Abstract

Over the last decade significant attention has been drawn towards the development and evaluation of a range of early intervention and prevention programs for children and families at-risk. Child mentoring is an emerging intervention approach that serves to ameliorate identified risk factors that increase children’s susceptibility to later maladjustment. This paper provides an overview of a range of recently evaluated child mentoring programs to highlight current advances in the area of adult-child mentoring. A description of World Vision Australia’s (WVA) Kid’s Hope Aus. mentoring program is offered as an early intervention and prevention framework that is tailored to the needs of children and families at-risk. Recommendations for future research are also provided to assist in reducing the knowledge gap surrounding the impact of child mentoring programs for at-risk children.