Speaking in parliament yesterday education minister Lord Nash said the Department for Education will test new approaches to mental health assessments for looked-after children in as many as 10 pilot areas. The pilots are set to launch by May 2017.
The announcement comes just two months after the government rejected calls from the education select committee for all looked-after children to be assessed by a mental health specialist when they enter care.
Nash said the DfE is in the early stages of working out how the checks will be conducted and is keen for both providers, and children and young people, to help develop and shape the model, but added that the pilot mental health assessments will be trailed as part of the existing health assessments that children receive when they are taken into care.
He added that the trial will run in parallel to the considerations of an expert working group, co-chaired by former president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services Alison O'Sullivan, which has been tasked with developing care pathways for looked-after children with mental health difficulties.
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