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Adopted children tend to have high levels of emotional, behavioural and developmental need and are more likely to present to a range of services, including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Although research exploring adopted children's perspectives is growing, it remains limited. Furthermore, there has been little work to engage adopted children in research. Our project aimed to examine adopted children's viewpoints of mental health and services alongside those of their adoptive carers. Results indicated that although there were some similarities between carer and child perspectives, they also frequently differed. They provided different constructions of the problem but agreed that family relationships were strained. Some acknowledgement of the role of the school was offered and other external sources of support cited. Coping was considered to be complex and while some issues were analogous to ‘normal’ family life, much was inherent to the adoption status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Unaccompanied refugee adolescents are a small but clinically significant group. This group is vulnerable with physical and psychiatric needs which are often not met. There are several barriers to providing care for this group, originating with the refugees but also due to service provision. Aims: The aim of this research is to appreciate the views and perceptions that unaccompanied minors hold about mental health and services. Method: Fifteen unaccompanied adolescents engaged with mental health services were interviewed, and thematic analysis was employed to explore relevant issues. Discussion: Their views reflected a range of opinions on mental health and the treatments they received, but many held negative attitudes toward mental health and had a lack of trust in services. This could be explained by their descriptions of their experiences within their home country of psychiatric care, their experiences of being a refugee/asylum-seeker or cultural differences. Conclusion: We argue it is important to engage this group in the development of policy and practice in child mental health, and in developing services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the characteristics of 83 looked after and 67 adopted children at the time of their first assessment by a designated mental health team in the context of potential appropriateness of this service. Attachment and mental health problems were significantly associated across most subscales of the Relationships Problems (RPQ) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ). Adopted children were younger and were rated higher on both measures. One-third of the children were rated below the clinical cut-off SDQ score. The service appeared to adopt broad referral criteria to include attachment difficulties rather than just mental health disorders. The findings are discussed in relation to the varied interpretation of the constructs of attachment difficulties and disorders, and the future development of care pathways for looked after and adopted children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An inter-agency training programme in child and adolescent mental health for primary care staff has been developed in a UK area serving a general population of 900 000. This was initiated with a training needs and resources analysis across all the joint strategy partners (three local authorities, one health authority and the voluntary sector). Training is provided to inter-agency groups of professionals in 12 localities. To date, 150 staff have been through the two-day introductory/foundation course, which is complemented by three subsequent training days on the assessment and management of children and families. Staff evaluation ratings are presented. On the whole, primary healthcare staff rated their awareness of mental health issues and their knowledge of staff roles within child mental health services significantly higher, in contrast with education staff who rated these components lower. Inter-agency training has been achieved with some difficulties needing to be overcome, but the participants' feedback indicates that the expected output is beginning to be realized. The implications of the project are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]