Looked-After Children’s Views of Sex and Relationships Education and Sexual Health Services - Executive Summary

This document reports on the findings from a project exploring teenage looked-after children’s views of sex and relationships education and sexual health services. Commissioned and funded by the Kent Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, the project formed part of a larger programme of study on teenage pregnancy that took place across Kent between 2004 and 2007. The project was composed of three parts:

. Project One constituted the quantitative part of our research, which included a survey carried out with 4000 15 to 16 year old school pupils.

. Project Two (which this document reports upon) gauged the attitudes and experiences of looked-after children regarding sexual health education and relationships advice by conducting focus groups with 15 to 20 year olds.

. Project Three was a longitudinal qualitative study exploring the views of teenage parents during the antenatal and postnatal periods. It was concerned with finding out their experiences of family support services, as well as obtaining their views on sex and relationships education and sexual health services.

The rationale behind Project Two was to ensure the incorporation of the views of more ‘vulnerable’ teenagers, who were considered less likely to be included in the survey sample of school-children.