Abstract
Suicide in children and young people is a major public health concern. However, it is unknown whether individuals who have been in the care of the child welfaresystem are at an elevated risk. Care is presently defined as statutory provision of in-home care (e.g. child living with birth family but in receipt of legal order involving supervision by social workers) or out-of-home care (e.g. foster care, residential care and kinship care). This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysiscomparing the prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people placed in care with non-care populations.
Highlights
<dl class="list"><dt class="list-label">•Global problem of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide among young people</dt><dt class="list-label">•Unknown if young people in care are at an elevated risk.</dt><dt class="list-label">•Systematic review comparing prevalence between care and non-care populations</dt><dt class="list-label">•Suicide attempt is more than three times as likely among those in care.</dt><dt class="list-label">•Further comparative studies are required.</dt></dl>
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