Mental Health Screening and Monitoring for Children in Care

<p><em>Mental Health Screening and Monitoring for Children in Care</em> provides a concise, step-by-step guide for children’s agencies on how to carry out mental health screening and monitoring for children and adolescents growing up in alternative care.</p><p>Michael Tarren-Sweeney outlines unique universal mental health screening and monitoring procedures that can be implemented without the need for clinical training or professional oversight. These procedures reliably identify which children should be referred to clinical services for a comprehensive assessment, and which children do not require further assessment. Informed by recent empirical research carried out with children in foster care in Australia and the Netherlands, these procedures screen the vast majority of children who have clinical-level difficulties for a second-stage assessment, including those with attachment- and trauma-related difficulties, meaning that very few such children remain undetected.</p><p>This book is an invaluable resource for charitable children’s agencies, children’s service providers, statutory children’s services, children’s social workers, and post-adoption support services.</p> <p><em>List of figures</em></p><p><em>List of tables</em></p><p><em>Acknowledgements</em></p><p><em>List of abbreviations</em></p><p><em>Preface</em></p><p>Chapter 1. The Mental Health of Children and Young People in Alternative Care</p><p>Chapter 2. Clinical Interventions and Support Services for Children in Alternative Care (and Their Carers) – Accessibility and Effectiveness?</p><p>Chapter 3. Brief Assessment, Screening and Monitoring – What’s the Difference, and Does It Matter?</p><p>Chapter 4. An Overview of Brief Caregiver-Report Screening and Monitoring Measures</p><p>Chapter 5. A Mental Health Screening and Monitoring Protocol for Children’s Agencies</p><p>Chapter 6. Is Screening and Brief Monitoring Enough? The Case for Universal, Comprehensive Assessment of Children in Statutory Care (Including Those Transitioning to Legally-Permanent Alternative Care)</p><p>Appendix 1. Assessment Checklist for Children Short Form (ACC-SF): Girls’ Profile Sheet</p><p>Appendix 2. Assessment Checklist for Adolescents Short-Form (ACA-SF) Profile Sheet</p><p>Appendix 3. Brief Assessment Checklist for Children (BAC-C) Record Form</p><p>Appendix 4. Brief Assessment Checklist for Adolescents (BAC-A) Record Form</p><p>References</p><p>Index</p>