A foster child in the care of an agency. Photo courtesy of the New York Times.

Foster children who took part in a mentoring and relationship skills program done by social work graduate students had improved mental health, according to a study done by the University of Colorado.

The study tracked 156 children aged 9 to 11 who were maltreated and placed in foster care. Seventy-seven of the children received the usual care while 79 were enrolled in the Fostering Healthy Futures intervention group with the graduate students.

“Six months after the intervention, the children in the treatment group had fewer mental health problems, fewer symptoms of dissociation, better quality of life, and appeared less likely to report symptoms of post-traumatic stress than those in the control group,” according to this Bloomberg/Businessweek article.

To learn more about the role of social workers in this area, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Adoptions and Foster Care Web page by clicking here.