Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the young people who have participated in this study and taken the time to share their experiences with us. They have been generous in their time and in the effort they have put into answering a complex questionnaire. Many of the youth who participated in this research also nominated an adult who knew a lot about them (PMK) who we could interview. We would like to thank all the PMK who generously gave their time to this study.

The following individuals and organisations have provided intensive support to us at various points in the study.

Professor Michael Ungar and Dr Linda Liebenberg at the Resilience Research Centre based at Dalhousie University in Halifax Canada provided the methodologies and research materials and supported us in applying their ground-breaking Canadian study in New Zealand. They have provided enormous amounts of ongoing support to the project.

Kapiti Youth Support (KYS) and particularly Raechel the Manager and Briar the social worker, Presbyterian Support Upper South Island, and in particular Sue Quinn, the Highbury Whanau Centre and particularly Michelle Swain and Anjali Butler, Pete Butler and his team at START, Youth Transitions in Palmerston North.

Special thanks to Barbara, Vicki and the team at Otago Youth Wellness Trust who provided assistance and support to the Dunedin research team for the duration of the study.

The Ministry of Social Development, and particularly Child Youth and Family, The Families Commission, as well as the Department of Corrections also provided ongoing support at various stages in the research which would like to acknowledge.

We also acknowledge the contribution of the Victoria University Research Trust and its staff; The Donald Beasley Institute; Youthline Auckland and Otago University.

Finally, we would like to thank and acknowledge the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment for funding this research.

The following organisations have supported this research from 2009 and we thank them for their help.