Natasha Finlayson, chief executive of the Who Cares? Trust, has called for specialist looked-after children professionals to be included in all child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) teams.
According to Finlayson, all children entering the care system should go through a rigorous, in-depth assessment by a child psychologist in order to diagnose quickly any problems that could impact on their emotional development. "The care system's inability to diagnose quickly and repair the inevitable mental and emotional damage suffered by children coming into care will come under increasing focus this year," she said.
"We need specialist CAMHS teams with an in-depth understanding of the needs of children in care to develop a quicker, more responsive service, one that looks beyond obvious psychiatric symptoms to address the gnawing low self-esteem that saps the potential of so many young people in care."
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