What is good for a looked after child is usually decided by adults with the child’s voice often peripheral. One way to make the child central to decision-making is to ask them what makes them happy or unhappy. In doing this, the definition of happiness has to be neither a description of what has gone well in life nor an immediate state of mind, but should encompass the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia. This is often translated as happiness but also incorporates notions of well-being and flourishing. The study reported here was undertaken as part of a children’s health needs assessment in an English local authority. It sought to understand why looked after children experience such high levels of poor mental health and make growing demands on therapeutic services. The proportion of young people displaying above average scores on validated measures, such as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), is growing each year. The aim was to find out what looked after children say makes them happy and unhappy and what they see as likely to increase their well-being, and to compare their suggestions with those of the professionals and carers involved in their lives. Focus groups with children and professionals then discussed the same question, with the professionals also examining their understanding of SDQ results and their relevance to practice. The study found significant differences between the views of the children and professionals in both the range and emphasis of what is seen as important. Moreover, these adult assumptions were rarely tested by meaningful discussions with young people when key decisions were made; indeed, these seemed to be made about rather than with the children. In addition, the SDQ was not widely used by professionals to assess children’s emotional health and well-being needs. The study concluded that discussions about happiness can usefully support holistic understandings of looked after children’s experiences and aid planning and practice development.

中文翻译：

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是什么让被照顾的孩子快乐和不快乐？

什么对被照顾的孩子有好处通常由成年人决定，孩子的声音通常是外围的。让孩子成为决策核心的一种方法是问他们什么让他们快乐或不快乐。在此过程中，幸福的定义既不是对生活中顺利进行的描述，也不是直接的心理状态，而是应该包含亚里士多德的幸福感概念。这通常被翻译为幸福，但也包含幸福和繁荣的概念。此处报告的研究是在英国地方当局进行的儿童健康需求评估的一部分。它试图了解为什么被照看的儿童心理健康状况如此糟糕，并对治疗服务提出了日益增长的需求。在经过验证的措施上表现出高于平均分的年轻人的比例，例如优势和困难问卷 (SDQ)，每年都在增长。目的是找出被照看的孩子说什么让他们快乐和不快乐，以及他们认为什么可能增加他们的幸福感，并将他们的建议与参与他们生活的专业人士和照顾者的建议进行比较。然后由儿童和专业人士组成的焦点小组讨论了同一问题，专业人士还检查了他们对 SDQ 结果的理解及其与实践的相关性。研究发现，儿童和专业人士的观点在被视为重要的范围和重点方面存在显着差异。此外，在做出关键决定时，很少通过与年轻人进行有意义的讨论来检验这些成年人的假设。确实，这些似乎是为孩子而不是与孩子一起制作的。此外，专业人士并未广泛使用 SDQ 来评估儿童的情绪健康和幸福需求。该研究得出的结论是，关于幸福的讨论可以有效地支持对照看儿童经历的整体理解，并有助于规划和实践发展。