Approximately 5-10% of children in care in the UK experience three or more placements in a single year. My research focuses on investigating the characteristics and experiences of children who experience significant placement instability, with the overall aim of enhancing our understanding of the relationship between placement instability and mental health outcomes for children in care. Utilising a mixed-methods approach, I will capitalise on the quantitative analysis of large administrative datasets and compliment this with richer qualitative data in an attempt to identify individual and service-level factors that may alleviate or intensify distress associated with placement instability