Questão 19 - Prova Geral Medicina - PUC Campinas 2027

Atenção: Para responder às questões de números 19 a 21, baseie-se no texto abaixo.

Vulnerable children deliberately self-harming to stay in care, research finds

Report shines light on ‘catastrophic situation’ where young people make themselves more ill to avoid losing support

Diane Taylor

Thu 27 Aug 2026 10.00 BST

     Some of the most vulnerable children and young people in care are deliberately self-harming to avoid being abandoned when they get better or turn 18 and face a “cliff edge” of no further support, according to research.

     Abi Booth, a psychotherapist who works with children and young people, said some were in a “catastrophic situation” in which they were hurting themselves to keep their place in therapeutic facilities.

     Booth said this group of young people believed the only way they could stay safe was not to “get better” from their mental health conditions and to become more ill by severely self-harming or attempting suicide.

     A government review into the deaths of 112 care leavers in England aged 18-24 in 2025 identified a dramatic drop in support at the age of 18. The Guardian revealed in April that there had been an almost fivefold increase in children in unregulated social care settings in England.

     Booth said: “Society’s system around the most vulnerable people in the UK is failing them at every level … Of the hundreds of young people I  I  to in the course of my work in recent years, every single one has told me that the system is pushing them into patterns of risk.

     “Many of these children and young people have experienced extreme neglect and often physical and sexual abuse. Some are so badly scarred from self-harming there isn’t an inch of their bodies left untouched. They see self-harming as a route to safety. They are living in a state of terror, which may be hidden underneath layers of bravado.”

(Adapted from: Vulnerable children deliberately self-harming to stay in care, research finds | Social care | The Guardian)

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