teenagers who had been in foster care reported self-harming, compared to under a quarter (24%) of those without care experience. Furthermore, using the Kessler scale, the study found 39% of teens with foster care experience reported high levels of depression, versus only 16% of their peers.
The difficulties extend beyond mental health. The findings suggest teenagers with care experience were more likely to be sexually active at a younger age. Crucially, almost one in five (18%) of those who had been in foster or residential care had either been or made someone pregnant by age 17, compared to just one in twenty-five (4%) of other teenagers.
Calls for Systemic Change and Lifelong Support
Lisa Harker, director of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, described the one-in-four suicide attempt statistic as a "national emergency". She stressed that while the challenges are severe, they are not inevitable, and called for far more intensive support for care-experienced young people.
Dr Ingrid Schoon of the UCL Social Research Institute, a co-author of the study, said the high rates of mental ill-health were "alarming". She advocated for a fundamental shift in approach: "These realities call for a family-focused approach, ensuring support remains available throughout a young person’s life course. The current 'cliff edge' where support abruptly ends must be removed."
Gemma Byrne, policy and influencing manager at the mental health charity Mind, emphasised the need for equitable access to care: "All children and young people deserve timely, equitable access to mental health care at an early stage... We know this is especially important for teenagers with care experience."
In response to the findings, a Department for Education spokesperson said the research was "deeply troubling" and that the scale of harm was "not acceptable". The spokesperson pointed to the government's 'Plan for Change', which aims to help children in care access mental health support sooner by integrating social workers and NHS professionals.
